NHL Stadium Series 2017: Flyers vs. Penguins preview, lineups, how to watch, live stream and discussion thread

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PITTSBURGH — For the third time in team history, the Philadelphia Flyers will take to an outdoor rink for a regular season hockey game when they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins at [Ketchup] Field tonight at 8 p.m. ET.

Actual puck drop will probably come closer to 8:30 after pregame festivities wrap up. After nearly 80 degree temperatures on Friday, things will be considerably more hockey-like on Saturday evening, with temps in the low 40s and 30s, and even a late-game flurry possible. That’s much better than the alternative — a rain out that could have pushed the game to Sunday afternoon. But we are free and clear and not expecting weather that will disrupt the game.

It’s a big one for the Flyers, if you ask general manager Ron Hextall. Speaking with NHL.com on Friday, Hextall hinted that a loss could push him further in the direction of being a seller at Wednesday’s trade deadline given their current position five points out of the last wild card position. We can certainly debate the merits of that stance, but it doesn’t really matter since it seems to be the GM’s position.

The lineup has been thrown into the blender a bit after Wednesday’s loss to the Washington Capitals. Jordan Weal will jump up onto the top line tonight alongside Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds, while Michael Raffl drops down to the third line. Full lineups are listed below.

Michael Neuvirth will get the start in goal for Philadelphia for what feels like the billionth straight game. Matt Murray goes for Pittsburgh, who will be without top defenseman Kris Letang tonight. Newly-acquired defenseman Ron Hainsey will make his Penguins debut outside in a football stadium, which is … interesting.

These games are always pretty terrible from a hockey perspective, and we’ll see how any wind or the ice quality impacts the contest tonight. Expect a slow, plodding game with little north-south action. But hey, it’ll look pretty.

Tonight’s game can be seen on NBC in the United States, and heard on 93.3 WMMR in the Philadelphia area. NBC has a live stream here. In Canada, the game can be seen on Sportsnet.

Flyers lineup

Forwards

1. Jordan Weal – Claude Giroux – Wayne Simmonds
2. Nick Cousins – Brayden Schenn – Jakub Voracek
3. Michael Raffl – Sean Couturier – Dale Weise
4. Chris VandeVelde – P-E Bellemare – Roman Lyubimov

Defense

1. Andrew MacDonald – Ivan Provorov
2. Mark Streit – Shayne Gostisbehere
3. Brandon Manning – Radko Gudas

Goalies

1. Michal Neuvirth
2. Steve Mason

Pittsburgh lineup

Forwards

1. Carl Hagelin – Sidney Crosby – Patric Hornqvist
2. Chris Kunitz – Evgeni Malkin – Phil Kessel
3. Jake Guentzel – Carter Rowney (is this a real person?) – Scott Wilson
4. Tom Kuhnhackl – Matt Cullen – Eric Fehr

Defense

1. Brian Dumoulin – Ron Hainsey
2. Ian Cole – Justin Schultz
3. Steve Oleksy – Chad Ruhwedel

Goalies

1. Matt Murray
2. Marc-Andre Fleury