Flyers-Penguins Game 2 Essentials

Here's everything you need to know Friday night for Game 2 of the Flyers-Penguins best-of-seven first-round playoff series.

Flyers at Penguins (Penguins leads series 1-0)
7 p.m. on NBC Sports Philadelphia; Pregame Live at 6 p.m.

Live stream
Live stats
Social media
Series schedule

Projected lineups

Flyers
Forwards
Claude Giroux-Sean Couturier-Michael Raffl
Oskar Lindblom-Nolan Patrick-Jakub Voracek
Travis Konecny-Valtteri Filppula-Wayne Simmonds
Scott Laughton-Jori Lehtera-Matt Read

Defensemen
Ivan Provorov-Shayne Gostisbehere
Travis Sanheim-Andrew MacDonald
Brandon Manning-Radko Gudas

Philadelphia Flyers

Complete coverage of the Philadelphia Flyers and their rivals in the NHL from NBC Sports Philadelphia.

How Michkov's knack for the big moment is β€˜an unconscious thing'

Flyers have won more in overtime (and they're still working on it)

Goalies
Brian Elliott
Petr Mrazek

Scratches: Forwards Jordan Weal, Taylor Leier and Dale Weise; defensemen Robert Hagg and Johnny Oduya; goalie Michal Neuvirth.

Penguins
Forwards
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Carl Hagelin-Evgeni Malkin-Patric Hornqvist
Conor Sheary-Derick Brassard-Phil Kessel
Zach Aston-Reese-Riley Sheahan-Tom Kuhnhackl

Defensemen
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Olli Maatta-Justin Schultz
Jamie Oleksiak-Chad Ruhwedel

Goalies
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith

Scratches: Forwards Dominik Simon, Josh Jooris and Carter Rowney; defenseman Matt Hunwick.

What to watch for …

Boruk
Keep an eye on: 
Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux
They've been phenomenal all season, so it was a surprise to see the Flyers' two big guns combine to go a minus-8 in Game 1. Both players have too much pride to repeat that performance, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that top line come out firing with a much more aggressive attitude in its play.

Bold prediction: The Flyers' fourth line cracks the score sheet. Collectively, Jori Lehtera, Scott Laughton and Matt Read were the best line for the Flyers in Game 1, and Read especially has seen an increase in his scoring chances over the past few weeks. They may not be the most skilled group but don't be surprised if they find a way to score a dirty goal against Pens goaltender Matt Murray.

Hall
Keep an eye on: The neutral zone
The Flyers will want to do a better job in this area to impede the Penguins at least somewhat and not allow them to gain so much momentum up ice. Pittsburgh played far too comfortably and freely in Game 1, so let's see if the Flyers can ratchet up the forecheck and physicality, and maybe slow this team down.

Bold prediction: Here we go again? Brian Elliott allows an early goal but then actually settles in, giving the Flyers a chance in a much tighter Game 2.

Recommended reading
β€’ Dave Hakstol doesn't blame Brian Elliott for Game 1 debacle

β€’ Game 1 shellacking highlighted Flyers' unfillable holes

β€’ 'Disturbing' goals could mean 1 of 2 things with Brian Elliott

β€’ How bad was it for Flyers? 'One of the worst games I've been a part of'

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