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Flyers, Pens meet in playoff preview

Apr 7, 2012 - 2:22 PM (Sports Network) - Here is what we do know: the Flyers and Penguins were engaged in a heated and physical matchup a week ago and will meet each other in the first round of the upcoming playoffs.

What we don't know is what kind of looks the teams will have this afternoon in a meaningless regular-season finale at Pittsburgh's CONSOL Energy Center.

The Flyers and Penguins also met last Saturday in the Steel City, with the Flyers coming away with a 6-4 victory. The big story to come out of the meeting was a melee with 63 seconds left to play following a clean, open-ice hit by Pittsburgh's Joe Vitale on Philadelphia forward Danny Briere.

Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette got into a screaming match with Pens assistant Tony Granato -- with both drawing fines from the league -- and called opposing head coach Dan Bylsma "gutless" after the game for putting his fourth line out with the game already decided.

Briere, meanwhile, admitted that the hit was clean but also said he felt Vitale was trying to hurt him on the play. That was in fact the case as Briere has missed the past two games with an upper back contusion, while Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann has also sat out the past two games with a lower- body injury suffered versus the Penguins.

The Penguins drew the ire of another Atlantic Division rival on Thursday during a 5-2 win over the Rangers. New York head coach John Tortorella blasted Pittsburgh after the game because of a knee-to-knee hit by the Pens' Brooks Orpik on Derek Stepan that resulted in a five-minute major.

After the game, Tortorella said that the Penguins were "one of the most arrogant organizations in the league," and referred to Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as whining stars. Tortorella was fined $20,000 by the league for his rant.

While Malkin wasn't involved in Thursday's incident, he did torch the Rangers with his career-high 49th goal of the season and also had an assist to up his NHL-leading point total to 107. Pascal Dupuis assisted on a goal by Richard Park to give him 21 points over a 16-game point streak, the longest by an NHL player this season.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves to match Tom Barrasso's club record of 226 career victories, and the win secured Pittsburgh the fourth seed in the East and home-ice versus Philadelphia in the playoffs.

"We needed two points to get home ice so we knew that was important," said Crosby after his club's third victory in four games. "I thought both teams played pretty hard to make sure they're playing good heading into the playoffs."

Pittsburgh also reached 50 wins for only the second time in club history even though it played without forwards James Neal, Steve Sullivan and defenseman Matt Niskanen due to injury. Though all three should be ready for the playoffs, they are questionable for today.

While Pittsburgh's win ended Philadelphia's chances at the fourth seed, it did secure the fifth spot with a 2-1 win over Buffalo on Thursday. Marc-Andre Bourdon and Matt Read scored third-period goals and Ilya Bryzgalov came up with 25 saves as the Flyers moved to 5-2-1 in their past eight.

Read leads all rookies with 24 goals, while Claude Giroux added his 65th assist and 93rd point of the season. Those totals rank second and third in the league, respectively, and his point total is the highest for a Flyer since Eric Lindros had 93 in the 1998-99 season.

Though seeding isn't on the line, the Flyers can set a new club record this afternoon with their 26th road victory of the season.

"It'd be great to get that win. It would be good for our confidence," Giroux said after the win of Saturday's contest. "Obviously it's going to be a weird game because it doesn't mean anything, but we've got to make sure we still work on the things we need to work on."

The Flyers have won four of five versus the Penguins this year and seven of the last nine overall. They have won all five of their trips to the CONSOL Energy Center since it opened in 2010.