Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET a pair of division rivals square off as the Pittsburgh Penguins (5-1-0) and Philadelphia Flyers (1-6-0) take the ice at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The game can be live streamed here. Pittsburgh fans can hear all the action on the radio by accessing WXDX-FM 105.9 while fans of Philadelphia can do the same on 97.5 FM the Fanatic
Pennsylvania's two hockey representatives square off tonight in very different places in the standings, with the Penguins on top of the Metropolitan Division while the Flyers are in the basement. Pittsburgh has won five of its first six games and is currently riding a two-game winning streak while Philadelphia has dropped six of its first seven contests and is currently enduring a three-game losing streak.
Sidney Crosby has entered his ninth season in the league with a bang, as he leads the NHL with 12 points and is third in goals (five) and assists (seven) to start the season.
"I try to evaluate myself not only on points, but on other things going on out there," Crosby said, according to NHL.com. "But it's nice to see them go in early on."
Crosby notched his last three helpers with a three-assist game Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers, but he isn't alone on the score sheet as Evgeni Malkin, Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis each have six points off of two goals and four assists.
While everything has been good for Pittsburgh, the Flyers are on the entire opposite end of the spectrum and things only got worse when the team blew a 2-1 third period lead Tuesday against Vancouver and ended up losing the game 3-2.
Still, captain Claude Giroux said they can take away some optimism from the loss as he thought it was the best game that the team has played all year.
"We played the best game [yet]," Giroux told NHL.com following the loss. "It's frustrating. ... We are getting better every game, that's how we all look at it, it's a fact. If anybody knows anything about hockey, they'll know we played a good game [Tuesday].
Giroux hasn't been able to find the back of the net through seven games this season, and has just two assists for his lone points on the campaign. Still, the Flyers captain remains positive.
"We are going to start winning games here soon and when we [do] we will be back in the playoff race here," Giroux said via NHL.com.
The Flyers haven't had much scoring success as evidenced by the fact that their top scorer only has four points on Brayden Schenn's two goals and two assists. Tye McGinn has chipped in with a team-high three goals, but not much else is happening offensively for Philadelphia.
The Flyers will be without Vincent Lecavalier (one goal, two assists) for about a week with a lower body injury while Scott Hartnell (no points through five games) is still about a month away from returning from an upper body injury.
In net, the Flyers have the task of trying to hand Marc-Andre Fleury his first loss of the season as the Pens backstop is 5-0-0 with a stingy 1.80 GAA and a .926 save percentage. The Flyers have turned to Steve Mason to carry the load this season, as he's started five of the team's seven games and has put up a 1-4-0 record with a 2.23 GAA and a .926 save percentage.
The Penguins will look to keep a stranglehold on the top of the Metropolitan Division while the Flyers will try to claw their way out from the cellar with a statement win over their home state rivals when the lights come on in Philadelphia tonight.
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