About the Flyers - 03-17-12
A preview of the Flyers.
When and where: 12:30 p.m. EDT. Wells Fargo Center.
TV: Worst Network Ever NBC, NHL Network (Canada), RDSI.
Record: 41-22-8, 90 points. The Flyers are in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and fourth place in the Atlantic Division
Leading Scorer: Claude Giroux, 82 points (26 goals, 56 assists).
Last Game: 3-2 road shootout loss, yesterday. Matt Read (right) had a regulation goal and an assist for the Flyers.
Last Game against the Penguins: 6-4 home loss, Feb. 18. Matt Cooke had two goals and an assist for the Penguins.
Flyers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Jaromir Jagr. He has 39 points in 39 career games against his former team.
Ex-Penguins on the Flyers: Jaromir Jagr, RW; Joe Mullen, assistant coach; Simon Nolet, scout; Maxime Talbot, C.
Ex-Flyers on the Penguins: Arron Asham, RW; Richard Park, RW.
Useless Flyers Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Talbot is one of four players who have scored a Stanley Cup clinching goal and have played for the Flyers as well as the Penguins. The others are left winger Ruslan Fedotenko, center Rick MacLeish and defenseman Ulf Samuelsson.
Best Flyers Video We Could Find: The closing sequence to this season's version of "24/7":
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Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (39-14-3, 2.25 GAA, .917 SV%) for the Penguins and Sergei Bobrovsky (12-9-1, 3.03 GAA, .899 SV%).
Injuries: For the Penguins, right winger Arron Asham (illness) and center Joe Vitale ("upper body") are questionable. Goaltender Brent Johnson (undisclosed) is day to day. For the Flyers, defenseman Andreas Lilja (throat) and center Maxime Talbot ("upper body") are questionable. Defensemen Pavel Kubina ("upper body") and Andrej Meszaros ("lower body") are day to day. Center Blair Betts (knee), right winger Ian Laperriere (head), defenseman Chris Pronger (head) and right winger Tim Sestito (groin) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: With Vitale questionable, consider this a guess based off the Penguins's lines and defensive pairings from yesterday against the Devils:
Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Steve Sullivan - Jordan Staal - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Sidney Crosby - Tyler Kennedy
Eric Tangradi - Richard Park - Craig Adams
Kris Letang - Paul Martin
Brooks Orpik - Zbynek Michalek
Matt Niskanen - Deryk Engelland
-The Flyers' primary lines and defensive pairings yesterday against the Bruins were:
Scott Hartnell - Claude Giroux - Jaromir Jagr
Eric Wellwood - Daniel Briere - Jakub Voracek
Matt Read - Brayden Schenn - Wayne Simmonds
Maxime Talbot - Sean Couturier - Zac Rinaldo
Kimmo Timonen - Matt Carle
Nicklas Grossman - Braydon Coburn
Andreas Lilja - Erik Gustafsson
Notes:
-The last time the Penguins played the Flyers, this happened:
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-"I stayed in the game, played in the game." - Kris Letang on a big hit he absorbed from Devils forward Eric Boulton yesterday.
-Malkin has 198 career goals.
-Orpik has 97 career assists.
-Kennedy has 149 career points.-Staal has a career-best 10-game scoring streak.
-Lilja and Talbot each suffered injuries yesterday.
-Talbot was apparently injured in this fight with Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk:
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-"Maybe we don’t like daylight." - Jagr on his team's 3-8-2 in games which start between 1 and 3 p.m.
-Our live blog, directly from the city of brotherly love, begins at approximately 11:30 a.m. Please tune in.
(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)