Flyers will have hands full with Lemieux
VOORHEES, N.J. (AP) – On paper, it doesn’t look like a good matchup for the Flyers – Philadelphia’s 25th-ranked penalty kill against the No. 1 power play of Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The two teams meet in Pittsburgh on tonight and the Flyers know they have to do better at killing penalties to have any chance of avoiding a second straight loss.
The Flyers were embarrassed by 6-0 loss at Toronto on Saturday night and much of blame was laid on special teams.
Philadelphia gave up two power-play goals and a third was scored immediately after a penalty expired.
Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock stressed the importance of winning one-on-one battles in the last two days of practice. He hopes to see improvement in that area against Pittsburgh.
“The last two practices have looked like night and day. … We practiced and performed like we did at the start of the year,” Hitchcock said Tuesday. “Unfortunately, we had to sink down to get back to where we were at the start. I think we’ll be better killing penalties because of the sense of urgency stuff we worked on.”
Lemieux, linemate Alexei Kovalev and Jan Hrdina each have six power-play goals. Their combined total of 18 is four more than that of the entire Flyers’ roster.
To compound the difficulty, the Flyers will be without Chris Therien (back strain). He is one of two defensemen – Eric Desjardins is the other – the team generally matches up against Lemieux.
“(Lemieux) is much stronger one-on-one now,” Hitchcock said. “I’ve seen him push off 6-3, 220-pound players with one arm.”
Hitchcock said he will use spare defenseman Chris McAllister with Desjardins in even-strength situations and Desjardins and Eric Weinrich for penalty killing.
“Mario has the size, and now with the new (obstruction) rules, he has everything in his favor,” Desjardins said. “It’s good for hockey to see him back. The league is looking for more offense.
“He’s a big part of it. Hopefully he doesn’t get his points against us.”
Pittsburgh’s power play is clicking at 30.4 percent while the Flyers’ have killed power plays at 80.2 percent.
“We’re going to have our work cut out for us,” Marty Murray said. “It’s going to be a challenge.”
“Their power play is especially good,” John LeClair added. “It’s not a good matchup for us right now with our penalty killing struggling.”
NOTES: Left wing Radovan Somik, who has missed eight games with a groin injury, is listed as probable for Wednesday’s game. … Right wing Justin Williams, out since Nov. 13 with a sprained left shoulder, has recovered from that injury but has been ill the past couple days. Hitchcock said he would be a game time decision.