Flyers v Penguins: The Battle of Penn's Woods

This is an intro to the Flyers-Penguins game in late January that I wrote just for the fun of it. I have a Flyers-Devils article that I am also posting. Please comment, I love hearing readers' feedback. Thanks, Enjoy...

Thursday January 24, 2008

Wachovia Center

Philadelphia, PA.

Flyers v Penguins

The Battle of Penn’s Woods takes place tonight in downtown Philly.

The visiting Pittsburgh Penguins will try to beat Philly for the first time this year after going eight for eight last year again the Flyers.

The Flyers are coming off of a devastating 7-3 home loss to the now leading Atlantic Division, New Jersey Devils.

The Penguins hold the 2^nd spot in the Atlantic, but the Flyers are just 1 point behind the Pens in third place.

Both teams are coming into this match up with high expectations. The Penguins are coming in surging, even without Sidney Crosby for the last two and a half games. They are an astonishing 7-1-2 since the beginning of 2008.

The Flyers on the other hand are coming in with seven out of their last ten games. “Sid the Kid,” the Penguin’s 20 year old leading scorer was injured during the first period of their January 18^th game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Crosby will be off the ice for anywhere between 6-8 weeks. That only means that one of the young guns will not be lacing up tonight.

The Penguins 2^nd overall pick in 2004, Evgeni Malkin, will be on the ice tonight. Malkin leads the Penguins in goals and is second in total points to Crosby.

The Flyers will try to counter the Pens attack with Danny Briere and Mike Richards. Simon Gagne is definitely back to his usual self after his 26 days off due to a concussion. He had a six game point streak going into Tuesday night, but had it broken in the home loss.

We will see tonight who can forget about their previous loss and gain a win, and also momentum into the All-Star Break tonight.