PREVIEW 8:45 AM EDT
In the final game of their 2013 season, the Philadelphia Flyers (22-22-3) will try to push their record above .500 for the first time in the entire 48-game schedule. They are on the road tonight, taking on an Ottawa Senators (24-16-6) club that needs to win in order to jump over the New York Islanders and clinch the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The game starts at 7:00 p.m. and will broadcast locally on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the third and final meeting between the teams this season and the lone game in Ottawa. The teams split the two games at the Wells Fargo Center, with the Flyers prevailing 2-1 on March 2 and the Senators winning by a 3-1 count on April 11.
The Flyers enter this game having won four of their last five games, including a 2-1 win over the Islanders in the home finale on Thursday. Playing what is likely his last home game in a Flyers uniform, Danny Briere tallied a power play goal for his sixth goal of the season. In the third period, rookie defenseman Oliver Lauridsen notched his second goal is as many games -- and his first NHL goal in which he actually shot the puck into the net -- with a game-winning blast from the point.
Ilya Bryzgalov played a strong game in goal against the Isles in what is more likely than not his final start of the season. Steve Mason is expected to start tonight. I also would not be totally shocked if Brian Boucher is dressed as the backup tonight, because it could be Boucher's final day in the NHL.
There is also a good chance that tonight will bring Mike Knuble's 17-year NHL journey to an end as an active player. If he dresses for tonight's game, it will be the 1,068th regular season game of his NHL career. Knuble has scored four goals in 27 games this year and 278 for his regular-season NHL career. Knuble's NHL career has been an oddity of sorts, as he scored 228 of those goals after his 30th birthday after being primarily a checking line player in his 20s.
For those with an eye on next Monday's NHL Draft lottery, the Flyers will finish 22nd in the NHL if they lose in regulation tonight. If they win tonight or lose in overtime or a shootout, much will also depend on the results of a variety of other games. In those scenarios, the Flyers would leapfrog in the final NHL standings anywhere from 21st-place to as high as 19th-place (in other words, potentially from the current default eighth pick to the default 9th, 10th or 11th pick).
Ottawa is in the inverse situation in terms of playoff possibilities. The Senators could still finish sixth, seventh or eighth in the Eastern Conference. No matter what the New York Rangers do today against the New Jersey Devils, a Sens win today would mean they finish sixth and play the Southeast Division winning Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.
If Ottawa manages at least an overtime or shootout loss, the Sens' status quo seventh spot would be clinched (via tiebreaker) with a chance for sixth heading into tomorrow's make-up game in Boston if the Rangers lose today. If the Senators lose in regulation to the Flyers and the Rangers beat the Devils, Ottawa will at least temporarily drop to the eighth seed and would need a win tomorrow to avoid Pittsburgh in the first playoff round and instead play either the Northeast Division winner (Boston or Montreal) or against Washington.
The Senators, who now have superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson back in the lineup, beat Washington, 2-1, on Thursday. The club had some difficulties down the stretch but has righted its ship enough to have won five of its last 10.
On the injury front, Philadelphia is without defensemen Kimmo Timonen (foot fracture), Nicklas Grossmann (concussion), Braydon Coburn (separated shoulder), Andrej Meszaros (torn rotator cuff) and Bruno Gervais (abdominal muscle tear). Up front, the Flyers are missing Max Talbot (broken leg) and Zac Rinaldo (high ankle sprain) for the rest of the year.
Flyers' defenseman Kent Huskins (concussion) has been practicing this week and could be physically available to play tonight. However, there is no need to push it in a game that is basically meaningless to the impending unrestricted free agent's current team.
The Senators have also been an injury-riddled club for much of the season but have started to get some key players back in the lineup even apart from Karlsson. However, the team is still without top line center Jason Spezza (back surgery).
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
12 Simon Gagne - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
19 Scott Hartnell - 14 Sean Couturier - 48 Danny Briere
24 Matt Read - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
26 Ruslan Fedotenko - 18 Adam Hall - 37 Jay Rosehill or 9 Mike Knuble
38 Oliver Lauridsen - 22 Luke Schenn
6 Andreas Lilja - 29 Erik Gustafsson
32 Brandon Manning - 34 Matt Konan
35 Steve Mason
[30 Ilya Bryzgalov or 33 Brian Boucher]
SENATORS
9 Milan Michalek - 7 Kyle Turris - 22 Eric Kondra
14-Colin Greening - 15 Zack Smith - 11 Daniel Alfredsson
89-Cory Conacher - 93 Mika Zibanejad - 33 Jakob Silfverberg
28 Matt Kassian - 44 Jean Gabriel Pageau - 25 Chris Neil
3 Marc Methot - 65 Erik Karlsson
2 Jared Cowen - 55 Sergei Gonchar
62 Eric Gryba - 4 Chris Phillips
41 Craig Anderson
[40 Robin Lehner]
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