Post-Morning Skate Update & Tidbits

— The Philadelphia Flyers (16-7-3, 35 pts) have a chance to surpass the Penguins (16-8-4, 36 pts) for the best record in the Eastern Conference tonight.
Coming off a 5-4 come from behind OT win last night vs Buffalo, Philadelphia has won three straight and entering tonight’s game averaging a league best 3.58 goals per game.
Deryk Engelland participated in today’s morning skate but won’t play tonight vs the Flyers, which was the expectation yesterday. There will be no changes on the blueline.
— Forward Richard Park remains day to day with a lower body injury and won’t be an option to play tonight.
— Tonight the Penguins will be without Sidney Crosby for the 62nd time in the team’s last 70 regular season games. The Penguins are 34-19-8 in their previous 61 games without Crosby. All-time, the Penguins are 55-30-15 in games Crosby has missed due to injury since the 2005-2006 season.
Claude Giroux with a four point game last night, leads the NHL with 36 points going into tonight’s action.
— Former Penguin Jaromir Jagr faces the Penguins for the first time since the second round of the 2008 playoffs when he was a member of the New York Rangers. Jagr netted his 9th goal of the season last night vs Buffalo and has 22 points in 22 games, averaging a point per game. Jagr is also averaging a point per game in his career vs Penguins: 17 Goals – 19 Assists – 36 Points in 36 career games vs Pittsburgh.

— Former Penguin Max Talbot scored his 7th goal of the season last night and is tied for 6th on the team in goals.
Evgeni Malkin has just 1 assist in his last three games. Malkin though has performed extremely well against the Flyers in his career, collecting 17 goals and 43 points in 30 career games vs Flyers.
— Defenseman Paul Martin is a +4 in his last 11 games and is averaging 28:35 of ice time over his last three games.
— Matt Niskanen’s +9 rating ranks 13th among all defensemen in the NHL.
— Rookie defenseman Simon Despres has seen an increase in ice time, every game he has played in, collecting 13:32 of ice time vs the Bruins Monday night.

Pens Injury Buzz

Out for the Penguins Tonight: Sidney Crosby (headaches), Kris Letang (concussion), Zbynek Michalek (concussion), Richard Park (leg), Deryk Engelland (lower body) | Dustin Jeffrey (knee), Brian Strait (elbow), Ben Lovejoy (wrist) are all on injured reserve……The Penguins have 126 man games lost this season.

Pens Lineup

Sullivan – Malkin – Neal
Cooke – Staal – Kennedy
Kunitz – Vitale – Dupuis
MacIntyre – Adams – Asham
DEFENSEMEN
Orpik – Bortuzzo
Despres – Martin
Picard – Niskanen
Marc Andre Fleury in goal | Fleury is 20-10-0 all-time vs Flyers