The final weekend of the regular season is upon us and there are still playoff positions up for grabs. The NHL on NBC will carry today’s crucial game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers. It all gets underway at 3:00 pm ET. If you want to watch the game online, you can do so here.
It’s crunch time for the Flyers. With two games remaining in their season, Philadelphia is one point behind Boston and Detroit for the final playoff spot in the East (the Bruins and Wings have just one game left).
It’s a difficult task for the Flyers considering how badly they’ve struggled in the last few weeks against Pittsburgh. Philadelphia’s dropped all three decisions to Pittsburgh this season, including a 4-1 loss on Mar. 19 and a 6-2 loss on Apr. 3.
There is one big difference between this meeting and the other three meetings. Pittsburgh has absolutely nothing to gain by going all out to try and win this game. The Penguins could even opt to rest some of their keys players for this one. Still, knocking a rival out of playoff contention is something the players who are playing will look forward to doing.
“We’re professionals,” Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist said, per Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We have to do the right things, and Philly has a lot of things to play for.
“And you know what? If I was Detroit and Boston — if we were in their situation — I would want them to play hard for us.”
If the Flyers, Red Wings and Bruins all win today, Philadelphia’s game against the Islanders on Sunday evening becomes a must-win. At the same time, tomorrow’s game becomes meaningless if the Flyers win and the Bruins or Red Wings lose today. A Bruins win, a Flyers win and a Red Wings loss would mean that both Boston and Philadelphia would get into the playoffs.
The only way Philadelphia gets knocked out today is if they lose and Boston and Detroit both win.