About the Flyers - Game 4 - 04-18-12

A preview of the Flyers.

When and where: 7:30 p.m. EDT. Wells Fargo Center.

TV: Root Sports, CSN Philadelphia, NBC Sports Network (outside the Pittsburgh Philadelphia markets), TSN, RDS2.

Leading postseason scorer: Claude Giroux, eight points (four goals, four assists).

Last Game: 8-4 home win in Game 3, Sunday. James Neal had two goals and an assist for the Penguins.

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (0-3, 6.34 GAA, .798 SV%) for the Penguins and Ilya Bryzgalov (3-0, 3.96 GAA, .868 SV%) for the Flyers.

Injuries: For the Penguins, defenseman Zbynek Michalek (undisclosed) is well... undisclosed. Defenseman Paul Martin (undisclosed) is out. For the Flyers, defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon ("upper body") is questionable. Right wingers Ian Laperriere (head), Tim Sestito (groin), defensemen Andrej Meszaros (back), Chris Pronger (head), center Blair Betts (knee) and left winger James van Riemsdyk (foot) are on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' primary lines at today's morning skate were: (PG+)

Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - Tyler Kennedy
Steve Sullivan - Sidney Crosby - Pascal Dupuis
Eric Tangradi - Jordan Staal - Matt Cooke
Dustin Jeffrey - Joe Vitale - Richard Park

-The defensemen rotated. Consider this an absolute guess

Kris Letang - Brooks Orpik
Matt Niskanen - Deryk Engelland
Simon Despres - Ben Lovejoy

-The Flyers' primary lines and defensive pairings at practice today were:

Scott Hartnell - Claude Giroux - Jaromir Jagr (above)
Brayden Schenn - Daniel Briere - Wayne Simmonds
Zac Rinaldo - Sean Couturier - Maxime Talbot
Jakub Voracek - Eric Wellwood - Matt Read

Referees: Chris Lee and Wes McCauley.

Linsemen: Steve Barton and Greg Devorski.

Notes:

-Craig Adams, Arron Asham and James Neal are all suspended.

-Michalek did not skate today.

-The Penguins recalled Simon Despres.

-Could Dan Bylsma dress seven defensemen and 11 forwards? (PG+)

-"They don’t have to do anything special. They just have to come in and play well." - Cooke on using younger players as replacements.

-“That’s probably one of the nicer things they’ve said about me here." - Sidney Crosby on the Philadelphia Daily News' "cowardly lion" cover of him this morning.

-"People that point the finger at him are probably the people that whenever he's playing well are like, 'Oh, I knew he'd play well.' It's always the so-called experts that have all the answers. You can't control what other people say about you. He knows he has the belief of the guys in this room. That's always easy, finding a guy to point the finger to. There are 20 guys in this and we haven't played well in front of him." - Orpik on Fleury.

-Fleury is 4-4 all-time when facing elimination with a 2.20 goals against average and .919 save percentage.

-Dan Byslma speaks:

-Crosby speaks:

-"For us, it really makes no difference who they put in there or whatever. ... It's not like they're going to roll over and die just because of what happened." - Hartnell on the Penguins' suspensions. (PG+)

-“They’re kind of a streaky team that can win a lot of games in a row. I think it’s important for us, right off the bat, to take the momentum from last game." - Giroux.

-The Flyers are hoping for their fourth playoff series sweep in franchise history.

-The Flyers recalled forwards Tyler Brown, Matt Ford, Ben Holmstrom, Tye McGinn, Harry Zolnierczyk, defensemen Erik Gustafsson, Oliver Lauridsen, Brandon Manning and goaltender Michael Leighton from Adirondack of the AHL.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 7:15 p.m. Please tune in.

(Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images)