3. Experience vs. youth
Pittsburgh is stocked with veterans, including three-time Stanley Cup champions in Crosby (38), Evgeni Malkin (39) and Kris Letang (38). Philadelphia, meanwhile, could have as many as 10 players participating in their first NHL postseason game. However, Tocchet said he wasn’t concerned because those younger players have been in big games, pointing to Denver Barkey (20) winning the Memorial Cup twice with London of the Ontario Hockey League, Porter Martone (19) playing for Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship the past two years, and Alex Bump (22) winning an NCAA championship at Western Michigan last season. “It’s just the NHL, so what’s the difference?” Tocchet said. “They’re (all) pressure games, so that’s the way you try to talk to these guys.”
Flyers projected lineup
Tyson Foerster — Trevor Zegras — Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny — Christian Dvorak — Porter Martone
Denver Barkey — Noah Cates — Matvei Michkov
Luke Glendening — Sean Couturier — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Emil Andrae
Dan Vladar
Samuel Ersson
Scratched: Garrett Wilson, Alex Bump, Noah Juulsen, Carl Grundstrom
Injured: Rodrigo Abols (lower body), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body)
Penguins projected lineup
Egor Chinakhov — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust
Tommy Novak — Rickard Rakell — Evgeni Malkin
Elmer Soderblom — Ben Kindel — Anthony Mantha
Connor Dewar — Blake Lizotte — Noel Acciari
Parker Wotherspoon — Erik Karlsson
Samuel Girard — Kris Letang
Ryan Shea — Connor Clifton
Stuart Skinner
Arturs Silovs
Scratched: Justin Brazeau, Ilya Solovyov, Kevin Hayes, Ryan Graves, Jack St. Ivany
Injured: Filip Hallander (blood clot)
Status report
Tippett, Konecny, Couturier, Zegras, Dvorak, Sanheim, Ristolainen, Drysdale and York each will play after being scratched in the Flyers’ regular-season finale, a 4-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. … Skinner will start; he did not participate in an optional morning skate. … Lizotte is likely to return after missing the final 16 games of the regular season with an upper-body injury. … Dewar could play after being sidelined four games with a lower-body injury.
NHL.com independent correspondent Wes Crosby contributed to this report
