Game 2: Flyers at Penguins

Posted: April 13, 2012

Players to watch

FLYERS: Center Danny Briere

 He is to the playoffs what Reggie Jackson was to baseball's postseason. Briere has 98 points in 98 career playoff games, and he has 31 goals - including two in Wednesday's opener - in 58 playoff games with the Flyers.

PENGUINS: Center Jordan Staal

 He gets lost in all the talk about Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but he is one of the Penguins' most important players. Staal's defensive work was eye-opening in the opener as he blanked high-scoring center Claude Giroux, who managed just one shot.

Three keys to the game  

1.

The winner of the special-teams battle usually wins in the playoffs, and Wednesday was not an exception. In the opener, the Penguins failed on all three power plays - after going 1 for 35 in last year's playoffs - while the Flyers converted on their only extra-man chance.

2.

Flyers rookie Sean Couturier, who is gaining a reputation for his defensive prowess, again will try to shut down Malkin. Malkin led the NHL with 109 points during the regular season but was scoreless in Game 1. If that continues, the Flyers like their chances.

3.

Are the Flyers in the Penguins' heads, as Scott Hartnell suggested, and will it continue? They are 6-1 at the Consol Energy Center since it opened. The Penguins have had leads of two goals or more four times against the Flyers since March 18 - and lost three of them.

- Sam Carchidi

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