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Flyers Gameday: 3/10/12 vs. Maple Leafs

March 10, 2012, 8:20 AM ET [470 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
PREVIEW 8:30 AM EST

Looking for their fifth win in a row and sixth in the last seven games, the Philadelphia Flyers (38-21-7) head north of the border to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs (30-30-7). The game starts at 7 p.m. EST and will be broadcast locally on CSN Philly.

This is the third of four meetings between the teams this season, and the first of two games at the Air Canada Centre. Both games in Toronto take place this month.

On Oct. 24, the Flyers earned an extremely costly 4-2 win on home ice. Chris Pronger suffered a serious eye injury in the first period of the game when he was hit in the right eye by the stick of Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski. Later, Jaromir Jagr scored his first two regular season goals as a Flyer; both on breakaways. Scott Hartnell also lit the lamp twice for Philadelphia, while Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves.

Bobrovsky was in net again when the Flyers downed Toronto 4-3 on Feb. 9 at the Wells Fargo Center. Scott Hartnell registered a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, which included a fight with Dion Phaneuf immediately after scoring the game's first goal. In a wide-open second period, the teams traded off three goals apiece, with Max Talbot, Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn (who got the better of his brother, Luke, on the play)scoring for Philadelphia. Tyler Bozak scored two goals for Toronto, while ex-Flyer Joffrey Lupul got the other goal off a rebound Bobrovsky was unable to cover.

Ilya Bryzgalov, who has allowed just two goals over his last three starts and has recorded two shutouts this weeks, will likely be the Flyers' goaltender tonight. Despite an array of injuries that have depleted the lineup, Philly played one of its most complete two-way games of the season in dismantling the Florida Panthers, 5-0.

Defensemen Kimmo Timonen (lower back injury) and Andrej Meszaros (groin pull) remain out of the lineup for Philadelphia. Former Maple Leafs blueliner Pavel Kubina (upper body injury) sat out of Thursday's game and his status for tonight is unknown as if this writing.

With all their injuries on the blueline, the Flyers recalled rookie Brandon "Manndog" Manning from the Phantoms. He was plus-two in his NHL debut on Thursday. He'll be in the lineup again tonight if Kubina is still unable to play.

Jakub Voracek (stitches around mouth, neck stiffness) sat out Thursday's game after being knocked for a loop by a thundering hit by Detroit's Niklas Kronwall on Tuesday. He has not officially been diagnosed with a concussion, and his status for tonight is unknown.

Jaromir Jagr volunteered to play on the fourth line and power play on Thursday, despite a hip injury that forced him to leave in the second period of Tuesday's 3-2 win over Detroit. The gamble paid off against Florida, as he tallied a power play goal and did not exacerbate the injury. Depending on how he feels today, he may remain in the same capacity or else retake his spot on the top line.

Claude Giroux has had a highly productive week offensively, despite dealing with a sore hand. He did not take faceoffs in the Detroit game, and only took nine (5 wins) right circle draws in the Florida game.

Philly will be without James van Riemsdyk (broken foot) and Tom Sestito (groin tear) for the rest of the regular season. JVR had surgery on March 6 and hopes to return for the start of the playoffs. Sestito is slated for rehab work shortly.

Toronto, which fired coach Ron Wilson last weekend and replaced him with former Anaheim bench boss Randy Carlyle, is on the brink of falling out of the playoff chase. The club has lost two in a row and eight of its last 10 (2-7-1). As a result, the Leafs have fallen to 12th in the Eastern Conference, five points behind Washington with 15 games remaining.

Top-line winger Lupul, an All-Star this season, has been lost for four to six weeks due to a shoulder separation. The club is also without scrappy Mike Brown (deep thigh contusion). Colby Armstrong has a broken nose but may be able to play tonight.

PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)

FLYERS

Hartnell - Giroux - Schenn
Read - Briere - Simmonds
Talbot - Couturier - Rinaldo
Shelley - Wellwood - Jagr

Carle - Gustafsson
Grossmann - Coburn
Lilja - Manning

Bryzgalov
[Bobrovsky]

MAPLE LEAFS

Connolly - Bozak - Kessel
MacArthur - Grabovski - Kulemin
Ashton - Steckel - Crabb
Rosehill - Lombardi - Frattin

Phaneuf - Gunnarsson
Liles - Schenn
Gardiner - Komisarek

Reimer/Gustavsson


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