Game Preview: Philadelphia Flyers @ Pittsburgh Penguins

Game Time: 7:30pm/ET
From: Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA
Penguins Record: 9-4-2 (6th in Eastern Conference)
Flyers Record: 5-6-3 (13th in Eastern Conference)
Last Meeting:
October 13th, 2008 @ Pittsburgh (3-2 Pens [OT])

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS LINE COMBINATIONS:
Max Talbot - Sidney Crosby - Miroslav Satan
Ruslan Fedotenko - Evgeni Malkin - Petr Sykora
Tyler Kennedy - Jordan Staal - Matt Cooke
Pascal Dupuis - Mike Zigomanis - Eric Godard

Brooks Opik - Kris Letang
Rob Scuderi/Mark Eaton* - Hal Gill
Darryl Sydor - Alex Goligoski

* Scuderi will be a game-time decision, with Mark Eaton taking his place if he is unable to play tonight.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS PROBABLE GOALTENDER:
Marc- Andre Fleury (7-3-2 / 2.76GAA / .911 SV%)

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS LINE COMBINATIONS:
Simon Gagne - Glen Metropolit - Mike Knuble
Andreas Nodl - Mike Richards - Joffrey Lupul
Scott Hartnell - Jeff Carter - Scottie Upshall
Josh Gratton - Lasse Kukkonen - Arron Asham

Kimmo Timonen - Braydon Coburn
Matt Carle - Luca Sbisa
Ossi Vaananen - Andrew Alberts

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS PROBABLE GOALTENDER:
Martin Biron (4-5-1 / 3.29GAA / .890 SV%)

PENGUINS LEADERS:
GOALS: Satan (8)
ASSISTS: Malkin (19)
POINTS: Malkin (24)
+/-: Crosby (+5)

FLYERS LEADERS:
GOALS: Carter (9)
ASSISTS: Richards (12)
POINTS: Richards (17)
+/-: Gagne (+4)


The Flyers have a lot of injuries. Daniel Briere returned recently after abdominal surgery, but left the Flyers game on Tuesday with a lower body injury. Their defense is weakened by the losses of Derian Hatcher, Ryan Parent and Randy Jones. Ossi Vaananen was listed as day-to-day, but should return tonight. Forwards Riley Cote and Darroll Powe out with injuries as well. Lasse Kukkonen, a defenseman, may step up and play as center on the team's fourth line.

The Penguins have their share of injuries as well. In addition to the longterm injuries to Gonchar and Whitney, Rob Scuderi is listed as day-to-day after taking a slapshot to the foot on Tuesday in Detroit. Scuderi will be a game-time decision, with Mark Eaton taking his place if he is unable to play tonight.

The Penguins have won four games in a row and scored a total of 22 goals during those four games. Their offense is definitely rolling. Ruslan Fedotenko will move up to the Malkin/Sykora line while Pascal Dupuis drops down to line four.

Prediction: 4-2 Penguins


Philadelphia Media:

Newspapers:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Daily News

Blogs:
Cuseadelphia
Eager to go Psycho
The 700 Level
The Orange Crush