FLYERS-PANTHERS GAME PREVIEW (4:00 AM EST)
Looking for their fourth consecutive win and their seventh in their last eight games, the Philadelphia Flyers (10-10-2) open a two-game roadtrip to the Sunshine State with a game against the Florida Panthers (6-13-5) in Sunrise. Game time is 7:30 p.m. EST. The match will be televised locally on CSN Philly.
This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season, and the first of two in Florida. The teams will conclude their season series on Tuesday, April 8.
On Oct. 8, in the team's first game after Craig Berube took over for Peter Laviolette as the Flyers' head coach, the Flyers captured a 2-1 win at the Wells Fargo Center. Brayden Schenn got the Flyers off to a quick start by going to the net and potting a carom off the end boards. Shortly thereafter, Braydon Coburn scored from a tough angle with an injured Tim Thomas down on the ice. Thomas was replaced by Jacob Markström (25 saves) immediately thereafter. Winning goalie Steve Mason turned back 33 of 34 shots to claim first-star honors.
Early the third period of the Oct. 8 game, the Flyers picked up 16 PIMs, including 14 to Jay Rosehill after he left the penalty box area to join an altercation. Philly survived a four-minute penalty. Midway through the final stanza, Florida defenseman Erik Gudbranson received a fiv-minute boarding major and game misconduct. The Flyers were unable to capitalize on the power play but it killed five minutes off the clock.
After tonight's game, the Flyers head to Tampa Bay for a game on Wednesday night. The team will play its annual matinee at home the day after U.S. Thanksgiving, with an 11:30 a.m. start against the Winnipeg Jets.
Thereafter, the Flyers will play the vast majority of their upcoming schedule on the road, as is typical of December. After the Black Friday game, Philly has just four home games until Jan. 8.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers are coming off a 5-2 home win against the New York Islanders on Saturday night. Matt Read broke a scoreless tie early in the second period with his first of two goals in the tilt (the latter was empty net goal late in regulation). Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux (power play) followed with goals in quick succession to build a 3-0 lead.
The Islanders scored the next two goals, breaking a streak of five-plus games in which the Flyers had not allowed any even strength goals. On the flip side, Philly killed all three penalties it took on this night, ending a streak of four straight games of having allowed at least one opposition power play goal. Brayden Schenn restored the Flyers' two-goal lead in the third period before Read's empty netter. Mason stopped 36 of 38 shots.
Over the last seven games, a Philadelphia team that started the season averaging a pathetic 1.47 goals per game in the first 15 matches has averaged a robust 3.86 goals per game and have outscored opponents by a 27-10 margin in regulation.
Of late, the Flyers have been getting frequent even strength scoring from each of its top three lines. The power play has also been clicking of late, scoring at least one goal in each of the last six games. For the season, the Flyers rank 23rd in the NHL on the power play (13-for-86, 15.1 percent) and 16th on the penalty kill (75-for-91, 82.4 percent).
Read has scored four goals in the last two games. Team captain Claude Giroux has a four-game point streak, with goals in two of the last three games and five points in that span.
The Flyers have been rolling the same lines and defense pairs for the past six games. It is possible that enforcer Rosehill, who made a defensive miscue on the second Islanders goal on Saturday, could be scratched for Michael Raffl tonight or the club could simply leave the lineup untouched while the team is on a roll.
PANTHERS OUTLOOK
When the Flyers last saw the Panthers, former Flyers captain and Philly fan favorite Kevin Dineen was still the team's head coach. He has since been ousted, along with assistant coaches and fellow ex-Flyers employees, Gord Murphy and Craig Ramsay. Peter Horachek was promoted from the AHL adn named interim head coach, while Brian Skrudland and John Madden were hired as his assistants.
The team has also subsequently traded former Flyers forward Kris Versteeg to Chicago. Versteeg led the Panthers in goal scoring in 2011-12, when Dineen coaxed an overachieving team to win the Southeast Division. Very little has gone right for the Panthers since that time.
The Panthers enter tonight's game with the third fewest points in the NHL. Only Edmonton (16 points) and Buffalo (11 points) have fewer points than Florida. Tonight's game marks the start of a five-game homestand.
During the Panthers' recent four-game western road trip, the club went 2-1-1. The team pulled off upset wins over Colorado and Vancouver at the start of its trip before suffering a 4-1 setback in Edmonton. Florida is coming off a 4-3 shootout loss in Calgary last Friday night. Tom Gilbert, Jimmy Hayes and Marcel Goc scored for the Panthers. Thomas (2.79 GAA, .908 save percentage on the season) stopped 21 of 24 shots in regulation and three of six in the shootout.
Defenseman Brian Campbell are forward Tomas Fleischmann are tied for the team leading in scoring. Both players have three goals and 12 points to date. Brad Boyes tops the squad with eight goals. Highly regarded youngsters Jonathan Huberdeau (five goals, 11 points) and Aleksander Barkov (four goals, 10 points) represent the future foundation of the club.
The Panthers have allowed 80 goals to date. Only the Islanders, Calgary and Edmonton have yielded more. Two-time former Vezina Trophy winner Thomas has more often than not kept his team in games with his unorthodox style of goaltending -- the majority of the really ugly losses this season have come with either the demoted Markström or veteran backup Scott Clemmensen in net -- but the Panthers have a lot of inexperienced players in front of him. As such, the team defense can be porous at times.
Florida ranks at the bottom of the NHL on the power play, bringing an 8-for-86 (9.3 percent; the lone NHL team below 11 percent) mark into this game. That's no guarantee of an easy night for the Philly PK, however. It should be noted that the Flyers penalty kill, even when it was previously going strong, has had a few bad games against teams that brought struggling power play into matches this season.
The Panthers also rank near the bottom of the NHL on the penalty kill. The club ranks 27th overall at 77.1 percent efficiency (54-for-70) and is one of just five teams that has yet to score a shorthanded goal this season. On the positive side, the Panthers are one of the least-penalized teams in the NHL. Only San Jose and Chicago have had to play shorthanded fewer times than Florida.
For whatever reason, the Flyers have recently seemed to fare better against the Panthers on the road than at home. The road team has won nine of the last 11 games between the teams. The Flyers have won five in a row in Sunrise.
On the Florida injury front, veteran defenseman Ed Jovanovski has missed all season after undergoing hip surgery. The club is also without Tomas Kopecky (upper-body injury), Jesse Wichester (lower-body injury) and Mike Weaver (flu).
PROJECTED LINE COMBINATIONS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
19 Scott Hartnell - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
10 Brayden Schenn - 40 Vincent Lecavalier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 9 Steve Downie
37 Jay Rosehill - 18 Adam Hall - 36 Zac Rinaldo
44 Kimmo Timonen - 5 Braydon Coburn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit
26 Erik Gustafsson - 22 Luke Schenn
35 Steve Mason
[29 Ray Emery]
Potential Scratches: Michael Raffl (healthy), Andrej Meszaros (healthy), Hal Gill (healthy), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).
PANTHERS
11 Jonathan Huberdeau - 27 Nick Bjugstad - 14 Tomas Fleischmann
19 Scottie Upshall - 16 Aleksander Barkov - 24 Brad Boyes
57 Marcel Goc - 23 Scott Gomez - 20 Sean Bergenheim
12 Jimmy Hayes - 18 Shawn Matthias - 21 Krys Barch
51 Brian Campbell - 77 Tom Gilbert
44 Erik Gudbranson - 7 Dmitry Kulikov
22 Mike Mottau - 97 Matt Gilroy
34 Tim Thomas
[30 Scott Clemmensen]
Potential Scratches: Dylan Olsen (healthy), Mike Weaver (flu), Tomas Kopecky (upper body), Jesse Winchester (lower body), Ed Jovanovsky (IR, hip surgery).
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