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Thursday, 24 March 2011 09:30

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Flyers.

When and where: 7 p.m., Wells Fargo Center.

TV: FSN Pittsburgh, CSN-Philadelphia, NHL Network (United States).

Record: 44-19-9, 97 points. The Flyers are in first place in the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division.

Leading Scorer: Claude Giroux (right), 68 points (24 goals, 44 assists).

Last Game: 5-4 home shootout loss to the Capitals, Tuesday. Giroux and Andreas Nodl each had a goal and an assist in regulation for the Flyers.

Last Game against the Penguins: 3-2 home win, Dec. 14. Evgeni Malkin had two goals for the Penguins.

Flyers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Giroux. He has four goals in four games against the Penguins this season.

Ex-Penguins on the Flyers: Daniel Carcillo, LW (Carcillo was a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin, but never played for the NHL club); Joe Mullen, assistant coach; Kevin McCarthy, assistant coach; Simon Nolet, scout.

Ex-Flyers on the Penguins: Arron Asham, RW; Mike Comrie, C; Kevin Stevens, professional scout.

Useless Flyers Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Forward Don Nachbaur holds the Flyers' single-game record for penalties. He recorded eight in a 7-0 road loss against the Penguins, March 19, 1988.

Best Flyers Video We Could Find: Former Penguins forward Alexandre Daigle, then of the Flyers, scoring a nifty overtime goal against the Penguins and goaltender Ken Wregget in a 4-3 home win, March 8, 1998:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (31-18-5, 2.38 GAA, .917 SV%) for the Penguins. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette would not announce if Sergei Bobrovsky (26-11-5, 2.61 GAA, .914 SV%) or Brian Boucher (17-8-4, 2.41 GAA, .915 SV%) for the Flyers.

Injuries: For the Penguins, forward Mark Letestu (shoulder) is day to day. Forwards Mike Comrie (hip), Sidney Crosby (concussion), Nick Johnson (concussion), Evgeni Malkin (knee), Eric Tangradi (concussion) and defenseman Brooks Orpik (finger) are on injured reserve. For the Flyers, defenseman Chris Pronger (hand) and forward Jody Shelley (face) are out. Defenseman Oskars Bartulis (shoulder) and forward Ian Laperriere (concussion) are on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins lines in yesterday's practice were (PG+):

James Neal - Dustin Jeffrey - Alex Kovalev
Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Pascal Dupuis - Maxime Talbot - Chris Conner
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Arron Asham
Eric Tangradi - Mike Comrie - Eric Godard

-All seven defensemen rotated in practice. Their primary pairings against the Red Wings Monday were:

Zbynek Michalek - Paul Martin
Kris Letang - Ben Lovejoy
Deryk Engelland - Matt Niskanen

-The Flyers did not practice with a full crew yesterday. Their primary lines and defensive pairings against the Capitals Tuesday were:

Scott Hartnell - Daniel Briere - Ville Leino
Andreas Nodl - Claude Giroux - Jeff Carter
James van Riemsdyk - Mike Richards - Kris Versteeg
Darroll Powe - Blair Betts - Daniel Carcillo

Kimmo Timonen - Braydon Coburn
Matt Carle - Andrej Meszaros
Sean O'Donnell - Nick Boynton

Notes:

-This is pretty much do or die for the Penguins if they want to take over the lead in the Eastern Conference.

-Kovalev has 349 career points with the Penguins.

-Staal has 99 career assists.

-Letang has 97 career assists.

-Dupuis has 146 career assists.

-Fleury has 19 career regular season wins against the Flyers. That is his most against any one opponent.

-Carter missed practice yesterday for "maintenance" purposes.

-The Flyers demoted defenseman Danny Syvret to Adirondack of the AHL.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 7 p.m. Please tune in.

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Comments (2)

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written by Boom Shaka, March 24, 2011 - 02:39 PM

Feel the hate flow!

I CANNOT wait for this game!

Do it Boys!

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written by Kibab1979, March 24, 2011 - 05:04 PM

Anyone know why Thiessen was recalled from WBS?

http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=557116&navid=DL|PIT|home

Press release makes no mention of injury to Fleury or Johnson.

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