Flyers-Penguins: Round 1, Game 6 Preview

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Pittsburgh Penguins	GP	G	A	P
Sean Couturier	4	2	2	4	Sidney Crosby	5	5	5	10
Valtteri Filppula	5	1	2	3	Jake Guentzel	5	2	6	8
Jake Voracek	5	0	3	3	Evgeni Malkin	5	3	2	5
Claude Giroux	5	1	1	2	Brian Dumoulin	5	1	4	5
Nolan Patrick	5	1	1	2	Kris Letang	5	1	3	4

 

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	72 Patric Hornqvist
In Series: 1 G, 1 A, 2 P, -7	In Series: 1 G, 2 A, 3 P, +1

 

Finally in Game 5, it seemed like a more determined Claude Giroux showed up and made his presence felt in the series. In front of the home crowd at Wells Fargo Center, if anyone knows that a certain effort level is expected of this team, it's the captain.

 

It looks like the Penguins are going to get Patric Hornqvist back in the lineup for Game 6, so look for him to make an impact, particularly on the power play. The Penguins went 0-for-5 on the power play in Game 5 on Friday, so with Hornqvist back, Pittsburgh's power-play struggles could take a back seat and be the deciding factor in the game.

 

Goalie Matchup
30 Michal Neuvirth	30 Matt Murray
1-0, 2.61 GAA, .911 SV%	3-2, 1.63 GAA, .933 SV%

The Flyers went with Michal Neuvirth in goal for Game 5 and it was a move that ultimately paid off in a big way. Neuvirth did allow two soft goals that need to be stopped, but he also made several key saves at key moments, none bigger than his glove save in the final minute on Sidney Crosby. There should be no question who is in goal for the Flyers for Game 6.

The Flyers got the better of Matt Murray for the second time in the series, but Murray has been excellent throughout. There have been games where he really hasn't been tested much, but the numbers don't lie for the Pittsburgh netminder.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Jordan Weal, Oskar Lindblom, Taylor Leier, Travis Sanheim, Johnny Oduya, Petr Mrazek

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	51 Valtteri Filppula	93 Jake Voracek
12 Michael Raffl	19 Nolan Patrick	11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton	14 Sean Couturier	17 Wayne Simmonds
22 Dale Weise	15 Jori Lehtera	24 Matt Read
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	47 Andrew MacDonald
8 Robert Hagg	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
30 Michal Neuvirth

Lineup Notes

For now, the projected Flyers lineup is the one that was used in Game 5. The Flyers had an optional practice on Saturday and with no morning skate on Sunday, we'll have to wait until warmups to see if there are any changes. Ivan Provorov and Sean Couturier are obviously banged up a bit, but both figure to play with the season on the line. It will also be interesting to see if the forward lines are shuffled in addition to any personnel changes.

Penguins Projected Lineup

Injuries: Carter Rowney

Scratches: Josh Jooris, Zach Aston-Reese, Matt Hunwick

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
59 Jake Guentzel	87 Sidney Crosby	12 Dominik Simon
62 Carl Hagelin	71 Evgeni Malkin	72 Patric Hornqvist
17 Bryan Rust	19 Derick Brassard	81 Phil Kessel
34 Tom Kuhnhackl	15 Riley Sheahan	43 Conor Sheary
Defense
8 Brian Dumoulin	58 Kris Letang
3 Olli Maatta	4 Justin Schultz
6 Jamie Oleksiak	2 Chad Ruhwedel
Goalie
30 Matt Murray

Game Notes (Regular-Season Totals)

• Power Play: Flyers (15th, 24th at home), Penguins (1st, 1st on road)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (29th, 29th at home), Penguins (17th, T-13th on road) 
• First-Round Series Results
  • April 11, 2018 (Game 1) – Penguins 7, Flyers 0 (at PIT)
  • April 13, 2018 (Game 2) – Flyers 5, Penguins 1 (at PIT)
  • April 15, 2018 (Game 3) – Penguins 5, Flyers 1 (at PHI)
  • April 18, 2018 (Game 4) – Penguins 5, Flyers 0 (at PHI)
  • April 20, 2018 (Game 5) – Flyers 4, Penguins 2 (at PIT)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Penguins
  • Claude Giroux – 44 GP, 14 G, 31 A, 45 P
  • Jake Voracek – 36 GP, 18 G, 17 A, 35 P
  • Wayne Simmonds – 32 GP, 13 G, 11 A, 24 P
  • Michal Neuvirth – 9 GP, 2-3-2, 2.50 GAA, .912 SV%
• Penguins Leaders vs. Flyers
  • Sidney Crosby – 63 GP, 38 G, 55 A, 93 P
  • Evgeni Malkin – 53 GP, 26 G, 42 A, 68 P
  • Phil Kessel – 43 GP, 9 G, 19 A, 28 P
  • Matt Murray – 8 GP, 3-2-0, 3.00 GAA, .912 SV%

Where to Watch
TV: NBC
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic