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Classic matchup. Historic super-heated rivalry and classic high scoring vs. better defensive team.
Goaltending in March/April:
Stuart Skinner 3.21 88.5
Dan Vladar 2.44 90.2They might use Silovs if Skinner falters but have been using Skinner against the tougher teams. It’s Skinner’s job to lose. Silovs numbers, even against the easier teams, is worse. Nice advantage Flyers here.
PGH D:
Wotherspoon-Karlson
Girard-Letang
Shea-CliftonKarlson has had a real bounce back season. Letang is sagging and Flyers will want to put bodies on the small Girard. That 2nd pair seems open to exploitation. Shea has had a really good year for a 3rd pair guy. PGH does seem to even the minutes out and use that 3rd pair more than the Flyers.
PGH has had a few injuries up front and a lot of guys filled the gaps. First two lines seem like they’ll be:
Chinakov-Crosby-Rust
Rakell-Malkin-NovakKindle seems to be their current 3C. Have a lot of depth scoring on wing: Mantha, Acciari, Brazeau. It’ll all become clearer this weekend. You know Muse is going to want Crosby on Zegras in the PGH home games. Figure Tocchet will want Risto-Sanheim backing them up as much as possible. The strategy of getting his top line vs Zegras did not work well for Arneil in WPG. Those two first lines cancelled each other out and the Flyers depth dominated. Mismatches due to the Flyers line depth got them in in the first place. When they won games, one of their 3 top lines would have dominant nights, even on the road. Crosby v. Zegras looks like a lock to me which means Muse has no other choice than to put Malkin on Cates or Dvorak. We’ll know more as the week goes on.
