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Flyers Gameday: 11/10/15 vs. COL |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. AVALANCHE
Returning home from a five-game road trip, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (5-6-3) return to action on Tuesday evening against Patrick Roy's Colorado Avalanche (4-9-1). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the first of two meetings between the inter-conference clubs and the Avs' lone visit to Philadelphia. The teams will rematch at the Pepsi Center in Denver on March 24. Last season, the Flyers and Avalanche split two games, with the Flyers winning in regulation on home ice and the Avs taking an overtime decision in Denver on New Year's Eve.
For the Flyers, Tuesday's game marks the start of a stretch of three of the next four matches (and five of the next seven) being played on home ice. The Washington Capitals come to town on Thursday.
The Avalanche played three of their last four games at home. Now the club embarks upon a seven-game road trip. The team heads next to Beantown to take on the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers ended their six-game winless streak with a 3-0 shutout victory over the Winnipeg Jets in the final game of Philly's road trip. The club snapped an 0-for-16 drought on the power play with tallies by Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds. The Flyers went 2-for-5 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill. Matt Read added a late game empty-net goal.
Michal Neuvirth set a franchise record by becoming the first netminder in Flyers history to record three shutouts within his first seven starts of the season. Steve Mason (illness) is feeling better and has now gotten in a couple of full practices.
R.J. Umberger did not practice on Monday. Officially, he took a maintenance day. Umberger blocked a shot off his foot in Saturday's game and also got cut in a fight with Winnipeg captain Andrew Ladd.
Fourth line center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare has been out since suffering a lower-body injury sustained on Oct. 27. Defenseman Evgeny Medvedev (upper body) is officially day-to-day.
Avalanche Outlook
The Avalanche dropped back-to-back games last Thursday and Friday, losing a 4-decision to the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday (former Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann recorded the first two-goal game of his NHL career) and the dropping a 2-1 regulation verdict to the New York Rangers.
Colorado took a 1-0 lead to the first intermission against the Rangers as Nathan McKinnon notched a power play goal for his sixth tally of the season. However, the Rangers struck back for a pair of second period goals and never yielded the advantage. Reto Berra stopped 31 of 33 shots in a losing cause.
McKinnon's 15 points in 14 games lead the team in scoring. He is followed by veteran Jarome Iginla (six goals, five assists), Gabriel Landeskog (six goals, five assists) and defenseman Francois Beauchemin (one goal, eight assists).
Center John Mitchell (oblique) is probable to play on Tuesday. Alex Tanguay is out with a knee injury sustained in the game against the Rangers. Jesse Winchester (concussion) is on injured reserve.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 1.93 (29th), Avalanche 2.57 (17th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.79 (20th), Avalanche 3.00 (T-25th)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 19/23, Avalanche 24/31
Power play efficiency: Flyers 13.9% (T-25th), Avalanche 18.6% (T-13th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.0% (18th), Avalanche 81.6% (13th)
Shots per game: Flyers 31.3 (T-6th), Avalanche 29.8 (T-16th)
Shots against per game: Flyers 34.3 (30th), Avalanche 30.4 (T-22nd)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.0% (T-17th), Avalanche 49.0% (T-21st)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
89 Sam Gagner -10 Brayden Schenn - 40 Vincent Lecavalier
76 Chris VandeVelde - 21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan White
15 Michael Del Zotto - 32 Mark Streit
55 Nick Schultz - 22 Luke Schenn
23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
30 Michal Neuvirth
[35 Steve Mason]
Scratches: R.J. Umberger (suspected foot injury), Davis Drewiske (healthy), Evgeny Medvedev (upper body), Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (IR, lower body).
AVALANCHE
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 - Nathan Mackinnon - 9 Matt Duchene
10 Ben Street - 34 Carl Söderberg - 12 - Jarome Iginla
55 - Cody McLeod - 7 John Mitchell - 8 Jack Skille
45 - Dennis Everberg - 25 Mikhail Grigorenko - 14 Blake Comeau
32 Francois Beauchemin - 6 Erik Johnson
2 Nick Holden - 4 Tyson Barrie
17 Brad Stuart - 46 Brandon Gormley
20 Reto Berra
[1 Semyon Varlamov]
Scratches: Andreas Martinsen (healthy), Nate Guenin (healthy), Alex Tanguay (knee), Jesse Winchester (IR, concussion).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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