Flyers at Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers find themselves far removed from last season's respective second- and third-place finishes, as the former sits in sixth in the Metropolitan Division while the latter's last-place standing resulted in an organizational purge this week. The Keystone State rivals meet for the first time this season in Pittsburgh on Saturday since the clubs' high-scoring first-round playoff series in the spring.
Captain Sidney Crosby's 11th career hat trick was upstaged by the performance of fellow Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native Nathan MacKinnon (one goal, three assists) in Pittsburgh's 6-3 setback to Colorado on Wednesday. The two-time Hart Trophy recipient, who has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in his last eight games overall, has tormented Philadelphia to the tune of a staggering 93 points (38 goals, 55 assists) in 63 regular-season contests and 13 (six goals, seven assists) in the teams' first-round series in April. The Flyers have fallen a long way since that postseason appearance, ultimately leading to the firing of general manager (Ron Hextall) on Monday and assistant GM (Chris Pryor) and assistant coach (Gord Murphy) two days later after the team squandered a two-goal lead in the third period of Tuesday's 4-3 setback to Ottawa. "For me right now, it doesn't matter who we're playing," Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol said. "Obviously, playing Pittsburgh should add a little bit to it for the group in here. I know it does for our fan base. But this is about us and what we're doing, and we've got to really take that to heart and take it upon ourselves here."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, NBCS Philadelphia, AT&T Sports Net-Pittsburgh
ABOUT THE FLYERS (10-12-2): With Philadelphia having been shut out twice and scoring just 15 goals in its last seven contests (1-5-1), Hakstol shuffled James van Riemsdyk and Wayne Simmonds to the second line with Nolan Patrick in Friday's practice while Michael Raffl, Scott Laughton and Jakub Voracek comprised the third. "Me and Simmer have had some good chemistry out there," the 29-year-old van Riemsdyk said, per Philly.com. "Even though we do some things pretty similarly, I think there's some different elements that we both kind of have, and (can) expand our games a little bit because we don't have to be the ones relied on to always be standing at the net." Top-line center Sean Couturier (team-leading 10 goals) has been held off the scoresheet in back-to-back contests after erupting for 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in his previous 11 games.
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (10-9-5): Jake Guentzel set up Crosby's first goal in the second period against the Avalanche to push his point total to eight (five goals, three assists) in his last six games, during which Pittsburgh has posted a 3-1-2 mark. The 24-year-old flustered Philadelphia with 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in six games during the first-round series while Patric Hornqvist added six (two goals, four assists) in four contests -- including a goal and two assists in the series-clinching 8-5 win on April 22. Hornqvist could be back in the lineup after returning to practice on Friday following a three-game absence due to a concussion.
OVERTIME
1. Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux has seven (one goal, six assists) of his club-best 29 points in his last five games.
2. Pittsburgh C Evgeni Malkin (team-leading 21 assists, 30 points) has followed a seven-game point streak with a minus-4 rating in the last two contests.
3. Philadelphia's Michal Neuvirth (lower body) will back up fellow G Anthony Stolarz on Saturday after being medically cleared to return to the lineup.