Tonight the Philadelphia Flyers will try to avoid being swept and eliminated from the NHL playoffs as they face the Pittsburg Penguins.  The Penguins are on fire in this year’s NHL playoffs.  They have a 3-0 series lead over the Flyers and are 11-1 in the entire playoffs.  Tonight they can wrap up the Eastern Conference finals with a win.

The Flyers home arena, the Wachovia Center has not been kind to Pittsburg.  They lost 4 times during the regular season here.  Although they did break this streak on Tuesday, when they defeated the Flyers by a score of 4-1.  The win was made possible because they played excellent defense and matched it with high powered offense.  With superstars like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marian Hossa, nobody would have expected the Penguins to focus on defense so much.  Pittsburg plays a system where they concentrate on forcing the other team to make mistakes while they protect their own end.  In 12 postseason games this year, the Penguins have only allowed 22 goals.  Marc-Andre Fluery has been a big party of this.  His goals against average of 1.75, has been astonishing in this years playoffs.  Last game he only faced 8 shots from Philadelphia in 2 periods.  The Penguins use the motto ‘defense wins championships”.  Many times they Penguins forwards have chased their opponents from behind and forced turnover with hard work and perseverance.  They backcheck, forecheck and do almost everything relentlessly.  Currently Oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com have the Penguins as -180 favorites heading into tonight’s game.

The Flyers as going to have to do what only 2 teams have done in the entire history of the NHL.  That is, win a series while being down 3-0.  Only the 1942 Maple Leafs and 1975 Islanders have done this.  Philadelphia is going to try to switch up their lines for tonight.  They will try to maximize their offence has Mike Richards will play with Daniel Briere and Vaclav Prospal on the top line.  I think that the Penguins are just too good of an overall team and they will win tonight and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.

View NHL Betting Odds at OnlineSportsHandicapping.com before you bet on the NHL Playoffs at Sportsbook.com

---