Flyers-Penguins: Game 51 Preview

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Pittsburgh Penguins	GP	G	A	P
Sean Couturier	50	13	30	43	Evgeni Malkin	37	15	35	50
Travis Konecny	47	17	26	43	Jake Guentzel	39	20	23	43
Jake Voracek	50	10	28	38	Bryan Rust	36	21	22	43
Claude Giroux	50	13	22	35	Kris Letang	42	10	21	31
James van Riemsdyk	50	14	15	29	Jared McCann	48	14	14	28

 

Player to Watch
25 James van Riemsdyk	87 Sidney Crosby
Last 5 Games: 2 G, 4 A, 6 P, E	Last 5 Games: 3 G, 5 A, 8 P, -1

 

James van Riemsdyk entered the All-Star break with goals in back-to-back games and a total of four points in his previous two games. After going eight straight games without a point, van Riemsdyk has six in his last five games.

 

Sidney Crosby had posted eight points in four games since returning from injury before last Tuesday's game against the Flyers where he and the rest of the Penguins were shut out. There will certainly be a lot of motivation for the Penguins captain to be better than he was in last week's meeting against the Flyers. 

 

Projected Goalie Matchup
37 Brian Elliott	35 Tristan Jarry
24 GP, 12-5-3, 2.89 GAA, .904 SV%	25 GP, 16-8-1, 2.16 GAA, .929 SV%

Brian Elliott stopped all 19 shots faced in last Tuesday's shutout win over the Penguins. Elliott has been excellent since being moved into the primary starter role with Carter Hart out with injury. In the three starts he has made since Hart's injury, Elliott has stopped 83 of 87 shots faced in three straight wins.

Tristan Jarry was also in goal for the Flyers 3-0 win over Pittsburgh last Tuesday, allowing two goals on 29 shots. Jarry lost his final two starts going to the All-Star break, allowing a combined five goals in that time.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Carter Hart (lower right abdominal, out at least seven days), Shayne Gostisbehere (knee, day-to-day), Nolan Patrick (migrane disorder, out indefinitely), Oskar Lindblom (Ewing's sarcoma, out for season)

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
25 James van Riemsdyk	28 Claude Giroux	11 Travis Konecny
12 Michael Raffl	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
21 Scott Laughton	13 Kevin Hayes	62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
49 Joel Farabee	82 Connor Bunnaman	18 Tyler Pitlick
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim	5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hagg	61 Justin Braun
Goalie
37 Brian Elliott	34 Alex Lyon

Lineup Notes

Michael Raffl makes his return to the lineup on the second line. Some other Flyers are also getting close to returning. Shayne Gostisbehere practiced on Thursday and will not play on Friday, but could be ready as soon as Saturday. Carter Hart is still at least a week away from returning to game action.

Penguins Projected Lineup

Injuries: Jake Guentzel, Dominik Kahun, Nick Bjugstad, Brian Dumoulin

Scratches: Juuso Riikola

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
19 Jared McCann	87 Sidney Crosby	12 Dominik Simon
17 Bryan Rust	71 Evgeni Malkin	72 Patric Hornqvist
46 Zach Aston-Reese	53 Teddy Blueger	13 Brandon Tanev
18 Alex Galchenyuk	26 Andrew Agozzino	57 Anthony Angello
Defense
3 Jack Johnson	58 Kris Letang
28 Marcus Pettersson	6 John Marino
2 Chad Ruhwedel	4 Justin Schultz
Goalie
35 Tristan Jarry	30 Matt Murray

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (T-18th), Penguins (17th)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (10th), Penguins (11th)
• Recent History vs. Penguins
  • Oct. 29, 2019 – Penguins 7, Flyers 1 (at PIT)
  • Jan. 21, 2020 – Flyers 3, Penguins 0 (at PHI)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Penguins
  • Claude Giroux – 50 GP, 16 G, 35 A, 51 P
  • Jake Voracek – 42 GP, 22 G, 20 A, 42 P
  • Sean Couturier – 36 GP, 6 G, 17 A, 23 P
  • James van Riemsdyk – 38 GP, 12 G, 11 A, 23 P
  • Brian Elliott – 16 GP, 9-4-2, 2.96 GAA, .914 SV%
• Milestone Watch
  • Claude Giroux needs three points to reach 800 for his career.

Where to Watch
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic/97.3 ESPN