Game 55: Flyers at Penguins

Philadelphia Flyers: 30-19-5, 65 points
Pittsburgh Penguins: 31-19-5, 67 points

Antero Niittymaki v. Ty Conklin

After another shutout at the hands of the league's posterboy, the Flyers return to the ice against rival Pittsburgh. They do so now third in the division, thanks to Pittsburgh's and New Jersey's easy wins yesterday. The Flyers will try to maintain their dominance over Pittsburgh this season. They're 4-0-0 against the cross-state rivals this season, after being swept themselves last season.

Antero Niittymaki is likely to make his first start since Tuesday this afternoon. Biron played pretty well against the Rangers, but it's back to back, and it's not a bad idea to get Niitty some more time. He hasn't faced Pittsburgh this season, but he has not been good against them in his career.

The Penguins have been strong, despite losing Sidney Crosby to an ankle injury. They're 5-2-2 since he went down, and he's starting to work out and skate again. This is bad news for the Atlantic Division. Everyone has stepped up in his absence, particularly Evgeni Malkin. When he gets back, they're adding the most dangerous playmaker in hockey, and they're only going to get better.

The Flyers have some lineup changes of their own to worry about. Braydon Coburn is expected to miss about a month with a serious torn muscle injury. It required immediate surgery, so hopefully everything goes well. Fortunately for the Flyers, Lasse Kukkonen, the best 7th Defenseman in hockey will suit up. He hasn't played in a game for a while, but before he started getting scratched, he was playing well. Like many Flyers fans, I don't know what the coaching staff's problem with him is. Unfortunately, he's not Braydon Coburn. He doesn't have the same skills and offensive ability Coburn has, so that's still a huge hole in the lineup.

After Laraque's hit on Steve Downie into the boards last meeting, there could be some sparks flying today. Unfortunately, with Georges Laraque, you have one of the league's biggest and best enforcers. Riley Cote can't really handle him, so it's going to be hard to find someone to match up with him. I expect a very physical game, and Jim Vandermeer needs to start playing with the edge that got him into the league.

Bill Meltzer has today's scratches:

Braydon Coburn
Scottie Upshall
Rory Fitzpatrick
Mike Rathje

It's really unfortunate that the Flyers can't be completely healthy for one game. You can deal without Scottie Upshall, but Braydon Coburn is a tough loss. Just once, I'd like to see us get a player back from injury without immediately losing another one. It's not going to get any better, with Forsberg's potential return either, which could actually be delayed. Not good.