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Flyers Gameday: 10/7/17 @ ANA |
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GAME 3 PREVIEW: FLYERS @ ANAHEIM
Playing for the third time in four nights, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (1-1-0) conclude the California portion of their four-game western road trip to open the 2017-18 season. On Saturday, the Flyers visit Randy Carlyle's Anaheim Ducks (1-0-0). Game time at the Honda Center is 10 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the first of two meetings this season between the inter-conference teams, and the lone game in Anaheim. The teams will rematch in Philadelphia on Oct. 24.
The Flyers have had all sorts of problems with Anaheim during the current decade. Dating back to the 2009-10 season, the Flyers are 1-7-4 against the Ducks including a current eight-game winless streak (0-5-3).
Last season, the Flyers lost 3-2 at home to the Ducks (Oct. 20, 2016) after holding a 2-1 lead midway through regulation. After the Ducks tied the game, Ryan Garbutt scored the winning goal midway through the third period. In the return match in Anaheim on Jan. 1, the Flyers posted a 55-25 shot advantage in regulation and overtime but Anaheim won, 5-4, via a five-round shootout.
The Flyers last victory over the Ducks was a comeback 4-3 overtime road win in Dec. 2, 2011 that was largely spurred by two goals and an assist by Jaromir Jagr after the Flyers trailed 3-0.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers claimed a 5-3 opening night win on Wednesday in San Jose behind a 3-for-5 night on the power play and a Wayne Simmonds hat trick but were shut out, 2-0, in Los Angeles the next night.
Michal Neuvirth was excellent in goal in a losing cause on Thursday. He had no chance on either Kings goal and made numerous good saves among the 25 stops he made on 27 shots. In the first period, he made a 10-bell glove save on Anze Kopitar. The previous night, Brian Elliott stopped 32 of 35 shots in a workmanlike win over the Sharks.
The Flyers connected on each of their first three power play chances on opening night. After two games, the team is 3-for-10 on the man advantage. On the penalty kill, they are 9-for-11.
The Flyers used the same lineup in both the San Jose and LA games, with one exception. Travis Sanheim made his NHL debut against the Kings, starting in place of Brandon Manning. It is possible that, on Saturday, Sam Morin could appear in his first game of the season.
Ducks Outlook
After playing an LA team that is biggest in the NHL in terms of average weight per player, the Flyers now face off against the second-heaviest team in Anaheim. The Ducks are also an aggressive team; they were the NHL second most-penalized team last season with an average 11:23 of penalty minutes per game.
At present, however, the Ducks are riddled with key injuries. Team captain Ryan Getzlaf (lower-body injury) missed opening night. His availability for Saturday's game against the Flyers is unknown as of this writing. The team is also missing other key players in Ryan Kesler (hip surgery, out until mid-to-late December), Sami Vatanen (labrum surgery, out until some point in November) and Hampus Lindholm (same procedure and timetable). Veteran goalie Ryan Miller (upper body) is also unavailable. Veteran forward Patrick Eaves, coming off a 33-goal season with Dallas and Anheim, is out with a lower-body injury.
Even without all of these vital players, the the Ducks opened their season with a comeback 5-4 road win in regulation against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday. Anaheim trailed by scores of 2-0 and 4-1 only to storm back.
Corey Perry led the way for Anaheim with two goals and one assist. Midway through the game, he triggered a ruckus by running Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue behind the Arizona net. Iron man forward Andrew Cogliano, who has never missed a game in his 787-game NHL career, notched a goal and two assists. Rickard Rackell (one goal, one assist) scored the game winner.
John Gibson stopped 26 of 30 shots to earn the win. He also received a 10-minute misconduct during the second-period commotion as he left his crease to skate to the other side of the ice and challenge Domingue.
Special teams were not in Anaheim's favor on opening night. They went 2-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-4 on the power play but outscored the Coyotes at even strength by a 5-2 margin to skate off with a win.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers (Thursday's lines)
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Jordan Weal - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds
22 Dale Weise - 19 Nolan Patrick - 11 Travis Konecny
20 Taylor Leier - 21 Scott Laughton - 12 Michael Raffl
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
6 Travis Sanheim - 3 Radko Gudas
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 8 Robert Hägg
37 Brian Elliott
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Jori Lehterä (healthy), Brandon Manning (healthy), Sam Morin (healthy), Anthony Stolarz (SOIR).
Ducks (Thursday's lines)
7 Andrew Cogliano - 67 Rickard Rakell - 10 Corey Perry
37 Nick Ritchie - 50 Antoine Vermette - 33 Jakob Silfverberg
21 Chris Wagner - 22 Dennis Rasmussen - 48 Logan Shaw
86 Ondrej Kase - 38 Derek Grant - 40 Jared Boll
4 Cam Fowler - 42 Josh Manson
23 Francois Beauchemin - 71 Brandon Montour
5 Korbinian Holzer - 2 Kevin Bieksa
36 John Gibson
[1 Reto Berra]
Scratches: Ryan Getzlaf (lower body, questionable), Ryan Kesler (IR, hip surgery), Sami Vatanen (IR, labrum), Hampus Lindholm (IR, labrum), Ryan Miller (IR, upper body), Patrick Eaves (IR, lower body), Jaycob Megna (healthy), Giovanni Fiore (healthy).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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