The Penguins did a lot of retooling in the offseason after being knocked out by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs. The Flyers have the same core and they should be much more comfortable playing together with the absence of a preseason. I would give the Flyers the goaltending and defensive edge with Carter Hart in net over Tristan Jarry, take the Flyers at home.

The last time we saw the Penguins, they flopped in the Stanley Cup qualifying round against the worst team in the postseason, Montreal. The Pens were very busy this offseason, but few experts thought they got better. The Flyers, who reached the Eastern Conference semifinals in the bubble, will get two huge boots on Opening Night with the returns of forwards Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom. Patrick missed all of last season because of a migraine disorder but had 31 points in 72 games the year before. Lindblom missed the last 39 games of the 2019-20 regular season after he was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma (did return for two playoff games). Lindblom had 18 points in 30 games last year. The home team has won four of the past five in this series.