Philadelphia Flyers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins – Game 3: How to Watch, Lineups, Keys to the Game

Wednesday night is going to be eight years in the making. It's been exactly eight years since the Philadelphia Flyers hosted a playoff game in front of their fans. That drought finally comes to an end, and with an opportunity to put a stranglehold on the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Flyers return to home ice with a 2-0 series lead and can put the Penguins on the brink of elimination with a victory in Game 3. Game time is at 7 PM.

How to Watch

• Time: 7 PM
• Location: Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, PA
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia/TNT
• Radio: 97.3 ESPN and the 97.3 ESPN Free Mobile App
• Streaming: ESPN+

Projected Flyers Lines vs. Penguins

Forwards

71 Tyson Foerster - 46 Trevor Zegras - 74 Owen Tippett
11 Travis Konecny - 22 Christian Dvorak - 94 Porter Martone
52 Denver Barkey - 27 Noah Cates - 39 Matvei Michkov
41 Luke Glendening - 14 Sean Couturier - 19 Garnet Hathaway

Defense

6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
8 Cam York - 9 Jamie Drysdale
24 Nick Seeler - 47 Noah Juulsen

Goalies

80 Dan Vladar
33 Sam Ersson

Scratches: Alex Bump, Oliver Bonk, Carl Grundstrom, David Jiricek, Garrett Wilson

Injury & Roster Updates

• Lineup Updates: No changes are expected to the Flyers' lineup from Game 2.
• Starting Goalie: Dan Vladar gets the start for the Flyers. Vladar picked up his first shutout of the season in Game 2, stopping all 27 shots. He is 2-0 with a 1.00 GAA and .956 save percentage in the playoffs.
• Injuries
  • Emil Andrae: upper-body injury, day-to-day
  • Nikita Grebenkin: upper-body injury, out since March 26
  • Rodrigo Abols: fractured ankle, out at least two months from Jan. 21

Opponent Snapshot: Pittsburgh Penguins

Penguins Projected Lineup vs. Flyers

67 Rickard Rakell - 87 Sidney Crosby - 17 Bryan Rust
39 Anthony Mantha - 18 Thomas Novak - 71 Evgeni Malkin
59 Egor Chinakhov - 81 Benjamin Kindel - 16 Justin Brazeau
19 Connor Dewar - 46 Blake Lizotte - 55 Noel Acciari

28 Parker Wotherspoon - 65 Erik Karlsson
49 Samuel Girard - 58 Kris Letang
5 Ryan Shea - 75 Connor Clifton

74 Stuart Skinner
37 Arturs Silovs

• Special Teams
  • Power Play: 0.0% (10th)
  • Penalty Kill: 100.0% (1st)
• Who’s hot?: Evgeni Malkin leads the team with two points in the series, a goal and an assist. Bryan Rust also scored in Game 1.
• Who’s in net?: Stuart Skinner gets the start for the Penguins. Skinner made 20 saves on 22 shots in the Game 2 loss on Monday. He is 0-2 with a 2.56 GAA and .884 save percentage in the playoffs.
• Injuries: Joel Blomqvist and Filip Hallander remain out with injury.

Keys to the Game

• A Fast Start: The Flyers have a chance to meet the moment and electrify the crowd in their first playoff game at home. A goal early will certainly elevate and already anticipating crowd.
• Avoid Penalty Trouble: The Flyers were shorthanded five times during Game 2, and while they turned that into a 1-0 advantage in special teams' scoring, they want to avoid providing that many opportunities to the Penguins.
• Stay Structured: The Flyers have thrived in this series on their defensive play. Maintaining the structure that got them to this point could help them take full command of this series.

By the Numbers

• Porter Martone is the second teenager in Flyers history to score in back-to-back playoff games, joining Dainius Zubrus in 1997. He is the first Flyers' teenager to achieve this in back-to-back road games.
• Dan Vladar became the second Flyers goaltender to register a playoff shutout against the Penguins, joining Martin Biron from Game 5 of the 2009 conference quarterfinals.
• The Flyers are 10-8 all-time in franchise history in Game 3 when leading a series 2-0. They are 18-0 in series results when they have a 2-0 series lead.

Quotable

• "I didn't think we had our game tonight. They were coming. But I like our resolve. We gave them some outside stuff and then when we did, Vladdy was there. We know we can't play like that again. I just felt we were flipping pucks out too much. We'll adjust on that." - Rick Tocchet on the Game 2 win.

X-Factors

• Porter Martone: Martone has been leading the way for the Flyers in terms of production in the playoffs with goals in each of his first two games. The moments has not been too big for Martone early in his NHL career, and now on home ice, he could be the one to fire up the fans and make an early impact.
• Sidney Crosby: You can't even count out Crosby, and as the series hits a critical Game 3 that could determine if the Penguins have life, Crosby has yet to leave his mark on the series. The Philadelphia crowd isn't shy about their feelings about Crosby, and that usually brings out the best in him.

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.

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