Flyers-Penguins: Round 1, Game 3 Preview

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Pittsburgh Penguins	GP	G	A	P
Sean Couturier	2	1	2	3	Jake Guentzel	2	1	3	4
Ivan Provorov	2	0	2	2	Sidney Crosby	2	3	0	3
Nolan Patrick	2	1	0	1	Brian Dumoulin	2	0	3	3
Shayne Gostisbehere	2	1	0	1	Patric Hornqvist	2	1	1	2
Travis Konecny	2	1	0	1	Carl Hagelin	2	1	1	2

 

Player to Watch
11 Travis Konecny	71 Evgeni Malkin
In Series: 1 G, 0 A, 1 P, -1	In Series: 1 G, 0 A, 1 P, E

 

Travis Konecny scored a pretty goal in Game 2 for his first career playoff goal. With each game, Konecny continues to be an energy player with the ability to change a game. With the series heading home and the Flyers being able to better match lines, look for Konecny to be placed in even more favorable situations.

 

Game 2 started to bring out some frustration for the Penguins. There was Sidney Crosby being stopped on a breakaway and missing a wide open net at the end of the second. There was Patric Hornqvist showing that the Flyers were starting to get under his skin. It worked on Evgeni Malkin too, and Malkin has just a goal through the first two games. Neutralizing Malkin is just as crucial as any other player, and he'll be more determined to make sure Pittsburgh gets the upper hand in Game 3.

 

Goalie Matchup
37 Brian Elliott	30 Matt Murray
1-1, 4.04 GAA, .889 SV%	1-1, 2.07 GAA, .907 SV%

Brian Elliott certainly didn't have a lot of support coming into Game 2, but he proved a lot of doubters wrong with his performance on Friday, making 34 saves in the 5-1 win. There are two versions of Elliott, either really good or really terrible. The Flyers will once again need Elliott to be sharp just like he was in Game 2.

Matt Murray showed he is in fact beatable in Game 2. After three straight shutouts in the playoffs dating back to last year's Stanley Cup Final, Murray's streak was broken late in the first period on Friday and the Flyers solved him three more times. There were a couple greasy goals and a couple pretty goals. At this stage of the season, it doesn't matter how they go in, but the one common element to all four goals was going hard to the net and making things difficult for Murray.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Michal Neuvirth

Scratches: Dale Weise, Jordan Weal, Taylor Leier, Robert Hagg, Johnny Oduya

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	12 Michael Raffl
54 Oskar Lindblom	19 Nolan Patrick	93 Jake Voracek
11 Travis Konecny	51 Valtteri Filppula	17 Wayne Simmonds
21 Scott Laughton	15 Jori Lehtera	24 Matt Read
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
6 Travis Sanheim	47 Andrew MacDonald
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

The Flyers had an optional practice with all of the scratches from Game 2 as well as a handful of others taking the skate. Any changes to the lineup will not be known until warmups most likely, but it does not seem likely that the Flyers will make any lineup changes ahead of Game 3. 

Penguins Projected Lineup

Injuries: Carter Rowney

Scratches: Josh Jooris, Dominik Simon, Matt Hunwick

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
59 Jake Guentzel	87 Sidney Crosby	17 Bryan Rust
62 Carl Hagelin	71 Evgeni Malkin	72 Patric Hornqvist
43 Conor Sheary	19 Derick Brassard	81 Phil Kessel
34 Tom Kuhnhackl	15 Riley Sheahan	46 Zach Aston-Reese
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, 4th on road), Penguins (1st, T-1st at home)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (29th, 24th on road), Penguins (17th, 21st at home) 
• 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)
• 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
  • Brian Elliott – 13 GP, 7-3-2, 2.88 GAA, .918 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