Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers face each other in playoff rehearsal - NHL Preview
Saturday will be a dress rehearsal for the playoffs between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers as both teams face each other at the CONSOL Energy Center.
The Penguins and Flyers will enter the playoffs as the fourth and fifth seeded teams and this game will be a feisty affair between the two Atlantic Division rivals.
The last game between these two great rivals ended in bad blood with Philadelphia’s 6-4 comeback win over the Penguins marred by a late brawl between both teams’ players.
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette called his counterpart Dan Bylsma “gutless” after the game and the stakes could not get higher in this rematch.
Pittsburgh have secured home ice advantage and fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 106-points while Philadelphia are fifth in the conference with 103-points.
The upcoming game will mean nothing as the playoffs are the real deal but both sets of players and coaches will give it their all to get the bragging rights.
Flyers (47-25-9, 103 pts)
Philadelphia have had the better of the rivals at the CONSOL Energy Center and have run out the winners in each encounter at the Arena since it opened in 2010.
The Flyers will look for another big win on Saturday and gain a mental advantage over their rivals as they enter into the playoffs.
Though the game will mean nothing as both teams have nothing left to gain in the regular season, however, the rivalry and the recent war of words between the two teams will ensure that Philadelphia enters the game with all guns blazing.
Coach Peter Laviolette minced no words ahead of the game and wants his team gain the two-points.
"We're going to go in there and play the game. We're here to win hockey games, I don't think that changes anything. There'll be no juggling in the standings. Given the choice to beat the Penguins or lose to the Penguins, we wanna win. The objective remains
the same."
Penguins (50-25-6, 106 pts)
Pittsburgh have been facing great adversity heading into the playoffs as both the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers launch accusations at the team for playing dirty.
However, the Penguins continue to shut their rivals up with win after win.
Pittsburgh bounced right back from its 6-4 defeat to the Flyers with two thumping victories over Boston Bruins and New York Rangers by a margin of 5-3 and 5-2 respectively.
Rangers coach John Tortorella launched a verbal tirade after the defeat to Pittsburgh accusing them of dirty play.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby though has had enough and said.
"Yeah, a lot of it. I don't know when this all started, if this is part of the new tactics in the playoffs, but it's garbage. The games played on the ice."
Predictions
Philadelphia’s record against Pittsburgh and the extra motivation of putting one over their rivals will see them continue their unbeaten run against the Penguins.
Sum of goals will be more than six.
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