Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers at Pitt: Lineups, Notes, Starting Goalies, How to Watch

Published

1 year ago

April 2, 2023

Sam Carchidi

Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers

Jason Zucker (16) scores against the Flyers during the Pittsburgh Penguins' 5-1 win last month. Photo: AP.

The Philadelphia Flyers will try to hurt the Penguins’ playoff chances when they meet Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Based on the teams’ two matchups this season, it will be difficult for that to happen.

The Penguins have whipped the Flyers, 4-1 and 5-1.

Pittsburgh (37-29-10) enters the game one point behind Florida, which holds the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins have a game in hand.

The Penguins have earned a playoff spot in 16 straight seasons.

The Flyers (29-33-13) are coming off Saturday’s 6-3 loss to visiting Buffalo, one that snapped Philly’s seven-game (5-0-2) point streak.

Pittsburgh is also playing on consecutive days. The Penguins dropped a 4-3 home decision Saturday to Boston. The Bruins snapped a 3-3 tie as David Pastrnak completed a hat trick with 2:26 remaining.

Flyers’ expected lineup

Farabee-Cates-Tippett

JVR-Hayes-Konecny

Lemieux-Frost-Allison

Deslauriers-Laughton-Bellows

Defense

Provorov-York

Sanheim-DeAngelo

Seeler-Braun

Goalie

Sam Ersson (6-1, 3.07 GAA, .898 SP)

Penguins’ expected lineup

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust

Zucker-Malkin-Rakell

Heinen-Poehling-Granlund

O’Connor-Carter-Archibald

Defense

Dumoulin-Letang

Joseph-Petry

Friedman-Ruhwedel

Goalie

Casey DeSmith (14-16-4, 3.20, .904)

Breakaways

In 82 career games against the Flyers, Sidney Crosby has a staggering 122 points (53 goals, 69 assists). Evgeni Malkin has also been a Flyers killer: 83 points (29-54) in 69 games. … Morgan Frost had two goals Saturday to lift his season total to 18; he has 10 points (5-5) in his last seven games. … Jake Guentzel has seven points (5-2) over his last six games. He has a goal in four straight contests. … The Flyers lead the all-time series against Pittsburgh, 163-100-43. … Travis Konecny, who leads the Flyers with 28 goals, has 10 tallies in 25 career games against the Pens. … Ersson has never faced the Penguins. … DeSmith’s career numbers vs. Philly: 2-2, 2.92, .903. … The Flyers begin a four-game road trip Sunday. Five of their final seven games are on the road. … The Flyers are just 2-10-1 in the second game of back-to-backs.