The Pittsburgh Penguins will attempt to do tonight what the Detroit Red Wings couldn't accomplish on Wednesday: Sweep their way into the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Pens are at Philly up 3-0 and are big -175 money line betting favorites (over/under: 5.5) on WagerWeb.com. Detroit, meanwhile, lost on the road in Game 4 to extend its Western Conference Final with Dallas to at least a fifth game.
Pittsburgh is 11-1 in these playoffs but was winless in the regular season at Philly's Wachovia Center before Tuesday's 4-1 victory.
They are 2-0 in one-goal games, 6-0 in two-goal games, 9-0 when scoring first and 8-0 when leading after two periods. They also have two of the league's top two playoff scorers in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
On top of that, the Penguins have allowed only 22 goals. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is fully recovered from his severe ankle sprain and has a stellar 1.75 goals-against average. The Pens have been allowing, on average, just 27 shots a night, which is among the playoff leaders.
"We have always been helping our D and our goalie the best we can," said Marian Hossa, who has eight playoff goals.Philadelphia took to the practice ice Wednesday with new lines. Trying to maximize their offense, Mike Richards will move up to play with Danny Briere, who has struggled this series alongside Vinny Prospal. Prospal will play between R.J. Umberger and Joffrey Lupul on the second line.
The Flyers have scored just five goals in the first three games series and managed just 18 shots on goal (only 8 in the first 40 minutes) in Game 3.
"Danny and I have had success on the power play," Richards said. "At the beginning of the year when we were put up together it seemed like we had some chemistry. We've got to find ways to get to the net get more pucks to the net and find them. Hopefully, we can do that together."
Richards also gives the top line a defensive presence it was lacking with Briere, who leads the Flyers in playoff points with 15 but is also a minus-2.
Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn practiced Wednesday and could play in Game 4. Coburn missed Game 3 because his left eye was swollen shut after being hit by a puck in Game 2. The eye was partially open on Tuesday.
"We'll see how it feels [Thursday]; I had a good workout," Coburn said.
Flyers goalie Martin Biron hopes his team can take lessons from its second-round elimination of the Montreal Canadiens, a series in which Philadelphia lost the opening game before embarking on a hot streak.
"We won four straight against the No. 1 team in the conference," Biron said. "Not because we were thinking 'Let's win four straight' but because we were thinking 'let's win one and move on."
"You don't want to go out and win four games. You want to win one game four times."
Betting trends: Penguins are 8-0 in their last 8 after allowing 2 goals or less in their previous game. ...Flyers are 11-1 in their last 12 games following a loss of 3 or more goals. ... Flyers are 9-2 in their last 11 home games. ... Under is 8-1 in Penguins' last 9 road games. ... Under is 6-1 in Flyers' last 7 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. ... Home team is 9-1 in the last 10 meetings. ... Over is 12-3 in the last 15 meetings.
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