Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Hart, Flyers poised for Penguins
The Flyers can make a major stride in their playoff chase Monday night if they can take down the recently struggling Pittsburgh Penguins. If it isn’t enough that their longtime rivals eliminated them from the playoffs last spring, motivation can certainly be found in the standings.
The Penguins (28-207), currently hanging onto the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference at 63 points, are six points above the oncoming Flyers (25-23-7, 57), who are in the midst of a 9-0-1 run after blasting Anaheim 6-2 Saturday. The Ducks were so happy about that they finally fired head coach Randy Carlyle Sunday.
As for the Flyers, that ducky win was their fourth straight game against a team from the Pacific, the worst division in the NHL. To keep their points streak going they’re going to have to step up their performance significantly, especially on defense.
Besides, any game against the Penguins is a tall task.
“Pittsburgh presents a different challenge than maybe some of the teams that we’ve seen in a while,” interim head coach Scott Gordon said diplomatically Sunday. “The team (they faced recently) I thought that played with a lot of pace was Dallas. Obviously it’s been a while since we played a team like that.”
The Penguins are coming off a 5-4 loss to Tampa Bay Saturday, their fourth consecutive defeat. They’ve been missing Evgeni Malkin with an upper body injury, but he and recently injured teammate Justin Schultz are expected to be ready to go against the Flyers.
The Pens have other problems, too, especially on offense. Phil Kessel has no points and only four shots on goal over his last four games. Patric Hornqvist, who often takes delight in beating up on the Flyers, hasn’t scored a goal since returning from a reported concussion eight games ago.
Over those past eight games, the Penguins’ power play is 1-for-18. Not surprisingly, they’ve gone 2-5-1 over that stretch. And yet ... in recent years they’ve often found ways to torture the Flyers.
“I don’t even know what the pulse of our game is going to be like,” Gordon said. “It’s obviously going to be a big game for both teams. I think to address something pre-emptively, the history might have made that what it was . ... But really, we’ve got to make sure that we understand what’s important here, and that’s the two points.”
The rivalry can be cast in a new light now as standout rookie goalie Carter Hart will play his first career game against Pittsburgh Monday night. Ditto Gordon, who might have a new wrinkle that former coach Dave Hakstol couldn’t find.
Also available, though it’s uncertain whether they’ll be activated, are two Phantoms callups, defenseman Phil Myers and forward Justin Bailey, who since being acquired from Buffalo Jan. 17 has put an offensive charge into Lehigh Valley, scoring five goals and seven points in 10 Phantoms games.
“I’m surprised and happy and really looking forward to the opportunity,” Bailey said. “Top to bottom, from the coaching staff to the trainers, from the minute I got here the coaching staff at Lehigh Valley have been awesome to me. The atmosphere down there is really good. Everybody’s happy to be at the rink.”
But that doesn’t mean the 23-year-old Buffalo-area native isn’t getting a kick out of being back in the NHL.
“I’ve been up and down a bunch in my career,” said Bailey, who over parts of the past three seasons played 52 games with the Sabres (five goals, eight points). “It’s been a long time since I’ve been up here. I’ve been thinking about it and dreaming about it, making sure that hopefully I come up here and that was the last time I (was) down.”