Gameday 1 - Sat, Jan 19, 2013

The pick of the opening day match-ups sees cross-state rivals Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Philadelphia Flyers. Last season saw the Flyers finish with a 4-2 series lead in the Regular season, then again in the Conference Quarter Finals of the Playoffs.

 

Flyers: It wasn't a great offseason for the Flyers, who lost on attempts at signing Zach Parise, Ryan Suter and Shea Weber, and then watched as defenseman Matt Carle and top-line forward Jaromir Jagr departed in free agency. However, the players remaining are pretty good. Top-line center Claude Giroux is healthy after sustaining a neck injury while playing in Germany, and linemate Scott Hartnell returns after his career-best 37-goal season in 2011-12. Brayden Schenn, who has played well in the American Hockey League, could get the first shot to fill Jagr's role. His brother, Luke Schenn, acquired from Toronto in June, will fill Carle's spot on the second defense pairing alongside Kimmo Timonen. All eyes, however, will be focused on the Flyers' goal, where the hope is Ilya Bryzgalov will be more comfortable in his second season in Philadelphia. Last season, in the first year of a nine-year, $51.5 million contract, Bryzgalov was inconsistent and at times drew as much attention off the ice as he did on it.

Penguins: Pittsburgh had Stanley Cup hopes last spring, but the Flyers dashed them in six games in the first round. Now, with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin healthy at the same time, the Penguins will be looking to start the season the right way. The big change for the Penguins this summer came in their depth down the middle. Jordan Staal was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, with Brandon Sutter coming back from the Hurricanes in the deal and expected to fill Staal's third-line center slot. The Pens also signed goalie Tomas Vokoun to back up Marc-Andre Fleury. Also expect to see the Penguins play tighter defensively after the team allowed 30 goals in six games to the Flyers in last year's first-round playoff series. Young defenseman Simon Despres, a 2009 first-round pick who saw some action last season, including three playoff games, could earn more ice time with the departure of Zbynek Michalek.

Injury report: The Flyers will start the season without center Danny Briere, who is expected to miss about a week recovering from a wrist injury sustained during the lockout. … The Penguins will start the season with a healthy lineup.

 

Dec 8, 2011     @ Philadelphia   Phi 3-2
Dec 29, 2011   @ Pittsburgh      Phi 4-2
Feb 18, 2012    @ Philadelphia   Pit 6-4
Mar 18, 2012   @ Philadelphia   Phi 3-2
Apr 1, 2012     @ Pittsburgh      Phi 6-4
Apr 7, 2012     @ Pittsburgh      Pit 4-2

Other than the Penn state game, other games of interest appear to be Chicago visiting the Stanley Cup champion-LA Kings. The top-2 teams from the East last season, NY Rangers and Boston Bruins meet in Boston, Toronto go to Montreal in a classic meeting of 2 old rivals, Detroit go to St Louis in an early battle to see who will claim the Central Division, and the new-look Minnesota Wild will host the Colorado Avalanche.

Sat, Jan 19 - Fixtures
Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia 3pm ET
Ottawa @ Winnipeg 3pm ET
Chicago @ Los Angeles 3pm ET
NY Rangers @ Boston 7pm ET
Toronto @ Montreal 7pm ET
New Jersey @ NY Islanders 7pm ET
Washington @ Tampa Bay 7pm ET
Carolina @ Florida 7pm ET
Detroit @ St Louis 8pm ET
Columbus @ Nashville 8pm ET
Phoenix @ Dallas 8pm ET
Colorado @ Minnesota 9pm ET
Anaheim @ Vancouver 10pm ET