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Flyers Gameday: 12/28/16 @ STL, WJC Updates |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS @ BLUES
In their first game following a five-night break, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (19-12-4)
are on the road to take on Ken Hitchcock's St. Louis Blues (18-12-5) on Wednesday night. Game time at the Scottrade Center is 8:00 p.m. ET. The game will be nationally televised on NBC Sports Network as its Wednesday Night Rivalry broadcast.
This is the first of two meetings this season between the interconference teams. The clubs will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on February 6. Last season, the Flyers swept the season series, winning 4-2 in St. Louis on Dec. 10, 2015. On Dec. 21, Philly skated off with a 4-3 home victory. In both the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, the games played in St. Louis saw the teams play to 0-0 ties through 65 minutes before the Blues won via shootout.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers produced a clunker in their final game before their holiday break. The team lost 4-0 to the New Jersey Devils, struggling for energy and losing their discipline. Following a 10-game winning streak, the Flyers went 1-2-1 in their final four games entering the break.
During the 10-game winning streak, the team averaged 3.50 goals per game while yielding just 2.20 goals per game. However, the Flyers have scored either zero or just one goal in four of their last five games.
Flyers goaltender Steve Mason, who has started 18 of the last 20 games, left the game in New Jersey after the first period. CSN Philadelphia's Tim Panaccio reported that Mason experienced minor back stiffness. He practiced per normal on Tuesday.
Fellow goaltender Michal Neuvirth, who has been out since mid-November with a sprained left knee, practiced with the team on Tuesday but is likely out until early January according to Flyers general manager Ron Hextall's injury updates before the holidays. Rookie Anthony Stolarz, who has made two starts and one relief appearance in Nevirth's absence, is still with the team.
With Michael Raffl dealing with a lower-body injury suffered last week, rookie Taylor Leier skated in his place on the top line at practice on Tuesday. Additionally, veteran defenseman Nick Schultz appears to be returning to the starting lineup with Brandon Manning the likely healthy scratch for Wednesday's game.
Sean Couturier (knee) is ready to return to the lineup but is sorting through a travel issue. If unavailable for this game, he will most likely be available for Friday's game in San Jose. Matt Read (midsection) and Mark Streit (sprained left shoulder) re-joined practice on Tuesday but are not ready for contact yet.
Jakub Voracek leads the Flyers with 34 points (11 goals, 23 assists) in 35 games. Claude Giroux is second on the team with 30 points (nine goals, 21 assists), while Wayne Simmonds paces the club with 16 goals and eight power play tallies among his 29 points.
Brayden Schenn is fourth on the Flyers' scoring leaderboard with 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 32 games. He's followed by rookie forward Travis Konecny (four goals, 12 assists), Shayne Gostisbehere (four goals, 12 assists) and the injured Streit (five goals, 11 assists).
Rookie defenseman Ivan Provorov has 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) while dressing in all 35 games. The 19-year-old leads the Flyers in ice time and is already now routinely matched up against other teams' top lines.
Blues Outlook
The Blues last played on Dec. 22, dropping a 5-2 road decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning. St. Louis led 2-0 after the first period, and the game was tied 2-2 heading into the third period but the Blues were unable to stop the bleeding. David Perron and Wade Megan scored first-period goals for St. Louis. Jake Allen stopped 27 of 31 shots before Tampa tacked on an empty netter.
Carter Hutton will get the start in goal against the Flyers. Forward Paul Stastny (upper body injury) is ready to return to the lineup. However, defenseman Robert Bortuzzo remains out of the lineup indefinitely with a lower-body injury.
Dynamic forward Vladimir Tarasenko leads the Blues with 38 points (16 goals, 22 assists) in 35 games. He is followed by defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (seven goals, 16 assists, minus-six), forward Jaden Schwartz (12 goals, nine assists), Robby Fabbri (eight goals, 12 assists), and Perron (nine goals, 10 assists).
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.94 (T-6th), Blues 2.77 (11th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.92 (24th), Blues 2.91 (23rd)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 22.0% (6th), Blues 21.3% (7th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 82.1% (12th), Blues 87.4 (2nd)
Shots on goal per game: Flyers 31.3 (6th), Blues 28.5 (26th)
Shots against per game: Flyers 28.9 (8th), Blues 28.1 (5th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.4% (12th), Blues 51.5% (7th)
Projected Lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
58 Taylor Leier - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
11 Travis Konecny - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 P-E Bellemare - 13 Roman Lyubimov
25 Nick Cousins - 14 Sean Couturier - 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
15 Michael Del Zotto- 3 Radko Gudas
55 Nick Schultz - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
35 Steve Mason
[41 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Michal Neuvirth (IR, knee), Matt Read (IR, abdominal area), Mark Streit (shoulder), Michael Raffl (lower-body), Boyd Gordon (healthy), Brandon Manning (healthy).
BLUES
20 Alex Steen - 12 Jori Lehterä - 91 Vladimir Tarasenko
17 Jaden Schwartz - 26-Paul Stastny - 57 David Perron
15 Robby Fabbri - 21 Patrik Berglund - 23 Dmitrij Jaskin
10 Scottie Upshall - 28 Kyle Brodziak - 75 Ryan Reaves
6 Joel Edmundson - 27 Alex Pietrangelo
4 Carl Gunnarsson - 22 Kevin Shattenkirk
19 Jay Bouwmeester - 55 Colton Parayko
40 Carter Hutton
[34 Jake Allen]
Scratches: Robert Bortuzzo (lower body), Ty Rattie (healthy), Brad Hunt (healthy).
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World Junior Championship: Flyers Prospect Updates
* Mikhail Vorobyov produced four assists in Russia's 9-1 romp over Latvia on Tuesday. Teammate German Rubtsov played a stronger overall game than he did in the opener against Team Canada, but did not get on the scoresheet or register a shot on goal in 12:20 of ice time.
* David Kase had five shots on goal and logged 20:48 of ice time but was held off the scoresheet in the Czech Republic's 4-3 overtime loss to Switzerland on Tuesday.
* Flyers goalie prospects Carter Hart (Canada) and Matej Tomek (Slovakia) were the backups for their respective sides in Canada's 5-0 romp over Slovakia in a game that saw the Slovaks outshot by a whopping 44-6 margin (including 17-1 in the second period). Flyers defense prospect Philippe Myers logged 17:38 of ice time for Canada.
* Tanner Laczynski (USA) is in action on Wednesday against Slovakia.
* Goalie prospect Felix Sandström and defenseman David Bernhardt (Sweden) are in action on Wednesday against Switzerland.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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