UPDATE 3:20 PM EDT
The Flyers announced that Brayden Schenn
will miss 4-6 weeks after suffering a broken bone in his foot in last night's debacle in Montreal.
Per Phantoms beat writer Tim McManus, forward Zac Rinaldo and defensemen Erik Gustafsson are on their way to Philadelphia.
Someone will have to be put on LTIR.
PREVIEW 7:15 AM EDT
Playing for the third time in four nights and coming off a miserable performance in Montreal last night, the Flyers (5-3-1) return home tonight for their first meeting with the Winnipeg Jets (2-5-1) since the team relocated from Atlanta. The game starts at 7 PM and will be broadcast locally on CSN Philadelphia and TSN-Jets in Manitoba.
The Flyers have historically enjoyed a strong record against former Thrashers but Atlanta won seven of the final eight games, including three of four last season. Tonight's game marks the start of a seven-game road trip for the Jets after the club lost 2-1 at home against the Rangers on Monday. New head coach Claude Noel's squad has had two days to practice and travel to Philadelphia.
Goals have been a bit tough for the Jets to come by so far (2.12 G/G) and the team has spent too much time trying in vain to play catch up hockey. Alexander Burmistrov (2G, 7 PTS, points in five straight games) has been Winnipeg's biggest scoring threat so far. Team captain Andrew Ladd has 2 goals through the first 8 games, while Kyle Wellwood and Jim Slater are tied for the team goal-scoring lead with 3 apiece. Two All-Star defensemen from last season, Dustin Byfuglien (3 points, -6) and Tobias Enstrom (4 points, +1), have contributed one goal apiece.
Ondrej Pavelec has started six games in goal for the Jets so far, and has struggled something awful (3.53 GAA, .871 save percentage). Chris Mason, who shut out the Flyers in a game last season has been the better Jets goalie in his two starts to date (2.46 GAA, .900 save percentage).
As the Flyers showed last night, simply playing against a struggling opponent is not a guaranteed victory. Philadelphia controlled the first period last night until taking a late penalty and giving up a goal with less than four ticks left on the clock to the Habs's scuffling power play unit. Instead of the Flyers going off leading 1-0, they were tied. Those things happen sometimes. What is inexcusable is the way Philadelphia responded: they utterly collapsed against a Habs team that skated with a purpose in the final 40 minutes.
Here's the short version of the story of the Flyers' second and third periods last night: They richly deserved to lose due to a combination of horrendous defensive coverages, mediocre goaltending from Ilya Bryzgalov, lazy penalties, and an inability to finish scoring chances at potential momentum-swinging junctures of the game.
The Flyers missed Chris Pronger in oh-so-many ways last night, including but not limited to the power play, defensive zone presence and compete level.
I am not a doom-and-gloom type, but I am concerned about the Flyers' blueline with both Andreas Lilja and Matt Walker starting. Having two sixth/seventh D caliber players starting forces all four of the other Flyers' defensemen to not only stay healthy but to bring their top-caliber games on a regular basis. The forwards also need to help out defensively and the goaltending needs to be solid to compensate. None of that even come close to happening last night.
Offensively, the line highlight last night was Jaromir Jagr's first period goal that gave Philly a 1-0 lead. The team had trouble getting shots through to Carey Price and couldn't convert their chances around the net. None of the Flyers' top three lines were particularly good at five-on-five after the first period. The third line, which has Matt Read centering James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek, especially needs to be recast.
There were some chances last night to swing the game back in their favor, but Price was excellent and the team as a whole simply couldn't bury their shots. Wayne Simmonds worked the hardest among the Flyers top-six but had a case of the Roberto Durans ("Hands of Stone") last night when the puck was around the net. The Flyers desperately needed van Riemdsyk to convert his early third-period breakaway that could have cut the deficit to one goal.
With the Flyers playing so many games this week and thin on the blueline, it is absolutely critical that they manage their energy intelligently tonight. That means short shifts, good puck support and staying out of the penalty box. Winnipeg started out the season 0-for-17 on the power play but have converted a healthy 25 percent in their last four games.
The Flyers need Bryzgalov to play about 200 percent better than he did in the Washington, St. Louis or Montreal games. His positioning and puck reactions last night were subpar. Right now, Sergei Bobrovsky is the better Philadelphia goaltender, and it would not be a surprise at all if Bob is back in net tonight after playing on Monday against Toronto.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (speculative and subject to change)
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Schenn - Briere - Simmonds
JVR - Read - Voracek
Talbot - Couturier - Shelley
Coburn - Carle
Timonen - Meszaros
Lilja - Walker
Bobrovsky/Bryzgalov
JETS
Kane - Antropov - Burmistrov
Ladd - Little - Wheeler
McArdle - Maxwell - Wellwood
Slater - Glass - Thorburn
Enstrom - Byfuglien
Stuart - Bogosian
Jones - Oduya
Mason/Pavelec
******
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Flyers Buzz, which includes a free 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month thereafter. For more information
click here.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»