Who would have guessed that in a season riddled with injuries, where Jordan Staal didn't play until January and Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin haven't played since January, the Penguins would get a late March matchup vs. Philly for 1st in the division and conference (tiebreaker notwithstanding). The top of the conference is suddenly log jammed with Washington, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia all within 2 points of each other.
Tonight, it'll be the 4th place Penguins (45-23-8, 98pts) vs. the 1st place Flyers (45-20-10, 100pts). Pittsburgh has won 4 in a row, all in shootouts, as they've marched up behind the Flyers. Meanwhile, Philly isn't playing their best hockey right now, losing a close 2-1 game to Boston on Sunday night where they let up the winner with 4 minutes left in the game.
The Penguins received some good news today as Brent Johnson returned to practice and Mark Letestu will be playing in tonight's game. Inherently, Brad Thiessen was sent back down to the minors. There was also some bad news as the MRI on Dustin Jeffrey's knee showed damage, but there is no clear prognosis yet.
The lines for tonight are expected to be:
Neal-Letestu-Kovalev
Kunitz-Staal-Kennedy
Dupuis-Talbot-Conner
Rupp-Adams-Asham
Letang-Oprik
Michalek-Martin
Niskanen-Lovejoy
Fleury
It appears Comrie gets the bump for Letestu and Engelland remains out of the lineup.
Prediction: 3-2 Pens IN REGULATION. Philadelphia is starting to hurt themselves with the overtime play and I expect they will push the envelope to put some ground between them and the Penguins. However, Bylsma's defensively minded team takes advantage of those scenarios, so expect to the Pens to come up with a big regulation victory here.
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