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Flyers Gameday: 11/29/16 vs. BOS |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS vs. BRUINS
Looking to move above the .500 mark and start gaining ground in the Eastern Conference standings, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (10-10-3) will host Claude Julien's Boston Bruins (12-10-0) at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night. Game time is 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network.
This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season and the lone game in Philadelphia. The teams will rematch at TD Garden in Boston on January 14 and March 11. Last season, the Flyers went 2-1-0 against the Bruins with all three games decided by one goal including a Philadelphia comeback overtime win in Boston.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers are coming off a 5-3 home win over the Calgary Flames that was not as close as final score suggested.
Philly dominated most of Sunday's game despite yielding early and late shorthanded goals. Michael Raffl, Jakub Voracek (power play), Chris VandeVelde, Wayne Simmonds and Roman Lyubimov scored for the Flyers. Making his NHL debut, goaltender Anthony Stolarz stopped 29 of 32 Calgary shots. The Flyers outshot the Flames in all three periods, piling up a final 43-32 shot on goal edge, but Calgary goalie Chad Johnson actually played quite well despite giving up five goals. As the game progressed, rookies and former OHL nemeses Travis Konecny and Matthew Tkachuk renewed hostilities.
Michael Del Zotto rejoined the Flyers' lineup on Sunday after sitting out the previous three games as a healthy scratch. Brandon Manning, shaken up in the Black Friday game against the New York Rangers, sat out Sunday's game. Lyubimov re-entered the lineup in place of Scott Laughton. The Flyers had an optional practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees on Monday. Lines will be updated after Tuesday's morning skates, assuming there's a relatively full squad on the ice for the session.
Simmonds enters Tuesday's game leading the Flyers with 21 points in 23 games, including a team-high 11 goals. He is followed by Voracek (eight goals, 11 assists), Claude Giroux (four goals, 15 assists), Brayden Schenn (three goals, 10 assists in 20 games), Mark Streit (four goals, eight assists), Konecny (four goals, eight assists) and Shayne Gostisbehere (four goals, seven assists).
Bruins Outlook
The Bruins have chugged along at .500 over their last 10 games (5-5-0) but enter this game coming off an impressive 4-1 home win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
After a scoreless first period, Boston broke loose to build a 3-0 lead in the second period on tallies by Dominic Moore (sixth goal of the season), David Backes (fifth) and Jimmy Hayes (first). The lead grew to 4-0 in the third period and emerging young star David Pastrnak notched his 13th goal of the season. Tuukka Rask (30 saves on 31 shots) flirted with a shutout for 57-plus minutes before Victor Hedman got the Bolts on the board with an otherwise meaningless late goal.
Veteran defenseman Zdeno Chara (lower body injury) did not make the trip to Philadelphia, nor did John-Michael Liles (upper body).
Projected Lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS (will be updated)
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
11 Travis Konecny - 25 Nick Cousins - 93 Jakub Voracek
24 Matt Read - 78 P-E Bellemare - 22 Dale Weise
76 Chris VandeVelde - 10 Brayden Schenn - 13 Roman Lyubimov
9 Ivan Provorov - 3 Radko Gudas
15 Michael Del Zotto - 32 Mark Streit
47 Andrew MacDonald - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
35 Steve Mason
[41 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Nick Schultz (healthy), Scott Laughton (healthy), Brandon Manning (upper body), Sean Couturier (lower body, suspected left MCL), Boyd Gordon (LTIR, upper body), Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body).
BRUINS
63 Brad Marchand - 37 Patrice Bergeron - 88 David Pastrnak
39 Matt Beleskey - 46 David Krejci - 42 David Backes
59 Tim Schaller - 20 Riley Nash - 27 Austin Czarnik
51 Ryan Spooner - 28 Dominic Moore - 11 Jimmy Hayes
47 Torey Krug - 54 Adam McQuaid
45 Joe Morrow - 25 Brandon Carlo
86 Kevan Miller - 6 Colin Miller
40 Tuukka Rask
[35 Anton Khudobin]
Scratches: Riley Nash (healthy), Zdeno Chara (lower body), John-Michael Liles (upper body), Noel Acciari (IR, leg).
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Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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