MINI-PREVIEW 12:30 AM EDT
Looking to rebound from a 4-1 loss in the road half of a home-and-home set, the Philadelphia Flyers (39-22-7) return home for the return match with the New Jersey Devils (40-24-5). The game starts at 7 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast locally on CSN Philly.
This is the sixth and final meeting of the regular season series between the clubs. Both clubs have won two apiece in regulation, and New Jersey has also won one via shootout. On Sunday, Sergei Bobrovsky held the outplayed Flyers to within a 1-0 deficit for two periods and Claude Giroux tied the game early the third period. However, repeated defensive breakdowns eventually caught up to Philly, and they went down, 4-1.
Ilya Bryzgalov, the NHL's Player of the Week, will return to the net tonight for the Flyers. The club, which has been getting by with half of its starting defense missing, could get Kimmo Timonen (back) and Pavel Kubina (upper body) back later in the week. Timonen has been upgraded from out indefinitely to day-to-day. Andrej Meszaros (groin) remains out of the lineup indefinitely. Up front, the Flyers may be getting Jakub Voracek back in the lineup for this game. More will be known after the morning skate.
The Flyers need Danny Briere to start producing again to take a little pressure off the Claude Giroux line. For a few games, Briere looked on the bring of a breakthrough, but he didn't get any good scoring chances to speak of in either of the games over the weekend.
On Sunday, the Flyers did not have much success generating speed through the neutral zone or opportunities from the slot. New Jersey -- which has now caught the Flyers in points but has played one more game and owes 10 wins to shootouts (versus three by the Flyers) -- enters this game with a four-game winning streak. The Devils don't need to make any adjustments from Sunday. Philly does.
In Sunday's game, Ilya Kovalchuk racked up a three-point night. Meanwhile, longtime Flyers-killer Patrik Elias added a power play goal to bring his season series totals to four points in five games plus a shootout winner against Philly this season to bring his career matchup totals to 74 points (33 goals, 41 assists) in 75 games.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Read - Briere - Simmonds
Talbot - Schenn - Wellwood
Rinaldo - Couturier - Shelley
Carle - Gustafsson
Grossmann - Coburn
Lilja - Manning
Bryzgalov
[Bobrovsky]
DEVILS
Parise - Henrique - Kovalchuk
Sykora - Elias - Zubrus
Ponikarovsky - Josefson - Clarkson
Boulton - Carter - Bernier
Volchenkov - Zidlicky
Salvador- Larsson
Greene - Fayne
Brodeur/Hedberg
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