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Penguins hope to remain atop East against streaking Flyers

Apr 2, 2008 - 12:19 PM Philadelphia (40-28-11) at Pittsburgh (46-26-8) 7:30 pm EDT

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) - The Pittsburgh Penguins look to stay in first place in the Eastern Conference and clinch the Atlantic Division when they host the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday.

Pittsburgh is tied with Montreal (45-25-10) for first place in the East and are five points ahead of New Jersey (44-28-7) in the division.

The Penguins have gone 8-2-1 in their last 11 games but had their three-game winning streak snapped in Monday's 2-1 overtime loss to the New York Rangers.

Maxime Talbot scored the lone tally for Pittsburgh, while leading scorer Evgeni Malkin did not register a point. Malkin, who leads the team with 46 goals and 58 assists, has five tallies and eight assists against Philadelphia this season.

The Penguins' final two games are both against the Flyers, who are desperately trying to hold onto a playoff spot.

Philadelphia is tied with Boston (40-28-11) for seventh place in the East but is just one point ahead of both Washington (41-31-8) for ninth in the standings.

To complicate the playoff picture further, the Capitals also are tied with the Carolina Hurricanes (42-32-6) for the Southeast Division lead.

The Flyers are 5-0-1 in their last six games and are coming off a 4-3 shootout victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Daniel Briere scored the game-winner in the third round of the shootout and also extended his point streak to six games with a tally in the second period. The center has five goals and four assists over that span.

Mike Richards also extended his point streak to six games with a goal and an assist, and the center scored the game-tying tally with 4:22 remaining in regulation.