Flyers-Penguins: Game 78 Preview

Flyers Leaders	GP	G	A	P	Penguins Leaders	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	74	22	43	65	Sidney Crosby	77	32	49	81
Wayne Simmonds	77	28	28	56	Kris Letang	68	16	46	62
Brayden Schenn	75	25	31	56	Evgeni Malkin	57	27	31	58
Jakub Voracek	68	10	42	52	Phil Kessel	78	26	31	57
Shayne Gostisbehere	59	16	26	42	Patric Hornqvist	77	20	28	48

 

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	13 Nick Bonino
Last 5 Games: 2 G, 2 A, 4 P, +2	Last 5 Games: 3 G, 5 A, 8 P, +6

 

Five games left in the season and the first is against the biggest rival. This is the time when a captain steps up. Look for Claude Giroux, who has proven to have success against the Penguins over his career, to be a factor.

 

We can talk about Crosby, Kessel, Letang, the absence of Malkin all we want. Lately, it's the bottom-6 players getting things done for the Penguins. Nick Bonino has been all over the place, and if the Flyers learned anything from the last meeting between these two teams, it's that Bonino is dangerous in his own right.

 

Goalie Matchup
35 Steve Mason	30 Matt Murray
22-17-9, 2.48 GAA, .920 SV%	6-2-1, 1.86 GAA, .933 SV%

Steve Mason has been in a zone of late. He made 33 saves in another win on Saturday and has been rock solid between the pipes in making eight straight starts. The only time he's allowed three goals or more in that stretch was in the first game, which came against the Penguins on March 19. 

Matt Murray has been the Penguins backup, but with the news that Marc-Andre Fleury is out indefinitely with a concussion, the Penguins may be riding their rookie goalie into the playoffs. Murray picked up his first career shutout on Saturday, and despite not being used on both ends of a back-to-back at the NHL level, the Penguins may just ride the momentum into Sunday's game.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Scott Laughton, Evgeny Medvedev, R.J. Umberger, Jordan Weal, Michael Del Zotto

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
10 Brayden Schenn	28 Claude Giroux	17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl	14 Sean Couturier	89 Sam Gagner
93 Jake Voracek	52 Nick Cousins	24 Matt Read
76 Chris VandeVelde	78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	25 Ryan White
Defense
47 Andrew MacDonald	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
55 Nick Schultz	32 Mark Streit
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
35 Steve Mason

There are no lineup changes again for the Flyers, who will use the same lineup as in the last two games.

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (T-18th, T-11th on road), Penguins (T-18th, 18th at home)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-19th, 16th on road), Penguins (7th, T-12th at home) 
• Recent History vs. Penguins
  • Jan. 21, 2016 - The Flyers fell to the Penguins, 4-3, in Pittsburgh. The Flyers opened up a 2-0 lead with power play goals by Brayden Schenn and Jake Voracek. But the Penguins rallied from the deficit for three second-period goals by Trevor Daley, Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel. Kessel added a second goal in the third. Claude Giroux scored the Flyers third power-play goal late in the third to cut the lead to one, but the Flyers late rally fell short. Steve Mason made 41 saves in the loss. 
  • March 19, 2016 – The Flyers fell to the Penguins, 4-1, in Philadelphia. After a scoreless first, Radko Gudas got the Flyers on the board early in the second. But the Penguins responded quickly with a goal by Trevor Daley just 1:01 later. Late in the second, two quick goals by Carl Hagelin and Chris Kunitz seemed to put the game away and ultimately did. Kris Letang added an empty-net goal in the final two minutes. Steve Mason made 31 saves in the loss. The Flyers were held to just 17 shots in the game.
• Flyers leaders vs. Penguins
• Claude Giroux – 34 games, 12 goals, 22 assists, 34 points
• Jake Voracek – 26 games, 12 goals, 16 assists, 28 points
• Wayne Simmonds – 22 games, 8 goals, 9 assists, 17 points
• Steve Mason – 12 games, 6-4-1, 2.45 GAA, .928 Sv%
• Milestone Watch
  • Sean Couturier needs 1 assist to reach 100 in his career.
  • Jake Voracek is playing in his 600th NHL game tonight.

Where to Watch
TV: CSN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic

Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.