Flyers Look To Continue Dominance Over Penguins Tonight

This will be the first of four match-ups between these two teams this season.

“Sid the Kid” displayed some classic “Sid the Kid” talent on Thursday night, as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers battled for Pennsylvania bragging rights. Is it a style of play they can maintain?

Think the hatred has diminished at all in that time?

Before Thursday night, if there had been a way for the Flyers to jack up the CONSOL Energy Center, put it on wheels and drive it to Philadelphia, they probably would have.

Despite playing perhaps their best hockey of the season at the turn of the calendar year, the continued efforts from those not named Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, and Wayne Simmonds is essential to keep the momentum going.

Somehow, the Penguins game figures to be different.

The rivals met for the first time in nine months – the latest date into a full season they played their first game. That’s not to say Thursday’s game is a layup.

Against teams like Toronto, the Flyers need to feast not starvation.

Even with the loss, however, the Flyers are still 5-1-1 in their last seven games and tonight they match-up with a Pittsburgh team they have thoroughly dominated for some time now.

Another trend seems to be showing up when it matters most.

Dating back to last season, it’s been that type of cohesion that has eluded the Flyers.

“They got that power-play goal and they got a little bit of life off of it”, Giroux said. The Flyers were moving through the neutral zone efficiently and taking full advantage of Toronto’s struggles with the puck in their own end early.

Now the Flyers look to start a new one against a team that they typically get rough against. “In the last two games, we haven’t been as clean and it cost us”.

“I think we got off to a good start but we kind of got caught flat-footed in the second, ” said Jake Voracek, who scored his first power-play goal of the season.

While the pressure to get Couturier’s offensive game going has grown throughout the course of his time in the league, a similar narrative has been built with Schenn. “We didn’t do a very good job five-on-five”.

So do the Flyers. Pittsburgh’s rally began during a power play created by a Ryan White penalty late in the first.

From the Flyers’ perspective, playing the Penguins is a great chance to make up for a game no one in their locker room was pleased with on Tuesday. With a run at the playoffs becoming more realistic, a postseason berth could hinge on just that.

Philadelphia’s reinforcements have been led by Sean Couturier, whose three goals and three assists through that span bumped his offensive totals up to 21 points on the year – a welcoming sign to go along with the fifth-year pro’s defensive skill set. “Whether or not it’s that lineup decision, there’s a decent chance we’re going to change something up coming off of yesterday”. “That’s why we play hockey”. We just need to touch up some things. “Those are the best games to play, exciting and hardnosed”. We shot ourselves in the foot and had to climb back in the third. “We didn’t make it hard enough on them”.