PREVIEW 7:30 AM EST

December games don't get much bigger than this one. With first place in the Atlantic Division on the line, the Flyers (19-7-5) take on the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins (21-8-2) at the Wells Fargo Center tonight. Pittsburgh comes in riding a 12-game winning streak that has catapulted the team one point ahead of the Flyers.

This is the fourth of six meetings between the teams this season. The Flyers won (3-2) in Pittsburgh on opening night, lost convincingly on home ice (5-1) two and closed out their third game with the Penguins in October with a 3-2 win. Claude Giroux scored the game winner in both Philadelphia victories.

Since that time, the Flyers went off on a 9-0-1 run in November, followed by a stretch of inconsistency. The club has played better of late,and has grabbed at least one point in nine of the last 10 games (6-1-3). For Pittsburgh, once goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury worked through his early season struggles and Sidney Crosby caught fire, the team has been unbeatable.

Crosby brings an 18-game point streak into Philly tonight. Over that span, he has scored a staggering 20 goals and 16 assists for 36 points. The Pens have also gotten regular offensive contributions from their blueline this season, especially early Norris Trophy candidate Kris Letang as well as Alex Goligoski. The Pens may have Evgeni Malkin back in the lineup tonight.

For the Flyers, Brian Boucher is 4-0-1 in his last five starts with a 1.71 GAA and .951 save percentage. He is coming off an excellent game against the Bruins. Although Sergei Bobrovsky owns two wins this season against the Pens, Peter Laviolette may tab the veteran Boucher to go tonight.

It is going to be crucial for the Flyers to play with their emotions under control tonight. Players ranging from Scott Hartnell to Danny Briere and Darroll Powe to Dan Carcillo need to avoid taking bad penalties in the offensive and neutral zones. The Penguins' power play has not been as potent as one might think (16.2%, identical to the Flyers), but the Flyers can ill afford to present gift power play opportunities to them.

The Penguins have been an excellent penalty killing club, surviving 88.2% of their disadvantages. The Flyers PK has run hot and cold, but has been good lately. For the season, Philly's PK sits at 83.7%. The Flyers remain tied for the second in the NHL in shorthanded goals (6), while Giroux is tied for the NHL lead with three shorthanded tallies. Giroux and team captain Mike Richards are also in the lead for shorthanded points (6).

On a game-in and game-out basis, Briere's line with Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell has been the Flyers' most consistent unit at five-on-five. The line has produced 67 points so far. Briere leads the team (and is tied for fifth overall in the league) with 16 goals through 31 games. Hartnell (7G,13A) has only one goal in his last 14 games, but has still generallly played better hockey than he did last season. Leino (7G,16A) went pointless in Boston but played a strong game and recently had a four-point in three-game stretch.

With Jody Shelley serving the first game of a two-game suspension, Nikolay Zherdev will be back in the lineup tonight for the Flyers. Otherwise, they will go with the same lineup as the Boston game.

PROJECTED LINEUP (subject to change)

FLYERS

JVR - Richards - Nodl
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
Zherdev/Powe - Giroux - Carter
Carcillo - Betts - Powe/Zherdev

Pronger - Carle
Coburn - Timonen
Meszaros - O'Donnell

Boucher
[Bobrovsky]


PENGUINS

Malkin - Crosby - Dupuis
Cooke - Talbot - Asham
Conner - Letestu - Kennedy
Rupp - Jeffrey - Adams

Orpik - Letang
Martin - Michalek
Goligoski - Lovejoy

Fleury
[Johnson]

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