Flyers vs. Penguins: Projected lines, odds & trends, and what to watch for

The Philadelphia Flyers are in the home stretch. There are just five games left in the season and in a week they’ll be playing their final game. Tonight, they begin a back-to-back set against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Flyers at a loss for words as losses continue to pile up

Here’s everything you need to know for tonight’s game against the Penguins.

Projected lines and pairs

Flyers forward lines

Alain Vigneault won’t make any lineup changes for tonight’s game. Kevin Hayes and Nicolas Aube-Kubel returned to the lineup on Saturday and will remain in the lineup tonight.

Here are the projected lines for tonight’s game.

Claude Giroux – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee – Kevin Hayes – Jakub Voracek
James van Riemsdyk – Nolan Patrick – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Oskar Lindblom – Scott Laughton – Wade Allison

The fourth line was one of the Flyers’ best on Saturday night. The depth will be tested against a talented Penguins team that is getting Evgeni Malkin back tonight.

Vigneault swapped Konecny and Voracek in the top six. We’ll see if it changes anything for the Flyers offense.

Flyers defensive pairs

The Flyers are going with the same defensive pairs tonight as well.

Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun
Shayne Gostisbehere – Travis Sanheim
Robert Hagg – Philippe Myers

Shayne Gostisbehere looked solid in his return from injury on Saturday night.

Flyers starting goalie

The goalies have been rotating for the Flyers and that continues here. Alex Lyon will get the start tonight with Brian Elliott starting tomorrow.

Alex Lyon
Brian Elliott

Follow us on Twitter (@PhillyHockeyNow) and keep an eye out for lineup updates as we get closer to game time.

Betting odds and trends

via Covers

• The Flyers are rather heavy underdogs at +155 against the Penguins (-175) with the total set at 6.5 goals.

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Penguins trends

• 6-1 in their last 7 road games.
• 5-1 in their last 6 games as a road favorite.
• 4-1 in their last 5 games following a win.
• 4-1 in their last 5 vs. a team with a losing record.
• 22-8 in their last 30 overall.

Flyers trends

• 8-1 in their last 9 games following a home loss of 3 or more goals.
• 3-9 in their last 12 home games.
• 1-7 in their last 8 vs. a team with a winning % above .600.

Head-to-head trends

• Penguins are 0-4 in the last 4 meetings in Philadelphia.
• Home team is 7-2 in the last 9 meetings.

What to watch for

1. Can Flyers continue success against Penguins?

The Penguins are one of the few teams that the Flyers have a winning record against. In fact, their 4-2-0 record for .667 P% against the Penguins is their best against any team this season. However, that could change quickly given how these two teams are trending.

The Flyers are 3-7-1 in their last 11 games and the Penguins are 10-2-1 in their last 13 games. However, the Flyers beat the Penguins in a shootout in their last meeting on April 15th.

The playoff race in the East Division is still being decided with the Penguins and Capitals, both of which the Flyers play twice this week, at the top. The Flyers have a chance to play spoiler for either or both of those teams.

2. Alex Lyon getting another look

The Flyers certainly aren’t in the situation that they expected to be at this point in the season. And that includes their goaltending situation.

Alex Lyon will start again tonight after allowing two pretty bad goals in Thursday night’s loss. He is 0-3-0 with a .848 SV% and 4.20 GAA in four games this season.

3. Playing for pride against the Penguins

As mentioned above, the Flyers have played fairly well against the Penguins this season. Granted, two of those wins were the first two games of the season, but they did have that shootout win last month.

The Flyers have been embarrassed by almost every other divisional opponent this season. They lost by five or more goals to the Sabres (twice), Bruins, Rangers (twice), Islanders, and Capitals. Their two losses against the Penguins were 5-2 and 4-3. Hopefully, the Flyers won’t have to get embarrassed by the Penguins on home ice; but that’s a tall task at this point.

Photo: Heather Barry Images