PHILADELPHIA -- The Penguins won't have Justin Schultz when they face Philadelphia tonight at 7:38 at Wells Fargo Center.
What they will have, even though Schultz will sit out his 16th consecutive game because of an unspecified lower-body injury, is the Flyers' attention and respect.
Which, despite the bitter rivalry that has existed between those teams for decades, isn't entirely surprising, considering that the Penguins are fourth in the NHL's overall standings despite losing 204 man-games -- about 202 of those to players filling prominent roles -- to injuries and illness so far in 2019-20.
"Obviously, they've done a really good job," said right winger Travis Konecny, who will represent Philadelphia at the NHL All-Star Game this weekend. "They've had a few key injuries. Just the sense of how they've weathered that storm is pretty impressive. You have key guys go down, and you have guys stepping up.
"Bryan Rust is having a career year. They've had some other guys step up. They have some good depth in a lot of positions."
Philadelphia doesn't have much first-hand experience with the Penguins this season. The only previous meeting was a 7-1 Penguins victory at PPG Paints Arena Oct. 29.
"We've sort of tried to turn the page on that," Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said after his team's optional game-day skate. "We're past that. That was a long time ago, and we know that they're one of the best teams in the NHL, for quite some time now.
"They've been (hitting) on all cylinders here, playing real well offensively and defensively. So we know we're going to have to be at our best."
The Flyers, who also will be playing for the final time before the NHL's all-star break, are having a solid season of their own.
They are 26-17-6, good only for sixth place in the Metropolitan Division, but ninth place in the Eastern Conference. A victory tonight could lift Philadelphia into seventh place in the East, depending on how Carolina and Florida fare in their games.
"We're in a great position," Vigneault said. "We're right where we want to be."
Philadelphia's record aside, a more surprising stat to some might be that the Flyers, long renowned for physicality and often outright thuggery, rank just 22nd in the league in average penalty minutes, with seven minutes, 36 seconds per game.
That figure includes nine majors, which puts Philadelphia in a four-way tie for 10th-most in the league.
Not that the Penguins expect to be sharing the ice with a club full of pacifists this evening.
"For the most part, just the way the league has shifted, there's not as much of that (thuggery) anymore, in general," Zach Aston-Reese said. "And with some of the personnel they have, it's been shifting a little bit to more skill.
"But they definitely still have guys who are gritty. Go back to the playoffs two years ago, and (Claude) Giroux had that hit on (Carl) Hagelin that some of us might disagree with. Anytime these two teams play each other, that is bound to happen. That barbaric nature just brings itself out, I guess."
Also today:
• Dominik Simon, who left the Penguins' 4-3 victory against Boston Sunday because of an undisclosed injury, confirmed that he plans to be in the lineup tonight. Simon had practiced Monday with no apparent difficulty. "I feel good," he said.
• Mike Sullivan said he expects Schultz to rejoin the lineup after the all-star break, which he called "one of the factors" shaping the decision to hold him out tonight. The Penguins' first game then is against the Flyers Jan. 31 at PPG Paints Arena.
• Sullivan, on Evgeni Malkin winning 50.55 percent of his faceoffs this season, the first time in his career that he's won more than he's lost: "When (Sidney Crosby) was out, he was terrific in the faceoff circle. I wish I knew the reason why. I think it's because he just started to value the importance of it. I think he realized the benefit of winning faceoffs and how it could help his overall game."
• Fifteen players went on the ice for the Flyers' optional game-day skate.
• Vigneault, on defenseman Ivan Provorov, who has not missed a game since breaking into the NHL and will be appearing in his 296th in a row tonight: "He's a force for us. He plays big minutes against the other team's top line. He plays on our power play. He kills penalties. I still think he hasn't peaked yet. There's a lot more there."
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