Penguins/NHL
Pittsburgh leads series, 2-1
The Penguins just concluded their morning skate as the team prepares to face-off against the Philadelphia Flyers tonight
The latest lineupnews, line combinations¬†and¬†news & notes from today’s¬†morning skate.
Interim head coach Dan Bylsma has been very secretive in displaying lineups in his morning skates during the playoffs.
Today was no difference as the Penguins did a lot of skilled drills and when they went into line drills, players were alternating but I can confirm Satan, Godard and Boucher will be healthy scratches.
The Penguins goal was to go home with a split and they still have the opportunity to do that by getting a Game 4 win.
The Penguins expect the Philadelphia crowd to be even louder than they were on Sunday.
Satan, Boucher, Godard healthy scratchesThe last three players on the ice were Miroslav Satan, Philippe Boucher and Eric Godard and Mathieu Garon. Satan, Boucher and Godard will be healthy scratches for the  4th consecutive game.
Lineup watch: Talbot to see time with MalkinStrong vibe going around this morning that Max Talbot will see some time with Evgeni Malkin tonight. Based on some line combo’s this morning, it appears that will¬† be the case.
Also, Craig Adams was working on his face-offs near the end of the yesterday’s optional practice, with some of the coaching staff watching.
No hearing for KunitzThe Philadelphia media has been trying to speculate that when contacted, the NHL league offices would neither confirm nor deny that Chris Kunitz had a disciplinary hearing for his hit on Kimmo Timonen.
Sources with the team have told me the Penguins were never called and Kunitz was never questioned for the hit. This story just needs to go away and is the last time I’m going to write about it.
Penguins LineupKunitz – Crosby – Guerin
Fedotenko – Malkin – Sykora
Cooke – Staal – Kennedy
Dupuis – Talbot – Adams
Defensemen
Orpik – Gonchar
Gill – Scuderi
Eaton – Letang
Goaltender: Marc Andre Fleury (2-1, 2.42 goals-against-average and a .917 save percentage in the series), will start in goal
Flyers LineupGagne – Richards – Knuble
Hartnell – Carter – Lupul
Briere – Giroux – Asham
Carcillo- Ross – Powe
Defensemen
Timonen – Parent
Coburn – Carle
Alberts – Jones
Goaltender: Marty Biron (1-2, 3.05 GAA and a .910 save percentage in the series) will start in goal
Flyers feel they have the upper hand in the series
The Flyers are saying all the right things, indicating the pressure is on them but they are a very confident team and believe they have been the better team since Game 2.
The Flyers have a totally different look to them compared to Friday’s morning skate before Game 2.
Today, the Flyers were very loose in their morning skate. Kimmo Timonen who has opted to skip practices and morning skates since game 1 because of a thigh injury, did participate in the Flyers morning skate today.
