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Flyers Gameday: 11/9/17 vs. CHI |
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GAME 16 PREVIEW: FLYERS vs. BLACKHAWKS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (7-6-2) return to action on Thursday night to host Joel Quenneville's Chicago Blackhawks (7-6-2). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams. On Nov. 1 at the United Center, the Blackhawks shut out the Flyers by a 3-0 count. The Flyers put forth a generally solid three periods of hockey, generating odd-man rushes and scrambles around the net galore, but could not solve Corey Crawford.
Crawford was outstanding on a slew tough chances, fortunate on a few others where there were openings that weren't found and bounces that went his way, finishing with a 35-save shutout.
The game was scoreless until 8:58 of the second period. Artem Anisimov pounced on the rebound of a Cody Franson shot. At 9:18, after Robert Hägg had a puck hop on him at the offensive blueline, Jonathan Toews (4th goal) went off on a breakaway and slid the puck through Brian Elliott's five hole for a 2-0 lead. Alex DeBrincat added a third-period empty net goal at 18:11.
In Thursday night's rematch, the Flyers will look to extend a 13-game regular season home winning streak against the Chicago. The streak dates back to the Blackhawks' 4-1 win on Nov. 9, 1996, in their first-ever visit to the Wells Fargo Center (then CoreStates Center). Chicago's only win in Philadelphia since that time was Game 6 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers are coming off a four-night schedule break since a 5-4 home shootout loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. Now, the team embarks on a stretch of 21 games in 45 days that will lead into the league-wide Christmas break.
On Saturday, Valtteri Filppula (6th goal of the season), Claude Giroux (power play, 8th), Jakub Voracek (3rd goal, 15th assist) and Dale Weise (2nd) scored for the Flyers to earn a point from the game. Jordan Weal (4th assist) set up the Weise game-tying goal and later scored in the shootout for the lone Flyers goal. Giroux and Voracek were unsuccessful on their attempts.
Special teams, aided by some Avs-friendly bounces, went Colorado's way in this game. The Avalanche went 2-for-3 on the power play and 5-for-6 on the penalty kill with a shorthanded goal that erased the Flyers' only lead (2-1) of the game.
Based on Wednesday's practice, it appears that Michal Neuvirth will start in goal for the third consecutive game. Last Thursday, the Czech netminder played brilliantly in authoring a 33-save shutout in St. Louis. On Saturday against Colorado, Neuvirth was so-so in stopping 23 of 27 shots in regulation and overtime and then going 1-for-3 in the shootout.
After a three-game absence due to an upper-body injury, Shayne Gostisbehere made his return to the Flyers' lineup. Wearing a tinted visor that he expects to keep for awhile, "Ghost" chipped in his 13th assist of the season on Giroux's power play goal. Overall, Gostisbehere logged 26:28 of ice time. Apart from a costly third-period turnover that ended up in the Flyers' net, Gostisbehere seemed solid in his returned.
Radko Gudas, who was injured by an inadvertent elbow to the head by Chicago's Brandon Saad in the first period of last Wednesday, missed the games against the Blues and Avalanche. He returned to practice on Tuesday this week and appears good to go for the rematch with the Blackhawks.
Defenseman Andrew MacDonald (lower-body injury) is still a week or two away from returning the lineup from an injury incurred while blocking a shot against the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 21. Rookie center Nolan Patrick officially remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury widely suspected to be a concussion but has not practiced with the team all week. He skated on his own, however.
Through 15 games, Sean Couturier (nine goals, nine assists, 18 points, +11) is tied for the team scoring lead with linemate Voracek (three goals, 15 assists, 18 points), followed by Giroux (eight goals, nine assists, 17 points). Gostisbehere leads the defense with 14 points (one goal, 13 assists). Wayne Simmonds has scored six goals among his 11 points and shares the team power play goal lead with three along with Valtteri Filppula (six goals, three assists, nine points overall).
The Flyers enter Thursday's game 11-for-54 (20.4 pct, 11th overall) on the power play, while yielding three opposing shorthanded goals. The club is 40-for-52 (76.9 pct, tied for 24th overall) on the penalty kill with one shorthanded goal by Scott Laughton. Overall, the Flyers have scored 47 goals and yielded 42. In five-on-five play, the team has scored 27 goals while yielding 22.
BLACKHAWKS OUTLOOK
Chicago enters the game with a 3-3-1 road record. Since last Wednesday's 3-0 win against the Flyers, the team followed up with a 2-0 shutout road win against the Minnesota and a 2-0 home shutout loss to Montreal. The latter game was scoreless until the third period, when the red-hot Crawford was finally solved by Jonathan Drouin and Joe Morrow.
Entering Thursday's game, veteran superstar Patrick Kane leads the Blackhawks with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 15 games but has just two points (zero goals, two assists) over the last five games. Some team is going to pay the price for his mini-slump; the Flyers will need to make sure it is not them.
Kane is followed on the Chicago scoring leaderboard by team captain Jonathan Toews (four goals, six assists, 10 points) and Ryan Hartman (four goals, six assists, 10 points), followed by Saad (six goals, three assists, nine points) and Richard Panik (five goals, three assists, eight points). Artem Anisimov has notched five goals among his seven points, including three power play markers and a shorthanded tally.
Two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith is still looking for his first goal of the season despite 39 shots on goal to date but leads the blueline in scoring with eight points. Keith is minus-two at even strength.
Crawford has started 12 games this season. He brings a stellar 1.77 goals against average, .945 save percentage and 7-5-0 record into Thursday's tilt in addition to his two shoutouts over the past week.
The last time the Flyers played the Blackhawks, Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy (the son of Flyers' assistant coach Gord Murphy) drilled Flyers left winger Taylor Leier in open ice with a hit Philly players felt was a borderline charge. Murphy fought Scott Laughton shortly thereafter.
To date, the Blackhawks disappointingly rank 27th on the NHL on the power play (57-for-66) but are one of just six teams that have yet to give up a shorthanded goal. The penalty kill, a Chicago weakness in recent years, is off to a strong start at 50-for-59 (84.7 percent, 6th overall) with shorthanded goals by Anisimov and John Hayden.
Overall, Chicago has scored 43 goals and yielded 36. At five-on-five, the Hawks have tallied 28 times and opponents have scored 23.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (will be updated after morning skate)
Flyers
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
11 Travis Konecny - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds
40 Jordan Weal - 15 Jori Lehterä - 22 Dale Weise
20 Taylor Leier - 21 Scott Laughton - 12 Michael Raffl
9 Ivan Provorov - 8 Robert Hägg
23 Brandon Manning - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
6 Travis Sanheim - 3 Radko Gudas
37 Brian Elliott
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Matt Read (healthy), Mark Alt (healthy), Nolan Patrick (IR, upper body), Andrew MacDonald (IR, lower body).
Blackhawks
10 Patrick Sharp - 19 Jonathan Toews -88 Patrick Kane
20 Brandon Saad - 15 Artem Anisimov - 14 Richard Panik
12 Alex DeBrincat - 8 Nick Schmaltz - 38 Ryan Hartman
17 Lance Bouma - 57 Tommy Wingels - 40 John Hayden
2 Duncan Keith - 44 Jan Rutta
42 Gustav Forsling - 7 Brent Seabrook
5 Connor Murphy - 11 Cody Franson
50 Corey Crawford
[31 Anton Forsberg]
Scratches: Tanner Kero (healthy), Jordan Oesterle (healthy), Michal Kempny (healthy), Jordin Tootoo (LTIR, upper body), Michal Rozsival (LTIR, concussion), Marian Hossa (LTIR, out for season).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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