Even though it looked for the better part of the last week like the Flyers would be facing the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it turns out the Orange and Black will be facing their cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Many of the pundits agreed that facing the Hurricanes was going to be tough, as they had at one time won nine games in a row, even though many also believed that the Flyers matched up well against them. Unfortunately, the all around oncsensus is that the Penguins will be even tougher.

For much of the past week, the Flyers and Hurricanes were tied in points, battling for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conferrence. Then all of a sudden, Carolina lost two straights games and allowed the Penguins to leapfrog them into fifth place.

Sunday is the final day of the regular season, and it will decide home-ice advantage. The Flyers end their regular season at the Wachovia Center against the New York Rangers. The Flyers suffered a 2-1 defeat to the Rangers on Thursday at Madison Square Garden after allowing two quick goals early in the first period. The Flyers are 2-3 on the season against the Rangers. On the bright side, the Flyers just completed a season sweep of the New York Islanders with a win in Long Island on Saturday.

The Penguins do not play Sunday. The Flyers need one point against the Rangers to win home-ice advantage. If they fail to tie or win Sunday, then they will remain tied with the Penguins with 99 points on the season. The tie breaker would go to the Penguins, as they have one more win than the Flyers.

The Penguins have won four of the six games against the Flyers this season, including two overtime victories. the first round matchup will be a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, which the Penguins won before losing to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The first round schedule will be released later today after all the matchups are set.