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Flyers Gameday: 3/28/15 vs. SJ

March 28, 2015, 12:35 AM ET [410 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. SHARKS

With seven games remaining on their schedule for the 2014-15 season, Craig Berube's Philadelphia Flyers (30-29-16) host Todd McLellan's San Jose Sharks (36-30-8) at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. Game time is 1:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised locally on CSN Philadelphia.

This is the second of two meetings between the inter-conference teams this season, and the lone game in Philadelphia. On Dec. 2, the Flyers were just 11.5 seconds from assuring themselves of at least one point when a Philly miscue enabled San Jose to win the game in regulation, 2-1.

The Flyers are a rested but injury-riddled team. The club last played on Wednesday night, hosting Chicago, and took a complete off-day on Thursday. The team was idle on the NHL game schedule for three straight nights prior to Wednesday's game. Following this game, Philly will again have three off-nights before games in Pittsburgh next Wednesday and Carolina next Saturday. The game in Raleigh will be the Flyers' final road game of the season.

The Sharks are in the sixth game of a seven-game road trip and the front end of back-to-back games in Pennsylvania. The Sharks played in Ottawa on Monday and Detroit on Thursday. The road trip wraps up in Pittsburgh on Sunday late afternoon.

Flyers outlook

The Flyers enter this game coming off a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. Wayne Simmonds, Ryan White, Claude Giroux and Michael Raffl (power play) scored for Philly, while Steve Mason (34 saves) stopped everything fired on his net except an Andrew Shaw deflection on a third-period power play for Chicago.

Home ice has been much kinder to the Flyers than the road this season. Entering this game, the Flyers have a 21-9-6 home record, compared with their dismal 9-20-9 mark in road games.

Entering this season, the two biggest home/road record disparities in Flyers' franchise history were in 1970-71 -- 20-10-9 (.628) at home and 8-23-8 (.308) away -- and 1972-73, when they went 27-8-4 (.744) at home and 10-22-7 (.346) on the road. Currently, the Flyers are 21-9-6 at home and 9-20-10 on the road.

When playing on home ice this season, the Flyers have scored an average 2.92 goals per game while allowing 2.31 per game. On the road, Philly has mustered just 2.26 goals per game while yielding 3.18 goals per game.

The Flyers have posted a 3-4-5 record thus far in March. Since the All-Star break, the Flyers are 8-2-5 against teams currently in Stanley Cup Playoff position, and 3-5-4 against non-playoff teams.

Jakub Voracek enters Saturday's game one point behind Sidney Crosby in the NHL's Art Ross Trophy race and tied with John Tavares. Voracek has 21 goals, 53 assists and 74 points in 75 games. Crosby (24 goals) and Tavares (34 goals) hold tiebreaker advantages over Voracek if they were to finish with the same number of total points.

In Wednesday's game, the Flyers lost Wayne Simmonds to a left leg fracture and Andrew MacDonald to a right hand fracture. Both players will be out for the remainder of the season, with Simmonds on a projected four-week recovery timetable and MacDonald on approximately a six-week timetable.

Simmonds had previously not missed a game this season, and will finish with 28 goals (14 power play goals), 50 points and 66 penalty minutes in 75 games. At Friday's team practice, White took Simmonds' place as the net-front forward on the Flyers' first power play unit.

Elsewhere on the injury front, Luke Schenn is doubtful with a lower-body injury. Forward R.J. Umberger (hip and abdominal surgery) will miss the remainder of the season as will defenseman Radko Gudas (knee surgery). On Friday, the Flyers recalled defenseman Brandon Manning from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Sharks outlook

The last time the San Jose Sharks missed the playoffs was 2002-03; the only time it has happened in a span of 16 seasons. With a 10-point gap in the wildcard standings and an eight-point deficit in the battle for third place in the Pacific Division, the Sharks are practically eliminated with eight games left to play.

The Sharks, who are 2-3-0 on their current road trip, have actually been a better away team (19-14-3) than home team (17-16-5) this season. For the month of March, the team has gone 6-5-0 overall.

On Thursday night in Detroit, a pair of third period goals -- even strength and empty net -- by Patrick Marleau proved to be the difference in a 6-4 Sharks win over the Red Wings. Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Matt Nieto, Chris Tierny and Logan Couture also tallied for the Sharks. Antti Niemi stopped 30 of 34 shots to earn credit for the win.

Leading San Jose scorer Joe Pavelski currently ranks 14th in scoring in the NHL this season. In 74 games, the 30-year-old forward has posted 66 points (35 goals, 31 assists).

With San Jose playing back-to-back games, the goaltending duties against the Flyers are expected to go to backup netminder Alex Stalock. In 17 games this season, Stalock has a 6-7-1 record, 2.65 goals against average and .903 save percentage. He has made two career appearances and one start against the Flyers, but Niemi played in the earlier meeting this season.

On the Sharks' injury front, Mirco Mueller (left hand), Mike Brown (broken right fibula) and Raffi Torres (right knee surgery) are all out of the lineup.

Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)

Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.57 (22nd), Sharks 2.76 (14th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.76 (23rd), Sharks 2.77 (24th)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 0.99 (20th), Sharks 0.92 (24th)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 22.6% (4th), Sharks 21.7% (6th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 76.7% (29th), Sharks 79.5% (24th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 51.5% (T-11th), Sharks 51.7% (8th)

Projected lineups (Subject to change, will be updated)

FLYERS

12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 10 Brayden Schenn
25 Ryan White - 52 Nick Cousins - 36 Zac Rinaldo
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare- 40 Vincent Lecavalier

15 Michael Del Zotto - 55 Nick Schultz
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit
26 Carlo Colaiacovo - 43 Brandon Manning

35 Steve Mason
{29 Ray Emery]

Scratches: Luke Schenn (lower body), Wayne Simmonds (left leg fracture), Andrew MacDonald (right hand fracture), R.J. Umberger (hip/abdominal surgery), Radko Gudas (IR, knee surgery).

SHARKS

8 Joe Pavelski - 19 Joe Thornton - 68 Melker Karlsson
12 Patrick Marleau - 39 Logan Couture - 48 Tomas Hertl
83 Matt Nieto - 50 Chris Tierney - 57 Tommy Wingels
71 Daniil Tarasov - 21 Ben Smith - 89 Barclay Goodrow

44 Marc-Edouard Vlasic - 61 Justin Braun
27 Scott Hannan - 88 Brent Burns
4 Brenden Dillon - 52 Matt Irwin

32 Alex Stalock
[31 Antti Niemi]

Scratches: John Scott (healthy), Mirco Mueller (left hand), Mike Brown (broken right fibula), Raffi Torres (right knee surgery).
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