Game 48: Penguins at Flyers

Pittsburgh Penguins: 27-17-4, 58 points
Philadelphia Flyers: 26-16-5, 57 points

Ty Conklin v. Martin Biron

In the Flyers' final game before the All-Star break, they'll try and rebound from a humiliating 7-3 loss against New Jersey on Tuesday. There's a lot at stake here; if Pittsburgh wins and New Jersey loses, they'll take over first in the division. If the Flyers win and New Jersey loses, the division is tied. No matter what happens, the Atlantic Division will remain tight throughout the rest of the season.

Martin Biron will be back between the pipes tonight. He gave up two goals in a period and change on Tuesday, and this will be his first start since Saturday. After Niittymaki struggled against the Devils, it's time to get Biron some more action and see if he can regain his early season form.

It remains to be seen whether or not the Penguins can succeed without their superstar Sidney Crosby. Don't get me wrong; they still have a lot of talent besides him, but you never know how much you'll miss a guy until you actually lose him. They're 1-0-1 since he went out with his ankle injury, and scoring hasn't been their problem.

So far this season, the Flyers have dominated the Penguins in three meetings, putting up a 3-0-0 record in those and outscoring the cross-state rival 16-5. This comes after an 06-07 season which saw Pittsburgh complete a rare season sweep of Philadelphia. The next meeting between these teams will be February 10th.

Bill Meltzer provides us with tonight's scratches:

Lasse Kukkonen
Joffrey Lupul
Jesse Boulerice
Rory Fitzpatrick

Boulerice has been on and off the active roster all year, which is why he is still serving his suspension from an incident in the third game of the year.