Eastern Finals Game 5: Flyers at Penguins (1-3)

After playing pretty well for most of the game, the Flyers won game four to extend their season by at least one more game. They built a nice lead very early in the game and managed to hang on the rest of the way. It doesn't increase my confidence that much though. The Penguins came to play like the series was already won and played very undisciplined. In front of the home crowd, they should be more focused and look like they did in games 1-3.

Martin Biron played better, which is a good sign for the Flyers. If he continues to improve, the series could become more interesting.

What could increase my confidence are a pair of defensemen possibly coming back to the lineup. As of this moment, to me, it seems like Kimmo Timonen is more likely to play today. The doctors told him his blood clot can't get any worse if he plays, so he'll probably be ready to go. I don't know how it can't get worse, but I trust the professional's opinion. Braydon Coburn could also return, but I'm less optimistic about that. He says it's pretty likely, but from what I've read, he's feeling pressure to come back and might not actually be ready. Even if they're not full strength, it'll be a huge boost for the Flyers, not only on the ice but for morale.

Expect this game to be very physical, especially early on. There were fights and scrums in the final few minutes of game four, including an incident involving Sidney Crosby. Ryan Malone may feel the need for revenge after his humiliating loss to Derian Hatcher, and the Penguins might want to try and protect their captain, since he certainly can't do it himself.

Bill Meltzer has his preview up.

Eastern Finals Game 1: Flyers at Penguins (0-0)

Martin Biron v. Marc-Andrey Fleury

Somehow, the Flyers are here. Despite the 10 game losing streak, several key injuries and a couple tough opponents, the Flyers find themselves back in the conference finals for the first time since the lockout. Against them tonight is a team that may not be the #1 seed like Tampa was, but this year's Penguins might be better than that Lightning team that topped the Flyers in a great seven game series.

Martin Biron may have played great against Montreal, but he's actually statistically the worst goalie remaining in the postseason. Go figure. I don't think Fleury has really been tested, and it'll be interesting to see how he holds up against a team that can really score.

The Kimmo Timonen injury is the one thing that could not happen if the Flyers wanted to have success. I wasn't optimistic from the end of the Montreal series, but this is killer. He's the Flyers' best player. If you lose a Briere or Richards, they have the scoring depth to cover for a little bit. Timonen does everything on the blue line. He's a key part of the PP, and he's great at going out there and shutting down the opponent's top line. He was going to be instrumental in handling guys like Crosby, Malkin and Hossa, and now Jaroslav Modry will have to be much better than he has been.

What kind of style do the Flyers need to play to win? Should they get in a track meet and really outscore them, or should they slow things down and focus on not letting Pittsburgh score? It's tough to say because the Penguins have shown the ability to win both kinds of games. The Flyers should lean towards the side of putting on a lot of offensive pressure. Fleury hasn't had to face a team that can score like the Flyers, and he's still a pretty inexperienced player. Rattling him might be their only chance to win.

As usual, here is Bill Meltzer. Let's go Flyers.

NHL All-Star Break

There's a lot of stuff going on down in Atlanta this weekend, but here are a couple big things.

The skills competition, featuring some new events, along with the Young Stars Game, will air on Versus from 7-9 on Saturday. The revamped skills event will feature an obstacle course relay, a shootout competition, a new breakway competition that is essentially the NHL's answer to basketball's slam dunk competition, along with the classic fastest skater, hardest shot and accuracy shooting events. As far as I can tell, lineups for these events haven't been announced yet, but I'll get them up when I see them.

The Young Stars Game will be 12 minutes of 3 on 3 action. In last year's game, everyone scored a goal except Malkin, who ended up winning the Calder anyway. There aren't any Flyers in the event, but you can view the full rosters here.

The main event is obviously the actual All-Star game, which will be broadcast on Versus starting at 6 on Sunday. Kimmo Timonen and Mike Richards will represent the Flyers. You can view the full East roster here and the full West roster here.

The full schedule of events this weekend can be seen here.