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Flyers Gameday: 10/14/16 @ LA |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. KINGS
Dropping the puck on their 50th anniversary season, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (0-0-0) are in Los Angeles on Friday to take on Darryl Sutter's Los Angeles Kings (0-1-0). Game time at the Staples Center is 10:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the first of two meetings between the inter-conference teams, and the lone game in LA. Last season, the Flyers went 0-1-1 against the Kings.
Win or lose, the Flyers won't have much time to dwell on the outcome of opening night. They are playing the first of their NHL high 18 back-to-back games this season, with a road game against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers went 4-2-2 in the preseason. There are five new faces in this year's opening night roster. Highly touted 2015 first-round picks Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny will make their National Hockey League debuts in Los Angeles. Veteran forwards Dale Weise and Boyd Gordon were signed as unrestricted free agents in July. Additionally, Russian import checking forward Roman Lyubimov joined the Flyers as a free agent this summer.
Last season, the Flyers went 17-18-6 on the road during Hakstol's first season as an NHL coach; a nine-point improvement from the club's anemic 10-21-11 road record in 2014-15. The Flyers have been a strong home club in each of the last three years, posting seasons of 51, 53 and 54 points in games at the Wells Fargo Center.
Due to injury (Michael Del Zotto) and suspension (Radko Gudas, for six games), the Flyers enter the regular season very thin on the blueline. The team will need its returning veterans and rookie Provorov to step up and to receive two-way commitment from the forward corps. Offensively, 2015-16 Calder Trophy finalist Shayne Gostisbehere is a vital cog in the Philadelphia attack, while veteran Mark Streit is coming off an injury-plagued down season in 2015-16.
Up front, a bounceback season from Jakub Voracek would go a long way toward alleviating the team's scoring problems from last season. Team captain Claude Giroux had a strong season in 2015-16 in many aspects of the game -- a big part of the team's buy-in to Hakstol's demanding 200-foot system came from Giroux leading by example -- but his offensive numbers were down a bit, too.
Conversely, Brayden Schenn (suspended for the first three games of the regular season) and Wayne Simmonds are coming off career-best offensive seasons. Two-way center Sean Couturier scuffled for points for the first few months of the 2015-16 season but was on a career-best run of 15 points in 15 games when injuries started to get in the way in the second half. Couturier will open the season centering a line with Voracek and Konecny.
Goaltending was a Flyers team strength last season with Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth as a tandem. Entering their respective final contract years before potential unrestricted free agency, the duo returns. With so many back-to-back games on the Flyers' schedule, there will be ample opportunity for both netminders to get playing time and for someone to get hot and earn a run of consecutive starts.
Kings Outlook
LA's 2-1 opening night road loss to the Sharks was a costly one, because veteran star goaltender Jonathan Quick went down with a lower-body injury and will miss time. Veteran backup Jeff Zatkoff will get the nod in goal against the Flyers.
Against the Sharks, Tyler Toffoli got LA off to fast start with an early first-period power play goal. However, that proved to be the only time the Kings solved former teammate Martin Jones on 21 shots. An early third period goal by Brent Burns proved to be the difference for the Sharks.
While the Kings are perhaps not as deep on paper as they were during their Stanley Cup winning seasons of 2011-12 and 2013-14, the team still has a formidable one-two punch down the middle with Anze Kopitar and ex-Flyer center Jeff Carter. The club also boasts reigning Norris Trophy winner Drew Doughty anchoring a solid defense.
In addition to the absence of Quick, the Kings are without the suspended Tanner Pearson and injured veteran Marian Gaborik.
Projected Lineups (subject to change)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
11 Travis Konecny - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
25 Nick Cousins -76 P-E Bellemare - 22 Dale Weise
76 Chris VandeVelde - 27 Boyd Gordon - 24 Matt Read
47 Andrew MacDonald - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
9 Ivan Provorov - 32 Mark Streit
55 Nick Schultz - 23 Brandon Manning
30 Michal Neuvirth
[35 Steve Mason]
Scratches: Brayden Schenn (suspended by NHL for first three games), Radko Gudas (suspended by NHL for first six games), Michael Del Zotto (LTIR), Scott Laughton (LTIR), Roman Lyubimov (healthy).
KINGS (per Dailyfaceoff.com)
23 Devin Setoguchi - 11 Anze Kopitar - 10 Dustin Brown
9 Teddy Purcell - 77 Jeff Carter - 73 Tyler Toffoli
74 Dwight King - 21 Nick Shore - 22 Trevor Lewis
13 Kyle Clifford - 15 Andy Andreoff - 71 Jordan Nolan
6 Jake Muzzin - 8 Drew Doughty
3 Brayden McNabb - 27 Alec Martinez
7 Derek Forbort - 2 Matt Greene
37 Jeff Zatkoff
[31 Peter Budaj]
Scratches: Nic Dowd (healthy), Tom Gilbert (healthy), Jonathan Quick (lower-body injury), Marian Gaborik (IR, foot), Tanner Pearson (suspended by NHL for first four games).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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