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Flyers Gameday: 1/13/16 vs. BOS |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. BRUINS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (18-15-7) reach the statistical midway point of the 2015-16 regular season on Wednesday as they host Claude Julien's Boston Bruins (21-15-5). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 8:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised nationally on NBCSN as its Wednesday Night Rivalry game of the week.
This is the second of three meetings this season between the Eastern Conference teams, and the first of two games in Philadelphia. On Oct. 21 at TD Garden, the Flyers staged a comeback 5-4 victory, capping off the win in overtime. The season series concludes on Jan. 25 with the rubber match at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers have had three nights off since hosting and shutting out the New York Islanders. Extended breaks, however, have not been kind to the Flyers in recent years. They have often struggled upon their return. For the Bruins, conversely, fatigue could be a factor. Boston playing for the fourth time in six nights and is in the fourth game of a five-game road trip. By the time the Bruins have their next back-to-back open nights on the schedule (Jan. 17 and 18), they will have played six games in nine nights, with five on the road.
Flyers Outlook
Philly has bounced back from an 0-3-0 California road trip after Christmas by winning three straight games. Two of the wins were regulation wins against Eastern Conference teams above the Flyers in the standing. The other was an overtime road win against a Western Conference team (the Minnesota Wild) that is a strong playoff spot contender.
Overall, the Flyers have earned points in 17 of their last 24 games. They have gone 13-7-4 in that span.
On Saturday afternoon, Matt Read enjoyed a three-point game (one goal, two assists) against the Islanders. The Flyers also got a goal and an assist from Sean Couturier, who has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his last 10 games. Steve Mason earned a 20-save shutout, and goals by Michael Raffl and Evgeny Medvedev (four-on-four) opened a 2-0 lead the Flyers never relinquished after a scoreless first period en route to a four-goal margin of victory.
The Flyers remain without rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (lower-body injury) for at least one more game. He has resumed practicing and could be ready for Saturday's game.
Flyers team captain Claude Giroux leads the club with 12 goals, 18 assists and 30 points in 40 games. He is followed on the Flyers' scoring leader list by Jakub Voracek (four goals, 22 assists, 26 points), Wayne Simmonds (10 goals, 12 assists, 22 points, 84 penalty minutes) and Brayden Schenn (nine goals, 12 assists, 21 points). Couturier rounds out the top five with nine goals, 12 assists and 20 points. Offensive-minded rookie defenseman Gostisbehere has contributed seven goals (four on the power play, three in overtime), nine assists and 16 points in 23 games.
Hakstol indicated at Tuesday's practice that there will not be any immediate line changes. Recently acquired center Jordan Weal, the team's lone healthy scratch, will have to wait his turn to make his Flyers debut.
Bruins Outlook
The Bruins remain above the Flyers in the standings and churned out a convincing 4-1 road win over the New Jersey Devils last Friday, but followed it up with a 2-1 overtime loss in Ottawa on Saturday and a 2-1 regulation road loss to the New York Rangers on Monday.
Thus far in January, the Bruins are 1-3-1, including their 5-1 Winter Classic setback to the Montreal Canadiens at Gillette Stadium on New Year's Day.
On Monday at Madison Square Garden, a Jimmy Hayes goal in the second period broke a scoreless deadlock. The Bruins took a 1-0 lead to the second intermission before a Derick Brassard goal in the opening minute of the third period tied the score. A Jesper Fast tally with 1:42 left in regulation won the game for the Rangers. Tuukka Rask stopped 28 of 30 shots in a losing cause, while New York's Henrik Lundqvist stopped 32 of 33.
Julien made several line changes at practice earlier this week, including promoting Hayes to skate on the right wing of the top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. The Bruins are still missing one of their top forwards, David Krejci (IR, upper body). Defenseman Adam McQuaid is still out with a concussion caused on a hit by Washington's Zach Sill. The Caps player was suspended for the hit, although the play went unpenalized on the ice.
Bergeron leeds the Bruins with 38 points (15 goals, 23 assists) in 41 games. He is followed by the resurgent Loui Eriksson (14 goals, 20 assists, 34 points), Krejci (11 goals, 22 assists, 33 points in 35 games), Ryan Spooner (nine goals, 20 assists, 20 pints), Marchand (15 goals, 11 assists, 26 points in 36 games), veteran top-pairing defenseman Zden Chara (five goals, 17 assists, 22 points, plus-10), and Hayes (10 goals, 11 assists, 21 points). Rask has posted a 14-12-4 record, 2.49 goals against average and .916 save percentage thus far.
Special teams is one area where the Bruins have a significant on-paper advantage this season. The club has a stellar 111.7 special teams index number; anything above 105 is excellent and anything below 100 needs improvement. The Flyers' special teams index this season is 94.5, with both the power play and penalty kill ranking below the league average.
The last time the Flyers played the Bruins, former Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo concussed Couturier with a hit away from the puck as time expired in the first period. No supplemental discipline followed for the oft-suspended Rinaldo.
In the same game, Flyers goaltender Michal Neuvirth had to leave the game after the first period as a result of a suspected concussion caused when Bergeron accidentally struck Neuvirth in the mask with his stick as he followed through on a deflection that resulted in a power play goal for Boston. The puck was going past Neuvirth as the stick contact was made and the goalie went down to the ice.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.25 (28th), Bruins 2.98 (3rd)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.62 (16th), Bruins 2.66 (18th)
5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 57/60, Bruins 78/72
Power play efficiency: Flyers 15.8% (28th), Bruins 28.1% (1st)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 78.7% (24th), Bruins 82.6% (7th)
Shots per game: Flyers 30.2 (11th), Bruins 31.2 (5th)
Shots against per game: Flyers 32.1 (29th), Bruins 29.1 (14st)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 49.7% (20th), Bruins 50.8% (10th)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
93 Jakub Voracek - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl - 14 Sean Couturier - 10 Brayden Schenn
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Ryan White
24 Matt Read - 21 Scott Laughton - 20 R.J. Umberger
15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas
55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit
23 Brandon Manning - 82 Evgeny Medvedev
35 Steve Mason
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Shayne Gostisbehere (lower body), Jordan Weal (healthy).
Bruins
63 Brad Marchand - 37 Patrice Bergeron - 11 Jimmy Hayes
39 Matt Beleskey - 51 Ryan Spooner - 21 Loui Eriksson
72 Frank Vatrano - 41 Joonas Kemppainen - 88 David Pastrnak
36 Zac Rinaldo - 25 Max Talbot - 29 Landon Ferraro
33 Zdeno Chara - 62 Zach Trotman
44 Dennis Seidenberg - 48 Colin Miller
47 Torey Krug - 86 Kevan Miller
40 Tuukka Rask
[50 Jonas Gustavsson]
Scratches: Brett Connolly (healthy), Tyler Randell (healthy), Joe Morrow (healthy), David Krejci (IR, upper body), Adam McQuaid (IR, concussion), Chris Kelly (IR, fractured femur).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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