The Philadelphia Flyers are just one week away from hosting the 2012 Winter Classic, Monday, Jan. 2, against Atlantic Division rival, the New York Rangers, and to prep for that contest the Eastern Conference's second-place team will play two road games this week (Dec. 26-Jan. 1) -- at Tampa Bay Lightning, Tuesday, Dec. 27 (7:30 p.m. ET), and at Pittsburgh Penguins, Thursday, Dec. 29 (7 p.m.). Both games will be broadcast locally on COMCAST.
On Tuesday, the Lightning (14-17-3, 31 points) host the Flyers (21-9-4, 46 points) for the second time this season. On Nov. 9, Philadelphia dropped a 2-1 overtime contest at St. Pete Times Forum. However, just a few weeks ago, the Flyers earned a 5-2 victory over visiting Tampa Bay, which is 3-6-1 in its last 10 games.
On Thursday, Pittsburgh (20-11-4, 44 points) welcomes Philadelphia to the Energy Center where the Flyers have yet to play this season. On Dec. 8, Philadelphia defeated Pittsburgh, 3-2, at the Wells Fargo Center.
This season, the Flyers are 13-4-2 on the road.