FLYERS VS BLUES GAME PREVIEW (7:35 A.M. EDT)
Two days after taking on the top team in the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia Flyers (39-27-8) will test on the best of the West with a road tilt against the St. Louis Blues (50-17-7). Game time is 8:00 p.m. EDT. The match will be televised on Comcast Sportnet Philadelphia, nationally in the U.S. on NBC Sports Network and in Canada on TSN2.
This is the second and final meeting between the inter-Conference teams and the lone game in St. Louis.
On March 22 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers prevailed over the Blues by a 4-1 count. Craig Berube's team put forth one of its best all-around performances of the season, especially over the final two periods.
Steve Mason (32 saves) was stellar in net, outplaying former Vezina Trophy winner Ryan Miller (15 saves). After yielding an early first period shorthanded goal that was extremely difficult to stop, Mason made several mind-boggling saves and stopped everything else fired his way. Mason was also fearless in handling the puck and getting to teammates to clear the defensive zone.
The Flyers received goals from Scott Hartnell (power play), Brayden Schenn, Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds (empty net). Philadelphia went 1-for-5 on the power play and 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.
Jaden Schwartz's shorthanded tally in the opening period stood as the Blues' only goal. St. Louis rarely loses when scoring first but Philly outworked them over the final 40 minutes.
Something else of note in the first meeting of the season: the Flyers exhibited some of their best puck management of the season after the early turnover than led to Schwartz's goal. They had strong puck support throughout the game and generally resisted the temptation to force low-percentage plays. The Flyers also skated very well in this game, and established relentless forechecking pressure that eventually got to the Blues.
Philadelphia will need a comparable or even superior effort in the return match. Nineteen shots is usually not enough to win, but the Flyers were exceptionally good at finishing off their scoring chances in the first game against St. Louis.
After tonight's game, the Flyers return home for a Thursday match to conclude their season series with the Columbus Blue Jackets. On Saturday, the Flyers have a matinee in Boston and then return home to play Buffalo the following night.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Starting with a home game against Detroit on Jan. 28, the Flyers have gone 14-5-2 over their last 21 games. They are 9-4-2 after the Olympic break and went 9-3-2 in March.
The Flyers earned a hard-fought point in Sunday's 4-3 home shootout loss to Boston. It took 52 shots to get three pucks past Tuukka Rask, including a last-minute tying goal to send the game to overtime. In the first period, Vincent Lecavalier scored the 400th goal of his regular season NHL career. It was also Lecavalier who tied the game at 3-3 with 24.7 seconds remaining in regulation. Kimmo Timonen scored late in the first period to give Philly a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.
Steve Mason (27 saves) allowed a bad second period goal to Patrice Bergeron but was otherwise excellent in the game. The Bergeron goal nearly proved to be the game-winner for Boston but it basically cancelled out Lecavalier's stoppable first goal allowed by Rask. Mason bounced back immediately from the soft goal and stepped up with several difficult saves to give the Flyers a fighting chance to come back.
Both sides of the Flyers special teams had been in a good groove entering the Boston game. The power play (0-for-4, including 1:47 worth of 5-on-3 time early in the third period) and penalty kill (1-for-2) faltered against the Bruins.
Lecavalier, who was demoted from second line left wing to fourth line center on Friday, has scored three goals in the last two games. One came on a 5-on-3 power play against Toronto. Career goal number 400 came on an even-strength shift with the fourth line. The late-game tying goal came when the Flyers used five forwards plus defenseman Timonen with Mason pulled late in the game. With the Flyers trailing, Lecavalier spent much of the latter part of Sunday's game back on the second line with Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds.
Offense has generally not been a problem for the Flyers since their early-season struggles to put the puck in the net. Through the first 15 games of the season, the Flyers scored just 22 goals (1.47 per game). Since that time, Philly has tallied 187 goals in 58 games (3.22 per game).
In the first five games after the Olympic break, the Flyers yielded 21 goals. However, they have allowed just 21 in the last 10 games. The goaltending of Mason and Ray Emery has generally been strong.
The Flyers held a brief optional practice at the Wells Fargo Center yesterday after taking their annual team photograph. Fifteen players skated.
Timonen took a puck to the face in the Boston game but stayed in to play the rest of the game. However, he did not practice yesterday and reportedly did not make the trip to St. Louis with the team. Officially, he is day-to-day with an upper body injury.
Erik Gustafsson will return to the lineup tonight after a lengthy stretch as a healthy scratch. He will either be plugged into Timonen's five-on-five spot paired with Braydon Coburn or else Andrew MacDonald will be paired with Coburn and Gustafsson will be partnered with Luke Schenn. Mark Streit is likely to take Timonen's spot on the top power play unit.
Steve Downie (upper body injury, suspected concussion) remains sidelined and is still listed as day-to-day although he has not played since sustaining the injury in the previous meeting with the Blues. Several other players, including Nicklas Grossmann (foot injury sustained in the earlier game against St. Louis), are playing through injuries that may have sidelined them for a time if they happened earlier in the season.
BLUES OUTLOOK
Ken Hitchcock's Blues have racked up wins in machine-like fashion this season. However, the club had a three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday when they got outworked by Dallas in a 4-2 home loss. The club went 11-3-1 in March.
The highlight of Saturday's game from a St. Louis standpoint was a pair of power play goals by Alexander Steen. The Swede notched his 32nd and 33rd goals of the season. Ryan Miller did not have one of his better nights but got little help at time in stopping 23 of 27 shots. Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen made 33 saves.
Overall, the acquisition of goaltender Miller and agitating forward Steve Ott near the trade deadline has made an already formidable St. Louis team that much more dangerous. The Blues have never won a Stanley Cup since coming into the NHL along with the Flyers and four other teams in 1967. This season, hopes are high to break that spell.
What makes the Blues so dangerous? Depth, two-way play and, now, strong goaltending. There is good reason why they rank in the top five or at least the top 10 in most major team statistical categories across the NHL.
Individually, the Blues do not have a single player in the NHL's top 30 in scoring. Nevertheless, the team is third in the NHL with 3.16 goals per game, excluding shootouts. They have seven players with double-digit goals, led by Steen. Olympian T.J. Oshie is tied with Steen for the overall team scoring lead with 60 points (21 goals, 39 assists).
The Blues have also gotten 36 goals from their defense corps; the Flyers (31) have also done pretty well in that regard this season. Alex Pietrangelo (eight goals, 50 points, +23) leads the way offensively, but Kevin Shattenkirk (nine goals, six PPG, 44 points) and Jay Bouwmeester (four goals, 32 assists, 36 points, +27) also contribute significantly to the attack. The defense can lead or join the rush at any time and can catch opponents napping by pinching in from the point with support up high in the zone.
Defensively, the Blues are the third-stingiest team in the NHL. For the month of March, the Blues yielded two or fewer goals in 11 of 15 games and one or zero in seven.
As is typical of a Hitchcock-coached club, St. Louis does not give opponents much time or space. Everybody backchecks (or they don't play) and the team keeps turnovers to a minimum. It is often difficult for opposing teams to get a sustained forecheck going against the Blues, and they also don't yield much off the line rush.
The Blues have been exceptionally tough to beat on their home ice this season, Saturday's loss notwithstanding. St. Louis enters tonight's game with a 26-6-4 record on home ice. They are 24-11-3 on the road.
Stylistically, the Blues are sort of a hybrid between the Chicago Blackhawks and New Jersey Devils. They are a little more physical than the Hawks and have just a tad less pure team speed but there is a lot of depth and ability to turn defense into offense. Like New Jersey, the Blues can wear other teams down on the forecheck and it requires a lot of patience to generate offense because they don't give up much skating room. On the flip side, the Blues are a much better scoring team than the goal-challenged Devils.
Rising young star Vladimir Tarasenko (21 goals, 43 points, +20 in 64 games) is sidelined after undergoing hand surgery. Defenseman Jordan Leopold is sidelined indefinitely with a high ankle sprain.
KEY STAT COMPARISONS (NHL OVERALL RANKING)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.84 (11th), Blues 3.14 (4th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.76 (18th), Blues 2.23 (3rd)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 0.96 (16th), Blues 1.34 (3rd)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 19.6% (9th), Blues 20.9% (4th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 84.8% (5th), Blues 86.1% (2nd)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.2% (16th), Blues 51.2% (9th)
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
19 Scott Hartnell - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
15 Tye McGinn - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read- 14 Sean Couturier - 12 Michael Raffl
36 Zac Rinaldo - 40 Vincent Lecavalier - 18 Adam Hall
26 Erik Gustafsson - 5 Braydon Coburn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit
47 Andrew MacDonald - 22 Luke Schenn
35 Steve Mason
[29 Ray Emery]
Potential Scratches: Steve Downie (upper body), Kimmo Timonen (upper body), Jay Rosehill (healthy), Hal Gill (healthy), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).
BLUES
20 Alexander Steen - 42 David Backes - 74 T.J. Oshie
21 Patrik Berglund - 17 Vladimir Sobotka - 9 Jaden Schwartz
10 Brenden Morrow - 12 Derek Roy - 29 Steve Ott
32 Chris Porter - 40 Maxim Lapierre - 75 Ryan Reaves
27 Alex Pietrangelo - 19 Jay Bouwmeester
28 Ian Cole - 22 Kevin Shattenkirk
5 Barret Jackman - 46 Roman Polak
39 Ryan Miller
[1 Brian Elliott]
Potential Scratches: Magnus Pääjärvi (healthy), Carlo Colaiacovo (healthy), Dmitrij Jaskin (healthy), Vladimir Tarasenko (hand surgery), Jordan Leopold (high ankle sprain)
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