The Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins start a two-game battle on Tuesday to determine who sucks the least.

It’s a wild thing to say for two teams that are five and seven points outside of the final Eastern Conference wild card spot, but the reality is that five teams sit between the Ottawa Senators and the Flyers in the standings.

The Flyers are a -135 favorite on the money line  for Tuesday’s tilt inside the Wells Fargo Center, and who knows, if they get a win, we could be talking about an outside playoff push.

For that to be the case, the Flyers absolutely have to beat a Penguins team they are 1-1 against and already beat once in February before the 4 Nations break.

The Flyers came out of the break with an impressive 6-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers, and while yes, it was impressive, the Oilers also looked sluggish in both of their weekend games.


However, the six goals stand out because, well, that could translate into Tuesday against a Pittsburgh team that let up eight to the Washington Capitals and five to the New York Rangers this weekend.

The two high  concessions added to a damning trend about the Pittsburgh defense. The Pens have allowed at least three goals in 13 of their 14 losses since January 1st. Ten of those defeats featured concessions of four or more.

The Flyers’ team total sits at over/under 3.5 at +130. You can take the alternative over 2.5 at -190 at DraftKings as well.

The key to any offensive success is the consistency from the Owen Tippett/Sean Couturier/Matvei Michkov line. All three players had multi-point games on Saturday and they combined for 13 shots on goal.

Michkov enters Tuesday with at least two shots on goal in each of his last four games. Tippett, a known ripper of the puck, had six SOGs in his return from injury against the Oilers.

In terms of PA betting promos, DraftKings has a Same Game Parlay boost available for any NHL game, FanDuel has a 25 percent boost for any 3+ leg NHL SGP, BetMGM has a 20 percent NHL boost and an Any Sport No Sweat Token available for Tuesday.

I’d look into either a point or SOG parlay involving Michkov, Tippett and the Flyers team total. Tippett and Michkov are plus money on their own to have a point. A SGP combination on FD gets you up to +210. If you add 2+ SOG to the point SGP, it gets you to +466 before the FD boost.

To fulfill the DK 4-leg requirement, you can do Michkov and Tippett 3+ SOGs, Flyers money line, and either player to score a goal. The original odds for that sit at +1600 with a Michkov goal and +1700 with a Tippett goal.

The BetMGM boost is for single bets, so I would look into one of the Michkov or Tippett props to increase the odds.