Penguins-Flyers: Will the Battle of Pennsylvania Be Determined by Home Ice?

The Philadelphia Flyers lost home-ice advantage and the chance to get 100 points when they lost their final game of the year at home to the New York Rangers.

After sitting in fourth place most of the season, the Flyers dropped to fifth and the Penguins moved up to take their place.

Now the Penguins are hosting the Flyers for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Flyers and Penguins met in the 2008 playoffs, fighting for a spot in the Stanley Cup finals.

Last year, the Flyers upset the top-seeded Canadiens, and the Penguins killed the Rangers in the second-round.

This year, the Flyers lack the firepower and momentum that they had a year ago, when they went 7-1-1 in their last nine games heading into the playoffs.

The Flyers finished the 2008 playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and that's the way their 2009 playoffs will start.

The Penguins still have superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin but they also lack some of the firepower they had in 2008. Marian Hossa, Jarkko Ruutu, and Ryan Malone are gone.

They Penguins have played well, winning three straight and going 9-2-1 over their last 12 contests. However, they are not a Stanley Cup favorite, unlike last year.

Pittsburgh has to be considered the favorite in this year’s playoff series against Philadelphia. The Penguins changed coaches and their attitude near the end of the season and look almost as dangerous as they did a year ago.

Hiring Dan Bylsma as coach, the return of Sergei Gonchar, and the additions of Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin, put the Pens in position for a 18-3-4 stretch run that lifted them from 10th place in the Eastern Conference all the way to fourth.

In last year's Eastern Conference finals, the Penguins won over the Flyers in five games.  The Penguins won four times in the six-game regular-season series against the Flyers this year.