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Flyers Gameday: 11/5/15 @ CGY |
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LINEUP UPDATE (3:45 PM ET)
In a somewhat surprising decision, Vincent Lecavalier will remain in the Flyers' starting linep even with the return of Sean Couturier (concussion). Sam Gagner will sit out as a healthy scratch.
Steve Mason is under the weather and missed the morning skate. Michal Neuvirth will get the start in goal. Mason will nevertheless dress for the game and serve as the backup goaltender.
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PREVIEW: FLYERS @ FLAMES
Looking to snap a five-game losing spell, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (4-6-2) return to action on Thursday night against Bob Hartley's Calgary Flames (3-9-1). Game time at the Scotiabank Saddledome is 9:00 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 Flyers' lone visit to Calgary. The teams will rematch in Philadelphia on Leap Day (Feb. 29), when Jimmy Watson will be inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame. Last year, the Flames twice downed the Flyers in a pair of March meetings. On March 3 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flames earned a 3-2 overtime win. On March 19 in Calgary, the Flames dealt a 4-1 setback to Philadelphia.
For the Flyers, Thursday's game is the third game of a grueling three-in-four, four-in-six stretch of road matches. The team's current five-game road trip concludes on Saturday in Winnipeg.
A busier team than the Flyers in the month of October, the now more-rested Flames will be playing for the second time in November. Calgary played a road game in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche. Thursday's tilt is the start of a two-game homestand. The Pittsburgh Penguins pay a visit to the Saddledome on Saturday.
Flyers Outlook
Played over a span of eight nights, the last five games have not been kind to the Flyers. Not only has the team gone 0-4-1 in that span -- including 0-3-0 on the current road trip with back-to-back regulation losses in the western Canada portion of the trip -- but the club's overall play deteriorated with little opportunity to conduct proper practices.
Apart from stretches of good goaltending that have held the club in games and a somewhat improved overall effort in Monday's 4-1 loss in Vancouver -- followed immediately by a backslide the next night in a 4-2 loss in Calgary -- there hasn't been much in the way of encouraging signs since the team took a 4-2-2 record into a home game against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 27.
Over the course of the last five games, the Flyers have been outshot by a combined 192 to 139 margin (40-33, 33-28, 36-28, 34-28, 49-22) yet their goaltenders have put them in position four of five possible times to come away with either one or two points had they won a third period by a single goal.
That's what happened in the first game of the winless streak but the Flyers have been outscored by a combined 10-3 in third periods. The Flyers have yielded empty net goals in three of the last four games, but did score at 6-on-5 to steal a point in the first game of the skid.
In Tuesday's game in Edmonton, goalie Michal Neuvirth turned in a 45-save performance in a losing cause. Thanks to their goaltender and second period tallies by Scott Laughton and Ryan White, the Flyers entered the third period with an undeserved 2-1 lead but ultimately succumbed to a 4-1 defeat by yielding two even strength goals plus a late empty netter.
Indicative of just how poorly the Flyers have played over the last five games is the fact that the team has plummeted in most every important team statistical category: five-on-five play, both ends of special teams, shots against, goals scored, goals yielded, etc.
The Flyers have not named a starting goalie for Thursday's game as of this writing. If one were to discount Mason's disastrous second start of the season, which was played under very difficult personal circumstances, his overall numbers (currently a 2-4-2 record, 3.34 GAA and .902 save percentage) would look less unsightly statistically (2.79 GAA, .916 SV%). Nevertheless, Neuvirth (2.13 GAA, .939 SV%, two shutouts) has been the better of the two Flyers' goalies thus far in the regular season after the opposite was the case in the preseason.
Jakub Voracek has 50 shots on goal through the season's first 12 games, ranking sixth in the league. However, he has yet to find the net to date. As a team, the Flyers enter play on Tuesday ranking 29th of the NHL's 30 teams with a meager 1.92 goals scored per game. Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn share the team goal-scoring lead with four apiece. Defenseman Mark Streit (three goals, four assists, seven points) has the overall point lead.
On the injury front, center Sean Couturier (concussion) has missed the last six games. He is expected to return to the lineup against Calgary. Defenseman Evgeny Medvedev (upper body) was sent back to Philadelphia on Tuesday for further evaluation. On Wednesday, the Flyers recalled veteran defenseman Davis Drewiske from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Fourth line center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is out approximately two weeks with a lower-body injury sustained on Oct. 27. Bellemare is not available on the current road trip.
Flames Outlook
After a breakthrough season and a playoff berth last year, the Flames have had a rough start to the 2015-16 season. No team has had a tougher time keeping the puck out of its own net than the Flames -- and it's not even close thus far. Meanwhile, Calgary has limped out to a 1-5-0 record on home ice after being a 51-point club in home games last season.
Calgary is 1-4-1 over its past six games, and is actually somewhat fortunate to have even three standings points to show for it because the club has yielded at least four regulation goals in every game. Excluding a lost shootout in Ottawa on Oct. 28, the Flames have been outscored by a combined 28-15 over the past six games. Nine of the 15 Calgary goals came in two games (the shootout loss to the Senators and a 5-4 regulation road win over Edmonton on Saturday).
On Tuesday in Denver, the Flames sustained a 6-3 defeat at the hands of the Avalanche. Avs forward and longtime Calgary captain Jarome Iginla recorded a pair of goals against his former club. For the Flames, second-year NHLer Johnny Gaudreau and rookie Sam Bennett each scored their respective second goals of the season, while defenseman Mark Giordano chipped in his fourth. Karri Rämö yielded five goals on 41 shots.
Gaudreau leads the Flames in overall scoring, with 13 points through the club's first 13 games. Veteran Jiri Hudler is second with 11 points (four goals, seven assists), followed by Michael Frolik (three goals, six assists) and Sean Monahan (two goals, eight points). Team captain Giordano leads the defense corps with six points. Much-hyped offseason blueline acquisition Dougie Hamilton has three points (two goals, one assist) and a minus-11 rating at even strength.
The goaltending has been a mess, too. All three of the goalies who have appeared in a game this year (Jonas Hiller, Rämö, and Joni Ortio) have save percentages below 88 percent and goals against averages north of 3.60 per game. Hiller remains out of the lineup with a lower-body injury.
Elsewhere on the Calgary injury front, Lance Bouma (fractured fibula) and Micheal Ferland (sprained MCL) currently remain on the IR list.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 1.92 (29th), Flames 2.31 (23rd)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 3.08 (25th), Flames 4.23 (30th)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 17/22, Flames 23/31
Power play efficiency: Flyers 11.1% (29th), Flames 13.9% (22nd)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 77.1% (21st), Flames 76.2% (T-22nd)
Shots per game: Flyers 32.1 (T-2nd) , Flames 28.3 (22nd)
Shots against per game: Flyers 34.7 (30th), Flames 30.7 (23rd)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.3% (14th), Flames 46.6% (29th)
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
20 R.J. Umberger -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: Sam Gagner (healthy), Davis Drewiske (healthy), Evgeny Medvedev (upper body), Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (IR, lower body).
FLAMES
8 Joe Colborne - 23 Sean Monahan - 24 Jiri Hudler
13 Johnny Gaudreau - 93 Sam Bennett - 19 David Jones
67 Michael Frolik - 18 Matt Stajan - 16 Josh Jooris
21 Mason Raymond - 11 Mikael Backlund - 52 Brandon Bollig
5 Mark Giordano - 6 Dennis Wideman
4 Kris Russell - 7 T.J. Brodie
29 Deryk Engelland - 27 Dougie Hamilton
31 Karri Rämö
[37 Joni Ortio]
Scratches: Ladislav Smid (healthy), Derek Grant (healthy), Jonas Hiller (lower body), Lance Bouma (IR, fractured fibula), Micheal Ferland (IR, sprained MCL).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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