NHL Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers set to renew Battle of Pennsylvania
On Thursday night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers will look to kick off their seasons with a win.
Aside from being thrashed 7-4 at Mellon arena once by the Flyers last season, the Penguins won all five other meetings between the two sides. It was the Flyers though that took home the ultimate Pennsylvania
bragging rights last season by battling against the odds during last season's play-offs all the way to the Stanley Cup finals, where they were finally outdone by the Chicago Blackhawks.
How they look
The Pittsburgh Penguins boast two of the most high-powered, and most feared, forwards in the NHL in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby and Malkin alone are enough to make most teams tremble as they
proved their worth by guiding the Penguins to Stanley Cup glory two seasons ago. They were, however, outdone by overwhelming underdogs, the Montreal Canadiens, in last year's play-offs.
Crosby and Malkin are back for another season, but the Penguins have made no notable additions to the side and will be looking for their superstar pair to continue to lead the team the way they have since
the lockout. In fact, the Penguins have even shipped a couple of notable offensive assets during the off-season including Alexei Ponikarovsky, Bill Guerin, and powerplay specialist Sergei Gonchar. They will also be starting the season without arguably their
third most important player, Jordan Staal, who is sidelined with a recurring foot injury which he sustained during the play-offs last season.
The Flyers surprised everybody last season by representing the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup final. They upset the Devils in the opening round, and managed to come back from three games down against
the Bruins to make it to the Conference Final where they disposed of the Montreal Canadiens before coming up short in the final. The Flyers benefited from the added leadership and physical presence offered by defenceman Chris Pronger who has now guided three
different teams to the Stanley Cup finals in six years.
The Flyers also got inspired performances from unlikely sources in goaltender Michael Leighton, who will start the season as Philadelphia's number one between the pipes, and Ville Leino who broke out during
last season's play-offs with an inspired seven goals and 14 assists in the Flyers' 19 games. The Flyers lost one of their top forwards, Simon Gagne, during the off-season but have added Nicolay Zherdev who had some good seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets
and New York Rangers before leaving to play in the KHL last season – he's still only 25 years old.
What to expect
Since going through a series of tough seasons at the start of the decade, the Penguins have turned their image around and are now expected to be at the top of the Eastern Conference every season. It will
be interesting to see if Peter Laviolette's Flyers side experience some type of Stanley Cup final hangover or whether or not they can bounce back from last season's disappointment. Pittsburgh will be playing at their new home, the Consol Energy Center, and
will be looking to celebrate their new building with a win. Penguins win a shootout thriller 3-2.
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