Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Game #74 - at Philadelphia Flyers

Game 74
Penguins (42-23-8, 92 points) at Flyers (44-19-9, 97 points)

Why does it matter?
The Pens have two contests left with the Flyers, and maybe more than any others, these two will go a long way towards determining if the Pens can catch the Flyers for the Atlantic Division. It's a long shot, but the chances would be greatly bolstered by two points in this one.

What has been happening lately?
  • Pens - A near collapse against the Red Wings, but the Pens cranked out two points. Maybe a turning point in holding the leads?
  • Flyers - They've earned at least a point in 8 straight, but they've also traded wins and losses for the past six.
Questions to be answered
  • Can the Pens take advantage of the Flyers relatively weak goaltending?
  • Will the Pens have the depth to match up with the multitude of scoring lines the Flyers can throw at you? They have five 20 goal scorers while the Pens will have just one in the lineup.
  • Will Hartnell get hungry again? What happened to the Flyers who pulled all kinds of nonsense? I can't say I like the positive influence that Laviolette seems to have.
Keys to the game
  • Keep the pressure on. The best way to keep that goal scoring from producing for the Flyers is to keep them bottled up. Dump the puck in and go to work.
  • Stop Claude Giroux, who has four goals in four games against the Pens this year.
  • Initiate - don't retaliate. No more dumb penalties!!

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