5 THINGS: Flyers @ Penguins

In the final game of a tough three-game road trip, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (24-30-11) are in western Pennsylvania to take on Mike Sullivan's Pittsburgh Penguins (32-20-10) at PPG Paints Arena. Game time is 3:30 p.m. ET.

GAME NOTES
The game will be nationally televised on ABC and streamed on ESPN+. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second of three meetings of the season between the longtime arch-rivals and the first of two in Pittsburgh. On Nov. 25 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Penguins prevailed by a 4-1 score. The season series will conclude in Pittsburgh on April 2.
The Flyers are 0-2-0 on the current road trip, 1-3-1 over their last five games and 2-7-1 over the last 10. They enter this game coming off a 1-0 loss to the Caroina Hurricanes in Raleigh on Thursday.
The Flyers were limited by the Hurricanes to 19 shots and five high-danger scoring chances for the game. Two bright spots: the play in net of backup goalie Felix Sandström and a
strong NHL debut
by 2020 first-round Draft pick Tyson Foerster.
The Penguins are playing the third game of a five-game homestand, and the front end of a back-to-back set that will continue on late Sunday afternoon against the New York Rangers. It's also the middle game of a 3-in-4. The Penguins are 3-1-1 in their last five games and 5-4-1 in the last 10. On Thursday, the host Penguins dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the New York Islanders.
The Penguins held a 3-1 lead over the Islanders entering the final six minutes of regulation, but New York rallied for two late goals to force OT and then lost at 2:13 of sudden death. Jake Guentzel (26th goal of the season), Jason Zucker (2nd) and Josh Archibald (5th) scored for Pittsburgh in regulation. Tristan Jarry (24 saves on 28 shots) got the start in net. The Penguins were 0-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill in the game.
Here are five things to watch in today's game:
1. The search for scoring
It's no secret that, with the exception of a month-long offensive oasis (Dec. 17 to Jan. 17), goals have been very hard to come by for the 2022-23 Philadelphia. During that 14-game stretch, the Flyers averaged 3.79 goals per game to rank 4th in the NHL in the time frame. However, both before and since then, offense has been at a premium for Philadelphia.
That's been especially true since the NHL All-Star break. Over the last 14 games, the Flyers have produced goals at the lowest rate in the NHL: a mere 1.79 GPG average while allowing goals at 3.57 GAA pace (ranked 26th).
Saturday's game will be the eighth in a row without injured leading scorer Travis Konecny (27 goals and 54 points in 52 games). Konecny, who is dealing with an upper-body injury sustained in the second period of the Feb. 20 game in Calgary, is still out indefinitely. He may or may not play again this season. Despite missing the last seven games, Konecny is still tied for third in scoring on the Flyers (3g, 2a, 5 points in 7 GP) since the All-Star break.
The team's top 10 in order over the last 14 games: Scott Laughton (3g, 4a, 7 points), Owen TIppett (4g, 2a, 6 points), Konecny, Morgan Frost (2g, 3a, 5 points), Noah Cates (2g, 3a, 5 points), Rasmus Ristolainen (0g, 5a, 5 points), Nicolas Deslauriers (3g, 1a, 4 points), Kevin Hayes (2g, 2a, 4 points), Tony DeAngelo (1g, 3a, 4 points in 13 games), and Ivan Provorov (1g, 2a, 3 points).
Since the All-Star break, James van Riemsdyk has produced only one goal and one assist. Currently mired in a 24-game goalless stretch, Joel Farabee has two points (0g, 2a) in the same stretch. So does Cam York (0g, 2a) who was initially credited with a goal in the Tampa Bay game on Tuesday, but it was subsequently changed to Brendan Lemieux's tally on a deflection.
2. Special teams issues for both clubs
Entering the All-Star break, the Flyers' penalty kill ranked near the middle of the NHL pack at 77.3 percent (18th). It was far from great but partially offset by the nine shorthanded goals the Flyers scored before the break, the Flyers' net penalty killing percentage of 83.3 percent ranked 14th leaguewide.
Since the break, though, the PK has sprung a leak for the second prolonged stretch of the season (the first was in November, overlapping the team's 10-game winless streak). Over the last 14 games, the Flyers have yielded 12 opposing power play goals on 34 man-advantage opportunities, for an NHL-worst 64.9 PK percentage since the start of February. Even with two shorthanded goals scored to pull the net PK percentage up to 70.2 percent, the Flyers rank 32nd since the break.
It's gone only slightly better on the PK for the Penguins than the Flyers since the All-Star break: Opponents are 13-for-48, as Pittsburgh ranks 30th. at 72.9 percent in both overall and net PK percentage.
For the season, the Flyers have dropped to 27th in the NHL at 75.0 percent success despite ranking tied for second with 11 shorthanded goals scored. Meanwhile, the Penguins' PK was in the top one-third of the league before the All-Star break (81.1 percent, ranked 10th) but has dropped to 17th overall (79.2 percent) due to their post-break stumbles. Pittsburgh has scored five shorthanded goals; all prior to February.
As for the power play, the Flyers have sunk back to last in the NHL at 15.3 percent overall and 12.0 percent on the road. In the 14 games since the All-Star break, the Flyers are just 11.1 percent.
In the last 14 games, the Flyers have allowed more opposing shorthanded goals (4) than they've scored power play goals (3) and have a negative net percentage (minus 3.4 percent) as a result. Three of the four opposing SHGs have been via late-game empty net goals.
Additionally, the Flyers have only had 27 power play opportunities -- the fewest in the NHL -- dating back to the start of February. This is largely because the Flyers haven't done enough to be able to draw penalties on the opposition but also because they haven't had many marginal calls go their way (note: it's hardly uncommon for teams that struggle to create scoring chances or puck possession in general to also rank low in power play opportunities).
The Penguins' power play may not be quite the juggernaut it used to be but is still solid overall at 20.8 percent for the season (ranked 17th) and a lofty 26.6 percent (ranked 6th) in home games. It's been on the road where the Pens' power play has dropped off (15.2 percent, ranked 31st).
Since the All-Star break, the Penguins are 7th in the NHL with 48 power play opportunities. That's the good news for the club. The bad news is that the Pens have clicked on just seven for a 14.3 percent success rate in the last 15 games. They've also yielded one shorthanded goal, pulling their net percentage down to 12.2 percent (ranked 22nd).
3. Five-on-five play and beyond
The Flyers' five-on-five play has been decent on the current road trip but it's been an overall struggle -- both from a puck possession and overall goal differential standpoint -- since the All-Star break after trending gradually in a more positive direction from mid-December to mid-January.
Overall, the Flyers enter today's game at a team minus-17 (114 goals scored, 131 goals allowed) at five-on-five.
Additionally, a big reason for the ugly plus-minus numbers both as a team and among individuals have been an exceptionally high number of empty-net goals (including multiple games where one-goal deficits became three-goal final margins of defeat). The Flyers have allowed 15 opposing empty netters this season. Whether it's been 6-on-5 or even 6-on-4, the Flyers have scored five times while yielding 15 goals. That'll make the minuses pile up.
The Flyers have gone 1-10 in games decided in overtime this season (1-1 in shootouts), meaning that have a minus-nine goal differential (1 GF, 10 GA) in 3-on-3 sudden death situations.
In terms of the Penguins' situational play at 5-on-5 and other manpower situations other than special teams, the club has scored a lot of goals at 5-on-5 (135) but allowed just as many (135).
The Penguins are 20-4-5 when leading after two periods and 9-2-4 when tied entering the third period. They've sealed 11 wins with empty net goals and had nine comeback bids fall short via opposing empty-net goals. In 3-on-3 overtime, the Penguins are 4-7 this season.,
4. Flyers line play
The Flyers will not have a morning skate on Saturday. Look for Carter Hart to get the start in goal after Sandström got the nod in Carolina. DeAngelo will serve the second and final game of his two-game suspension from the NHL for spearing Tampa Bay's Corey Perry in Tuesday's game.
As of this writing, Wade Allison and Lemieux remain day-to-day with injuries sustained in the Tampa Bay game. Neither player was available against the Hurricanes. That was what prompted the emergency recalls of Foerster and Elliot Desnoyers on Thursday. Those turned out to be final roster moves made by Chuck Fletcher during his tenure as Flyers general manager.
Under NHL rules, Foerster and Desnoyers can remain in the NHL on emergency recall for as long as the Flyers have only 10 healthy forwards available. When Allison and/or Lemieux are able to play again, the Flyers must either return Desnoyers and/or Foerster to the Phantoms or use one/two of the four regular recalls the team is allotted after the All-Star break.
The projected lineup below is based on Thursday's starting lineup in Raleigh. It's subject to change for the Penguins' game:
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
21 Scott Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 52 Tyson Foerster
25 James van Riemsdyk - 73 Elliot Desnoyers - 13 Kevin Hayes
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 58 Tanner Laczynski - 20 Kieffer Bellows
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Pittsburgh Penguins
If the 2022-23 season ended today, the Penguins (.577 points percentage, 74 points) would be in the Eastern Conference playoffs as a wildcard team. Pittsburgh is two points behind the New York Islanders with three games in hand, The Penguins hold two games in hand and are two points ahead of the Florida Panthers for the lower wildcard spot in the East,
The lower wildcard in the East would draw the Boston Bruins (currently with 103 points and a virtual shoo-in for the President's Trophy). The "reward" for the upper wildcard would be an Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the scorching hot Carolina Hurricanes (94 points to date, first place in the Metro).
Entering today's game, two very familiar veteran names sit atop the Penguins' scoring leaderboard: Sidney Crosby (28g, 49a, 77 points) and Evgeni Malkin (23g, 44a, 67 points). Both Crosby and Malkin have dressed in all 64 games this season. It's been uncommon in recent years for the Penguins not to have been missing one or both of the future Hall of Famers at some juncture of the season.
Crosby has two milestones in reach as soon as today's game: he's two goals away from his 10th career season with 30 or more goals, and one helper away from attaining the 50-plus assist mark for the 10th time.
Beyond Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins' leading scorers this season are Jake Guentzel (26g, 30a, 56 points in 60 games), Rikard Rakell (21g, 23a) and Zucker (22g, 18a, 40 points).
Acquired prior to the NHL trade deadline from the Nashville Predators at the cost of a 2023 second-round pick, veteran Mikael Granlund has dressed in three games to date for the Penguins. For the season, he has a combined nine goals and 36 points. Pittsburgh also re-acquired veteran Nick Bonino from San Jose for a second stint as a Penguin. While with the Sharks this season, the two-way forward posted 10 goals and 19 points in 59 games. Bonino will turn 35 on April 20 while Granlund recently turned 31.
Former Flyers forward Jeff Carter, who turned 38 on New Year's Day, has chipped in nine goals and 23 points this season after posting 19 goals and 45 points a year ago. Veteran No. 1 defenseman Kris Letang, who has regularly tortured the Flyers over his 987 regular-season career games, will turn 36 next month. For the second time in his life, he has overcome a mild stroke to return to play. He's posted eight goals and 29 points in 46 games this season.
In net, Jarry has played in 34 games this season: 19-7-6, 2,89 GAA, .912 save percentage, one shutout, Casey DeSmith has appeared in 31 games, going 12-13-4 with a 3.22 GAA and .906 save percentage.
Below is the Penguins' starting lineup from Thursday's game against the Islanders. It's subject to change against Philly.