UPDATE 11:30 AM
Jaromir Jagr will play tonight, rejoining Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell on the first line. Harry Zolnierczyk will be a healthy scratch, meaning that Tom Sestito will be in the lineup.
PREVIEW 6:15 AM EST
In their first game after the NHL All-Star break, the Flyers (29-14-5) will take on the Winnipeg Jets (22-22-6) tonight at the Wells Fargo Center. The game starts at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast locally on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the third of four meetings between the teams this season, and the final one in Philadelphia. The Flyers have come out on the wrong end of two extremely high-scoring games, dropping a seesaw 9-8 game at home on Oct. 27 and then falling short in a third-period run to go down 6-4 in Winnipeg on Nov. 19. Overall, the Jets (formerly the Atlanta Thrashers) have beaten the Flyers five straight times in Philadelphia.
Tonight's game does not figure to be an artistic masterpiece. When there is a long break in the schedule, it often takes teams a period or two in their return game to recover their game legs and timing. Special teams can also be an adventure. But that matters little to the team that skates off with two points.
The Flyers went 6-3-1 in their last 10 games leading into the break. They won by shooout in Florida in their most recent game. Winnipeg stumbled to a 3-6-1 mark over its last 10 games and were shut out by the Rangers, 3-0, in the final game before the break.
The official (not statistical) start of the second half of the season is a good time for players to regroup and get ready for the grueling stretch drive that lies ahead. For someone such as Flyers' goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, a fresh start can be a godsend. Sergei Bobrovsky started both previous games against the Jets this season, and fared poorly in both. Bryz struggled even worse in relief duty for Bob in the first meeting of the season. Tonight's game is an opportunity to replace that bitter memory with a more positive one.
Both teams are racked by key injuries that carried over from before the All-Star break. For the Flyers, James van Riemsdyk (concussion) Danny Briere (concussion) and Jaromir Jagr (groin pull) all participated in practice yesterday. However, the club has also recalled Tom Sestito, Ben Holmstrom plus expected returnee Harry Zolnierczyk from the Phantoms.
There is a chance Jagr could play tonight. That will be determined after the morning skate today. Briere and van Riemsdyk officially remain out indefinitely. Zac Rinaldo (strained neck) practiced fully yesterday and is available to play tonight.
The Jets, meanwhile, are missing two key members of the lineup. Neither defenseman Dustin Byfuglien (knee) nor forward Evander Kane (concussion) will play tonight. So far in the season series, Blake Wheeler leads the team with five points (all assists), while Andrew Ladd, Nik Antropov and Bryan Little have two goals apiece.
Projected lineups (subject to change)
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Schenn
Read - Couturier - Simmonds
Zolnierczyk - Talbot - Voracek
Rinaldo - Holmstrom - Sestito
Timonen - Coburn
Carle - Bourdon
Gustafsson - Meszaros
Bryzgalov
[Bobrovsky]
JETS
Ladd - Little - Wheeler
Wellwood - Antropov - Fehr
Glass - Slater - Thorburn
Miettinen - Gagnon - Machacek
Enstrom - Hainsey
Oduya - Bogosian
Stuart - Jones
Pavelec/Mason
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