PREVIEW 10:45 PM (1/18/13)
At long last, the puck is set to drop on the lockout-shortened 2013 NHL season. The Flyers start off with a clash against the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins, whom Philadelphia defeated in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs last spring. The Flyers made a habit of staging comeback victories against Pittsburgh, both in the regular season and postseason a year ago. But the time has come to finally turn the page on last season.
The game starts at 3 p.m. eastern time. It will be televised nationally in the U.S. on NBC, with the Philadelphia radio feed available locally on 97.5 FM.
This is the first of four regular season meetings between the two teams this season. They will meet again on Feb. 20 in Pittsburgh, March 7 in Philly and conclude the abbreviated season series on March 24 back in Pittsburgh.
In recent years, home ice has been little to no advantage. Historically speaking, however, the Flyers have dominated Pittsburgh in Philly (92-26-8 with 4 ties) while having a losing away record (49-56-22 with 3 ties).
The Flyers-Penguins rivalry is one of the most intense anywhere in the NHL. Whenever these two teams get together, blood boils and tempers flare. Last year's series was a particularly nasty one in terms of cheap-shots and constant trash talking. Tomorrow's game should be no exception, but the team that better channels its energy will win.
Pittsburgh's cadre of dynamically skilled players, led by reigning Hart Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, James Neal and defenseman Kris Letang is still largely intact. Likewise, newly appointed Flyers captain Claude Giroux leads a team that has three legitimate scoring lines even with injured Danny Briere (hairline wrist fracture) out of the lineup.
In the playoffs a year ago, young Philadelphia center Sean Couturier did an outstanding job at containing Malkin, who only scored one goal in the series when Couturier was out on the ice against him. The defensive pairing of Braydon Coburn and Nicklas Grossmann (who was eventually felled by a concussion courtesy of a questionable hit by Malkin) also played an important part in keeping many of the dangerous Pens player from running roughshod when they were on the ice.
Both the Flyers and Penguins have not added significantly to the personnel they iced a year ago, and each club has some defensive question marks heading into the season. Philadelphia lost Matt Carle and Jaromir Jagr to free agency and James van Riemsdyk via trade, while two-way forward Jordan Staal and defenseman Zbynek Michalek are no longer members of the Penguins.
The Flyers acquired Luke Schenn in the JVR deal and signed role-playing defensemen Kurtis Foster and Bruno Gervais. Former Lightning, Penguins and Rangers forward Ruslan Fedotenko (a member of the last Pittsburgh Cup-winning team) has returned to Philadelphia, where he started his pro career in the early 2000s.
The Penguins obtained center Brandon Sutter in the Staal trade and added some grit with forward Tanner Glass. Additionally the club is hoping that 2009 first-round pick Simon Despres steps up to take a regular spot in the starting blueline this season.
Neither Ilya Bryzgalov (who was playing through a chip fracture in his right foot) nor Marc-Andre Fleury performed well in goal in the playoff meeting last year. To be fair, both were playing against high-powered attacks and neither received much help from their defense, with the exception of a strong Philadelphia defensive effort in the clinching sixth game of the series. Both goalies will look for a fresh start against their respective club's most hated rival. Each club has changed over its backup goaltenders, with Pittsburgh landing longtime NHL starter Tomas Vokoun and Philly recycling Michael Leighton.
Even in a normal regular season with full training camps and a slate of exhibition games, it is common for teams to need a few games to get in synch. This is especially true on the special teams side of the game, as both power play and penalty killing require a rhythm. Yesterday, Flyers forward Max Talbot pointed out that all NHL teams are in the same boat in terms of scrambling to overcome the difficulty of short preparation time.
That is where both clubs having a high number of returning players from last year can come in useful in terms of getting everyone on the same page. It is worth noting that two Flyers starting defensemen -- All-Star blueliner Kimmo Timonen (back) and former Barry Ashbee Trophy winner Andrej Meszaros (Achilles tendon) -- are coming off major surgeries during the off-season. No doubt Pittsburgh will attempt to test these players both on the rush and forecheck.
In the Flyers final practice before the opener, head coach Peter Laviolette mentioned discipline as one of the keys to the first game and the early part of the season in general with emotions and adrenaline running high. Even if a team survives penalty trouble, it can have a wear-down effect or take a team out of synch at even strength if there are too many interruptions for special teams play.
The Penguins learned of the potency of the Philadelphia power play the hard way in the playoffs last year. The Flyers also don't want to tempt fate very often going up against the murderers' row that is the Pittsburgh top power play unit.
Laviolette and Pittsburgh bench boss Dan Bylsma may not see eye-to-eye about a lot of things pertaining to each other's teams. But there was one thing Laviolette said on Friday that Bylsma would wholeheartedly endorse: It's time to turn their respective players loose.
Said Laviolette, "Guys I think they get tired of practicing. I do think they get tired of listening. And there is a lot of meetings. We find ourselves in a short camp like this in a lot of meetings, going over some video, going over things on a board, addressing things, situations, whatever it might be."
"Players are meant to play games. They have enough information. I don't expect it to be perfect, but I expect them to have a knowledge of what we are trying to be. In the end, I don't necessarily thinks it is what we put on the table that will determine the outcome of the game. I think it always comes down to heart and passion. And that's what makes a difference. It is me against you. Do you know what I mean? That's what determines victories, not systems or anything other than that."
Regardless of the outcome of the Flyers' opener, it's just one game and they won't have much time to dwell on it. Philly has to turn right around and head to Buffalo for a 12:30 matinee with the Sabres on Sunday.
Projected Starting Lineups (subject to change)
FLYERS
Scott Hartnell - Claude Giroux - Brayden Schenn
Max Talbot - Sean Couturier - Jakub Voracek
Matt Read - Scott Laughton - Wayne Simmonds
Ruslan Fedotenko - Eric Wellwood - Zac Rinaldo
Kimmo Timonen - Luke Schenn
Nicklas Grossmann - Braydon Coburn
Andrej Meszaros - Kurtis Foster
Ilya Bryzgalov
[Michael Leighton]
PENGUINS
Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Pascal Dupuis
Eric Tangradi - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Matt Cooke - Brandon Sutter - Tyler Kennedy
Tanner Glass - Joe Vitale - Craig Adams
Matt Niskanen - Kris Letang
Brooks Orpik - Paul Martin
Simon Despres - Deryk Engelland
Marc-Andre Fleury
[Tomas Vokoun]
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