GAME PREVIEW (6:45 AM EST)
In a rematch of Saturday's game in Newark, the Philadelphia Flyers (4-9-1) will play host to the New Jersey Devils (3-7-4) at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on CSN Philly and MSG Plus.
This is the second of four meetings between the Metropolitan Division rivals this season. The next game will take place on Tuesday, January 7, in Newark. The final game will be on Tuesday, March 11 in Philadelphia.
After tonight's game, the Flyers have a Saturday matinee against the Oilers. That will be followed by a difficult three-in-four road trip that will take the team to Ottawa, Pittsburgh and Winnipeg in a span of 96 hours.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
On Tuesday in Raleigh, the Flyers were 53 seconds away from their second consecutive 1-0 shutout victory. The roof promptly caved in.
A needless icing begat a defensive coverage breakdown and a game-tying goal that forced overtime. The Flyers looked tentative and shaken, which begat a bad turnover near the offensive blueline and a breakaway goal that turned two points into one for Philadelphia.
The Flyers will try to shake off the disheartening finish to the last game. They will attempt to build upon the defensive improvements and rock solid goaltending they have exhibited most of the season.
Offensively, Philly enters this game mired in a deep funk. The club has averaged barely 1.5 goals per game coming into tonight's match. The fact that the team has entered the third period of 13 of 14 games leading, tied or down by just one goal is a testament to the way the goaltenders -- especially Steve Mason -- have kept the team in games.
Scott Hartnell scored the Flyers' lone goal on Tuesday; his first point of the season. Brayden Schenn notched the only goal in the 1-0 shutout win against the Devils on Saturday.
Craig Berube made a few changes at practice on Monday, moving Vincent Lecavalier back from right wing on Claude Giroux's line to his natural center position. Right wing Jakub Voracek moved back to the top line and the short-lived experiment of having him play left wing came to an end. The defense pairings remained the same as the last two games.
On the injury front, the status of Steve Downie (concussion) was upgraded from being out indefinitely to being day-to-day.
DEVILS OUTLOOK
The Devils had three nights off after a miserable set of back-to-back games over the weekend. After getting shut out at home by the Flyers on Saturday, the Devils were on the receiving end of a 4-0 road whitewashing in Minnesota on Sunday.
Longtime Flyer-killer Patrik Elias (back spasms) is likely to remain out of the lineup tonight for Pete DeBoer's team. The Devils hope to have Travis Zajac in the lineup tonight. The forward, who sustained a sprained right ankle, did practice yesterday and may play tonight. His availability is not a certainty as of this writing.
Future Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur will get the start in goal tonight for the Devils. For the season, the 41-year-old legend has a 2-3-2 record with 2.68 GAA and .888 save percentage.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
19 Scott Hartnell - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
10 Brayden Schenn - 40 Vincent Lecavalier - 24 Matt Read
12 Michael Raffl - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
45 Kris Newbury or 37 Jay Rosehill - 18 Adam Hall - 36 Zac Rinaldo
44 Kimmo Timonen - 5 Braydon Coburn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit
75 Hal Gill - 41 Andrej Meszaros
29 Ray Emery
[35 Steve Mason]
Scratches: Luke Schenn (healthy), Erik Gustafsson (healthy), Kris Newbury or Jay Rosehill (healthy), Steve Downie (day-to-day, concussion), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).
DEVILS
8 Dainius Zubrus - 21 Andrei Loktionov - 68 Jaromir Jagr
9 Mattias Tedenby - 14 Adam Henrique - 17 Michael Ryder
25 Cam Janssen - 16 Josef Jacobson - 12 Damien Brunner
18 Steve Bernier - 11 Stephen Gionta - 20 Ryan Carter
6 Andy Greene - 7 Mark Fayne
22 Eric Gelinas - 5 Adam Larsson
28 Anton Volchenkov - 2 Marek Zidlicky
30 Martin Brodeur
[35 Cory Schneider]
Scratches: Travis Zajac (sprained ankle; practiced on Wed and may play), Peter Harrold (IR, elbow), Ryane Clowe (IR, concussion), Bryce Salvador (IR, foot), Jon Merrill (facial lacerations).
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Congratulations to our FlyerBuzz podcast trivia contest winner Patrick Riley of Media, PA, for being the first to come up with the correct answer. Pete Peeters was the goaltender of record in the game in question. Patrick wins a pair of tickets to Saturday's Flyers-Oilers matinee at the Wells Fargo Center. We will be doing more such giveaways during the season so keep on listening!
On the International Ice Hockey Federation's official Web site, I take an in-depth look at one of the many innovations that the late Fred Shero brought to the NHL: studying and adapting European hockey tactics to fit the small-rink game. For more on Shero's contributions in the realm of studying and adapting international hockey to the NHL,
click here.
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