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Flyers, Penguins prepare to battle the elements

PITTSBURGH - By the time the Flyers face the Pittsburgh Penguins at Heinz Field on Saturday night, the rain and sleet will have stopped and the temperatures will be in the 30s.

PITTSBURGH - By the time the Flyers face the Pittsburgh Penguins at Heinz Field on Saturday night, the rain and sleet will have stopped and the temperatures will be in the 30s.

At least that's the forecast, which calls for the temperatures to dip into the 20s, with winds gusting as high as 28 mph, and snow starting to fall sometime in the second period.

"At the end of a long shift, if the wind is in your face and you have to backcheck, it just adds a little bit extra to it," winger Brayden Schenn said. "The wind could play a big factor."

"There's nothing you can do about it, right?" winger Jake Voracek said. "It's the same conditions for both teams, so you enjoy it."

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said he expected choppy ice conditions because of the weather.

"There probably won't be a ton of pretty plays," he said. "You try to keep it simple out there. You just have to know the conditions and understand them."

The Flyers and Penguins skated at Heinz Field on Friday in temperatures that were in the 70s, preparing for the made-for-TV Stadium Series game at 8 p.m. Saturday.

"We were sweating pretty hard, but it should be cooler [Saturday]," Voracek said. "I think we had a pretty good practice."

Schenn said he's happy the weather is going to change dramatically Saturday.

"That's kind of how the guys want it," Schenn said of the expected plummeting temperatures. "That's hockey. You want it a little cold."

Voracek said "a few guys might be a little nervous, but that's normal. We're not used to playing in front of 60,000. Everybody has to find a way to chip in somehow and we have to find a way to win the game."

"I've played in two of these before," said captain Claude Giroux, who in the last two games showed signs of snapping out of a massive slump, "...and sometimes you look at the crowd and say, 'Wow!' But at the end of the day we need to focus on what we have to do."

To help them focus, family members are staying at a different hotel from the players'.

"So we should have no problem staying away from them," Wayne Simmonds said with a smile.

Simmonds and his teammates are excited about the chance to knock off the defending Stanley Cup champions before a national TV audience and a huge crowd.

"This is the grand stage and everyone wants to play on the big stage," he said. "This is definitely one of those moments. For us, we just have to enjoy it and make sure we're ready."

The Flyers have just 22 games left, and they entered Friday five points behind the Islanders for the last playoff spot. They were 14 points ahead of the Islanders on Dec. 14, meaning they have had a 19-point swing in the last 21/2 months.

Giroux is minus-21 in his last 29 games. He has two goals in the last 25 games.

"Yeah, it's frustrating," he said. ". . . I've had a lot of chances, but at the end of the day it has to go in. We're done with excuses. We're here to play some hockey the way we want to play."

The Flyers have lost six of their last eight games.

"I think desperation is the word right now," Giroux said. "Last year, that was the focus. It wasn't easy, but we played some good hockey down the stretch to make the playoffs. It's no different this time."

Except this year, their goalies are inconsistent and the team has scored a total of six goals in its last six losses.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

@BroadStBull www.philly.com/flyersblog