MINI-PREVIEW 10 AM EST
The Eastern Conference leading Flyers (39-15-5) have been finding ways to win games of late without playing anything close to their best hockey for more than 20-30 minutes. Unless the flaws are corrected, sooner or later it's bound to catch up with the team. Philly will need a much improved all-around effort tonight in order to defeat the red-hot Phoenix Coyotes (32-19-9) at the Wells Fargo Center.
This is the lone meeting of the season between the clubs. Phoenix comes in having won seven games in a row to take over first place in the Pacific Division. Dave Tippett's club has gotten back to exhibiting the type of work ethic and team speed that made them last season's Cinderella club in the NHL. When all else fails, goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov can steal games for the team.
The Coyotes are not a club that has overwhelming firepower but they are very solid all-around especially at even strength. Phoenix often gets outshot in games, but Bryzgalov usually seems to thrive in such situations. The club is opportunistic offensively and All-Star defenseman Keith Yandle is a dangerous weapon leading the rush or pinching in from the point.
The Flyers have been getting a lot of offense recently from Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux but the Mike Richards and Danny Briere lines have both been a bit inconsistent of late. The club has started to get bitten by the injury bug, and will not have either Blair Betts (finger laceration) or Sean O'Donnell (sprained knee) tonight.
Meanwhile, the Coyotes are without veteran defenseman Ed Jovanovski (orbital bone fracture), while Adrian Aucoin (lower-body) is listed as day-to-day. Veteran forward Ray Whitney (lower-body injury) is considered probable for tonight.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS
FLYERS
Hartnell/Nodl - Richards -Versteeg
Nod/Hartnell - Briere - Leino
JVR - Giroux - Carter
Carcillo - Powe - Shelley
Pronger - Carle
Coburn - Timonen
Meszaros - Bartulis
Bobrovsky
[Boucher]
COYOTES
Whitney - Hanzal - Vrbata
Korpikoski - Belanger - Doan
Upshall - Fiddler - Stempniak
Boedker - Ebbett - Pyatt
Yandle - Morris
Rozsival - Lepisto
Ekman-Larsson - Yonkman
Bryzgalov
[LaBarbera]
****
This week on Philadelphiaflyers.com, I take a look at the
transition Andreas Nodl has had to make from an offense-oriented collegiate player to a role player at the NHL level.
Today's
Daily Drop at Versus.com looks at the James Neal and Matt Niskanen for Alex Goligoski trade from a Dallas Stars perspective.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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