Philadelphia Flyers look to secure fourth place in Eastern Conference against Florida Panthers - NHL Preview
Philadelphia Flyers are in a fight with the Pittsburgh Penguins for home ice advantage going into the playoffs and will look to take home another two points as they face Florida Panthers at the Wells Fargo Center, on Tuesday, March 20, 2012.
The Flyers have been in brilliant form of late as they continue their push to securing fourth spot in the Eastern Conference and trail Atlantic Division rivals Pittsburgh Penguins by just two points.
They will be confident of getting all available points on Tuesday, against Florida Panthers whom they have dominated in their three previous encounters of the current season.
Philadelphia are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference with 92-points.
The Panthers on the other hand are on their own great run of form.
With four straight wins in a row including a 6-2 rout of the Boston Bruins, Florida will provide a tough test to Philadelphia.
The Panthers though will be vary of facing Philadelphia at home ice as their last encounter at the Wells Fargo Center early in the season ended in a 5-0 rout.
Florida is currently third in the Eastern Conference with 83-points.
Flyers (42-22-8, 92 pts)
Philadelphia defeated bitter Atlantic division rivals Pittsburgh Penguins in their last game by a 3-2 margin after overtime.
Both teams cancelled each other out in regulation as Philadelphia’s two third period goals pegged back the Penguins 2-0 lead.
Scott Hartnell had a massive game as he tied the scores four minutes into the third period and stepped up in overtime to score the winner as the Flyers ended the Penguins astonishing 11-game unbeaten run.
The forward said after the game.
"I don't know if we were trying to be too fancy, but we wore them down at the end. Good things happen when you put the puck to the net and that happened tonight."
Panthers (35-23-13, 83 pts)
Florida, have hit a rich vein of form as they look to increase their lead at the top of the Southeast division.
The Panthers will look for a further two points to secure a third place finish in the Eastern Conference and gain home ice advantage entering into the playoffs.
Florida though faced problems against Buffalo Sabres in their last game but managed to defeat their opponents 3-2 after an intense shootout.
The Sabres cancelled out Florida’s 2-1 lead in the second period as Derek Roy’s power play goal brought the two sides back level.
Dmitry Kulikov though scored the winner in the shootout to give the Panthers an important two points to increase their lead at the top of the Southeast division to three points.
Predictions
The Flyers will be favourites to win.
Sum of goals will be more than six.
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