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Flyers Gameday: 3/17/19 @ PIT

March 17, 2019, 8:58 AM ET [149 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game 72 Preview: FLYERS @ PENGUINS

Interim head coach Scott Gordon's Philadelphia Flyers (34-29-8) are in western Pennsylvania on Sunday to take on Mike Sullivan's Pittsburgh Penguins (39-24-9). Game time at PPG Paints Arena is 7:30 p.m. ET.

The game will be nationally televised on NBCSN. The radio broadcast can be found on 97.5 FM The Fanatic with an online simulcast at FlyersRadio247.com.

This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the cross-state archrivals and the second and final game in Pittsburgh. The Flyers are 2-1-0 thus far.

On Dec. 1 in Pittsburgh, the Flyers skated to a 4-2 road win at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. A fight between Wayne Simmonds and now-former Penguins defenseman Jamie Oleksiak was a rallying point for the Flyers, and a shorthanded goal by now-former Flyers right winger Dale Weise was a crucial strike. Travis Konecny and Claude Giroux also scored for the Flyers, while Sidney Crosby (39 seconds into the first period) and Riley Sheahan tallied for Pittsburgh. Anthony Stolarz (30 saves on 32 shots) earned the win while Casey DeSmith (22 saves on 26 shots) took the loss in goal.

On Feb. 11 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers suffered a 4-1 loss that brought the Flyers 9-0-1 point streak to an end. Philly was the better team for much of the game, especially a dominant second period in which the Penguins were hemmed in for much of the stanza and the Flyers racked up a franchise single-period record 28 shots on goal. The Flyers also got unlucky on a very hasty and erroneous whistle that cost them a slam-dunk power play goal for Nolan Patrick.

However, on this night, Matt Murray (50 saves) stole the show. Carter Hart made his share of good saves but said after the game that he'd have liked to have back the second and third Pittsburgh goals. The first was a freak bounce behind the net that no one by Sidney Crosby saw until Crosby had himself a goal into a half-open net. Crosby finished with a three-point night. A late third-period power play goal by Jakub Voracek stood as the lone Philadelphia tally.

At the 2019 Stadium Series at Lincoln Financial Field, the Flyers recovered from a 3-1 deficit with a late third-period rally to win, 4-3, in overtime amid a pouring rain.

Giroux ended a four-game pointless spell in dramatic fashion, assisting on the first of the two late goals and then scoring the winning OT goal at 1:59 of the extra frame. Sean Couturier had a goal and an assist on the game-tying goal, while Voracek scored the goal that forced OT and assisted on the team's other two tallies. James van Riemsdyk's rebound power play goal got the team back within 3-2 at 16:56 of the third period.

Brian Elliott, apart from a misplay on the third Penguins goal, did everything that could have been hoped for in goal. stopping 40 of 43 shots to earn the win. Penguins counterpart Matt Murray was very good in net for the Penguins until giving up a flat angle goal by Voracek in the final 20 seconds of regulation. He was then beaten through the five-holwe by Giroux in OT after the Pens controlled most of the early puck possession. Murray finished with 33 saves on 37 shots.

Crosby opened the scoring for Pittsburgh, cashing in a Voracek turnover. Justin Schultz scored through a screen to make it 2-1 in the second period, and played 30:02 of ice time. Malkin's shot from high in the Flyers zone went off Elliott's glove, popped high in the air and then bounced in off the back of Elliott's skate.

The easily-goaded Malkin later allowed himself to get into a cross-checking battle with Flyers' defenseman Robert Hägg at 14:51 of the third period, getting taken off the ice for two minutes and creating a 4-on-4, which became a Flyers power play after a Matt Cullen slashing penalty. That set the comeback wheels in motion for the Flyers.

Flyers Outlook

A crucial 3-in-4 gauntlet has been a disaster for the Flyers. A 5-2 loss at home to Washington on Thursday begat an epic collapse in Toronto the next night. The Flyers held a 5-2 late in the second period but were outplayed for much of the game and went on to lose in regulation, 7-6.

van Riemsdyk scored a hat trick against his former team (goals 22, 23 and 24 on the season) in a losing cause. Jakub Voracek (19th) returned from a two-game NHL suspension to open the scoring on a scorcher right off a faceoff win by Nolan Patrick. Radko Gudas (3rd) and Shayne Gostisbehere (7th) opened a 5-2 lead with 6:33 left in the second period but the Flyers gave up back-to-back goals by Jake Muzzin and saw the lead shrink to 5-4 before the second intermission. Elliott started out great, including a seven-save penalty kill in an 18-save first period (helped out by a would-be Leafs goal being wiped out because the net was off its moorings). Once the Leafs solved him, however, Elliott was as ineffective as the rest of the team. He finished with 44 saves on 51 shots.

The Flyers recalled Justin Bailey from the Phantoms on Saturday. Ryan Hartman missed Friday's game due to illness, and Philly dressed seven defensemen for that game.

The Flyers are 19-7-2 over their last 28 games. Unfortunately, while they've been losing crucial games this week, the teams they are chasing in the playoff race have been picking up points. The gap is now a cavernous nine points (eight standings points and a ROW disadvantage) with 11 games left to play.

Penguins Outlook

The Penguins are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and hold a two-point edge (ROW is identical) over the Carolina Hurricanes for third place in the Metro Division. However, the Penguins enter this coming coming off a 5-1 home loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday afternoon.

Jordan Binnington turned aside 39 of 40 shots for the Blues. Matt Murray stopped 9 of 13 shots for the Penguins. He was pulled at 2:41 of the second period in favor of DeSmith. Dominik Simon scored midway through regulation for the lone Penguins' goal.

Kris Letang (upper body injury) practiced on Friday. He did not play on Saturday but could return for this game. Ditto forward Bryan Rust. Pittsburgh defenseman Chad Ruhwedel (upper-body) is day-to-day.

Projected Lines (Subject to change)

FLYERS

25 James van Riemsdyk - 19 Nolan Patrick - 28 Claude Giroux
23 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jake Voracek
12 Michael Raffl - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
44 Phil Varone - 10 Corban Knight - 38 Ryan Hartman

9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 61 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hägg - 3 Radko Gudas​

79 Carter Hart
37 Brian Elliott/ 33 Cam Talbot

Scratches: 47 Andrew MacDonald (healthy), 27 Justin Bailey (healthy), 33 Cam Talbot (healthy), 5 Sam Morin (healthy), 30 Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body).

PENGUINS

19 Jared McCann - 87 Sidney Crosby - 59 Jake Guentzel
53 Teddy Blueger - 17 Bryan Rust - 81 Phil Kessel
12 Dominik Simon - 27 Nick Bjugstad - 72 Patric Hörnqvist
36 Joseph Blandisi - 7 Matt Cullen - 10 Garrett Wilson​

8 Brian Dumoulin - 5 Zach Trotman
73 Jack Johnson - 4 Justin Schultz
28 Marcus Pettersson - 44 Erik Gudbranson​

30 Matt Murray
[1 Casey DeSmith]

Scratches: 2 Chad Ruhwedel (upper body), 3 Olli Määttä (IR, upper body), 58 Kris Letang (upper body), 71 Evgeni Malkin (illness), 46 Zach Aston-Reese (lower body, day to day).
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