Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (7-2-1, 15 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division) @ Philadelphia Flyers (4-3-1, 9 points, 6th place Metropolitan Division)

How to Watch: Nationally broadcast on ESPN (SN1 and TVAS in Canada)

Pens’ Path Ahead: After playing the second half of a back-to-back set tonight, the Pens will get just a single day off before Thursday night’s road game against the Minnesota Wild, followed by a Saturday game in Winnipeg and a Monday matchup in Toronto.

Opponent Track: The Flyers, who last played on Saturday, will be the more rested team coming in to this matchup. Philadelphia mostly recently claimed a 4-3 extra-time win over the Islanders thanks to a Matvei Michkov shootout goal and a game-clinching save from Samuel Ersson.

Season Series: This is the first time these two rivals will meet this season. The Penguins will travel to Philadelphia again on Dec. 1 before hosting the Flyers at PPG Paints Arena on Jan. 15 and March 7.

Hidden Stat: Last night, Sidney Crosby became the ninth player in NHL history to record 1,700 career points. Almost eight percent of those points have come against those Flyers— the Penguins captain has 56 goals and 78 assists for 134 points in 90 career matchups with his cross-state rivals.

Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny

Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink

Trevor Zebras – Christian Dvorak – Matvei Michkov

Nikita Grebenkin – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York – Travis Sanheim

Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale

Adam Ginning – Noah Juulsen

Goalies: Dan Vladar, Samuel Ersson

Scratches: Egor Zamula, Nicolas Deslauriers

Injured Reserve: Rasmus Ristolainen

Flyers center and 2024 first-round pick Jett Luchanko was sent back to the OHL on Monday after starting the season with the Flyers. He’s been a healthy scratch from Philadelphia’s fourth line recently and will now be replaced on a longer-term basis by Rodrigo Abols.Top-pairing Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim didn’t practice Monday because he was “dealing with a little tweak here and there,” head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters (h/t the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jackie Spiegel). Sanheim is leading all Flyers skaters with more than 26 minutes on the ice per game this season, so his health will be key for Philadelphia going forward.Offseason trade acquisition Trevor Zegras is tied for the team points lead with eight points (2-6—8) through the first eight games of his debut Flyers season.

Some Flyers goaltending notes:

The Flyers alternated starts between Dan Vladar and Samuel Ersson for the first four games of the season. Vladar got three straight starts as the hot hand the week prior to last, although Ersson put up a strong start when he got the net back last Saturday, so it’s not clear who the Flyers are going to treat as their No. 1 goaltender going forward.For what it’s worth, former Calgary Flames goaltender Vladar has a .921 save percentage, 2.72 goals against average and 1-2-1 career record in four previous matchups with the Pens, while fourth-year Flyers netminder Ersson has a .880 save percentage, 3.32 goals against average and 3-2-1 record in six games against Pittsburgh.Overall the Flyers, like the Penguins, have so far benefited from above-average goaltending this season:

Projected lines (from Monday’s game against the St. Louis Blues)

Filip Hallander – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Anthony Mantha – Evgeni Malkin – Justin Brazeau

Tommy Novak – Ben Kindel – Ville Koivunen

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson

Caleb Jones / Harrison Brunicke

Goalies: Arturs Silovs (Tristan Jarry started last night)

Potential Scratches: Connor Clifton, Phillip Tomasino

IR: Kevin Hayes (upper body), Jack St. Ivany (lower body), Rutger McGroarty (upper body), Joel Blomqvist (lower body), Rickard Rakell (broken hand), Caleb Jones (lower body)

Rickard Rakell will miss at least the next month after undergoing surgery on his left hand. Ville Koivunen, who has four goals and seven assists in just six AHL game so far this season, drew back into the lineup last night in his place.Penguins prospect Sergei Murashov was named Monday’s AHL Player of the Week after going 2-0-0 while allowing just one goal on 52 shots in his last two starts for the Wilkes/Barre Scranton Penguins. He has a sparkling 5-0-0 record, .949 save percentage and 1.40 goals against average to start the AHL season.