Flyers at Penguins preview

FLYERS (38-25-12) at PENGUINS (42-27-6)
12:30 p.m. ET; NBC, TVAS, NHL.TV

The Penguins, 6-2-2 in their past 10 games, are in second place in the division, five points behind the Washington Capitals, one ahead of the third-place Columbus Blue Jackets and two ahead of the fourth-place Flyers, who trail the Capitals by seven points.
Philadelphia, 3-0-1 in its past four games after going 1-6-1 in its previous eight, is two points ahead of the New Jersey Devils for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Flyers have allowed five goals in each of their three losses to the Penguins this season; Pittsburgh won 5-4 in overtime at PPG Paints Arena on Nov. 27, and 5-1 on Jan. 2 and 5-2 on March 7 at Wells Fargo Center.

Players to watch

Flyers forward Claude Giroux has seven assists in a three-game point streak and 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in his past 22 games.
Penguins forward Phil Kessel has five points (two goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak. His 83 points have surpassed his previous NHL high of 82 with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2011-12.

They said it

"You're fighting for points and, obviously, it adds a little bit more since it's Pittsburgh." -- Flyers forward Travis Konecny
"We are all preparing to put ourselves in the best spot possible [for the playoffs]. They are in our way, and we are in theirs." -- Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom -- Nolan Patrick -- Jakub Voracek
Jordan Weal -- Valtteri Filppula -- Wayne Simmonds
Jori Lehtera -- Scott Laughton -- Matt Read
Ivan Provorov -- Shayne Gostisbehere
Travis Sanheim -- Andrew MacDonald
Brandon Manning -- Radko Gudas
Alex Lyon
Petr Mrazek
Scratched: Dale Weise, Taylor Leier, Robert Hagg
Injured:Michael Raffl (upper body), Brian Elliott (lower body), Michal Neuvirth (lower body), Johnny Oduya (upper body)

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Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Patric Hornqvist
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeni Malkin -- Bryan Rust
Conor Sheary -- Derick Brassard -- Phil Kessel
Tom Kuhnhackl -- Riley Sheahan -- Dominik Simon
Jamie Oleksiak -- Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin -- Justin Schultz
Olli Maatta -- Chad Ruhwedel
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Matt Hunwick
Injured: Zach Aston-Reese (upper body), Carter Rowney (upper body)

Status report

Neuvirth, who has missed 16 games, could return at some point during the Flyers' three-game road trip. … Aston-Reese, who has missed 12 games, rotated at fourth-line right wing with Simon during practice Saturday.

Stat pack

The Flyers have scored at least four goals in each of their past four games. … The Penguins are 23-9-3 since the beginning of 2018, after going 19-18-3 from October through December.