Penguins Call Up Former First-Round Pick Ahead of Rivalry Showdown with the Flyers

The Pittsburgh Penguins start a four-game road trip Tuesday evening when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Face-off is 6 p.m.

After the rivalry game, Pittsburgh will have just one day off before resuming its journey through Minnesota on Thursday, Winnipeg on Saturday, and Toronto on Monday. It's a tough stretch, with three of the games being against playoff contenders.

Pittsburgh will have the help of Owen Pickering, their former first-rounder, as the Penguins have called him up from the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Flyers, on the other hand, have fresher legs following a 4-3 shootout victory over the Islanders on Saturday.

Rookie Matvei Michkov provided the winner with a silky shootout goal, and goalie Samuel Ersson made the game-deciding save.

It's the first of four games this season between the intra-state rivals, who play three more times, Dec. 1 in Philadelphia, and Jan. 15 and March 7 in Pittsburgh.

On Monday evening, Sidney Crosby achieved another milestone when he became the ninth player in NHL history to have 1,700 career points.

Crosby refused to discuss the milestone out of respect, as a fan was injured during last night's game when he fell from the upper concourse level.

Quite appropriately, there are not many teams that have been victimized by his dominance more than the Flyers: he has 56 goals and 78 assists for 134 points in 90 games against them.

The Penguins' Rickard Rakell will miss at least a month after undergoing hand surgery. In his place, rookie Ville Koivunen returned to the lineup, with four goals and seven assists in just six AHL games this season.

In the meantime, Penguins prospect Sergei Murashov was named AHL Player of the Week after a ridiculous stretch for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, going 5-0-0 with a .949 save percentage and 1.40 goals-against average.

To start the road trip, the Penguins will try to keep momentum going and challenge their depth versus a familiar, motivated opponent.