Who: Philadelphia Flyers (1-0) @ Pittsburgh Penguins
(0-1) in Game 2 of the best of seven seriesWhen: 7:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: Locally broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and NBC Sports Philadelphia, national on ESPN, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: Game 3 will be on Wednesday night in Philadelphia, then the series takes an extra day’s pause before Saturday’s Game 4.
Opponent Track: Gotta be a dream start and best case scenario for the Flyers after a strong Game 1 where a lot went right. Now they
play to take a commanding 2-0 lead back home.
Hidden Stat: The Penguins are 23-14 all-time in Game 2 after losing in Game 1.
Getting to know the Flyers
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Tyson Foerster – Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny – Christian Dvorak – Porter Martone
Denver Barkey – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Luke Glendening – Sean Couturier – Garnet Hathaway
DEFENSEMEN
Travis Sanheim / Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York / Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler / Emil Andrae
Goalies: Dan Vladar and Samuel Ersson
Potential scratches: Garrett Wilson, Carl Grundstrom, Noah Juulsen, Alex Bump
Injured Reserve: Rodrigo Abols (fractured ankle), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body)
- Owen Tippett and Emil Andrae were not on the ice for practice yesterday. Tippet didn’t have a point but is one of the team’s more important players who led them in scoring (28 goals) last season and was involved in several big hits on Saturday.
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Egor Chinakhov – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Tommy Novak – Rickard Rakell – Evgeni Malkin
Elmer Soderblom – Ben Kindel – Anthony Mantha
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson
Sam Girard / Kris Letang
Ryan Shea / Connor Clifton
Goalies: Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs
Potential Scratches: Ilya Solovyov, Justin Brazeau, Kevin Hayes, Ryan Grave, Jack St. Ivany
IR: Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones (season-ending shoulder surgery)
- The Pens had the same lines yesterday at practice so it doesn’t look like Brazeau or anyone else who didn’t play in Game 1 is going to be back in for today’s Game 2.
- Dan Muse said he knows who will be the goalie for today’s game, but he declined to specify who that would be. Stuart Skinner certainly wasn’t the team’s biggest problem in Game 1 but he didn’t get the win and the door is certainly open to continue the goalie rotation the team has used so often this season.
Time to work
“If you go back a little ways now, during the stretch where they were really kind of making a push to clinch, I thought we had good offensive depth throughout the lineup,” Muse said. “I thought we had good balance. I thought all lines were chipping in and creating, and creating in different ways.”
During that same stretch, the players did a terrific job of moving from one day to the next, whether they were coming off a big win or tough loss. And while the emotions and intensity are higher right now, Muse feels confident that the group will still find a way to turn the page quickly.
“The guys came in. They came ready to work. They had good energy. I thought we got something out of our day today. And so, now we move on to tomorrow,” Muse said.
