MINI-PREVIEW: FLYERS vs. DEVILS

After a five-day "bye week", Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (22-18-6) return to action on Saturday evening as they host John Hynes' New Jersey Devils (19-19-9). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.

This is the second of five meetings this season between the Metropolitan Division teams, and the first of two in Philadelphia. On Dec. 22, the heretofore red hot Flyers (on an 11-1-1 run over a 13-game stretch) staggered into the Christmas break with a dreadful 4-0 loss to the Devils in Newark. Very little has gone right for the Flyers on the other side of the holiday break.

Flyers Outlook

In the 14 matches following their 10-game winning streak, the Flyers have posted a 3-8-3 record dating back to the loss in New Jersey. The goals have stopped coming with any consistency and the team defense and goaltending have been dreadful.

For the season, the Flyers are 14-6-3 on home ice but just 8-12-3 on the road. The club is winless (0-7-2) in its last nine road games, so the Flyers are hoping that the upcoming home-heavy schedule helps them get back into playoff position after falling out of a playoff spot during the five-night hiatus.

Last weekend, the Flyers followed up a 6-3 loss in Boston with Michal Neuvirth starting in goal with a 5-0 whitewashing in Washington with Steve Mason starting after holding the Capitals to one goal and 10 shots through two periods..

Devils Outlook

The Devils have come away with points from seven of their last 10 games (5-3-2) and bring a 9-12-6 record into Saturday's tilt. The team is coming off a 3-1 home loss to Montreal on the heels of going 3-0-1 on a road trip through Western Canada and Minnesota.

Taylor Hall leads the Devils in scoring, with 11 goals and 30 points in 37 games. Damon Severson paces the defense corps with 22 points but has an ugly minus-23 rating in traditional plus-minus.

The Devils bring a fairly extensive injury list into Saturday's game: forwards Sergey Kalinin (lower body) and Vernon Fiddler (IR, lower body) and defensemen Andy Greene (wrist), John Moore (IR, concussion) and Yohann Auvitu (lower body) are all nursing injuries of varying severity.

PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)

Flyers

12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 24 Matt Read
25 Nick Cousins - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jake Voracek
11 Travis Konecny - 10-Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 P-E Bellemare - 13 Roman Lyubimov

9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
32 Mark Streit - 3 Radko Gudas
15 Michael Del Zotto - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere

30 Michal Neuvirth
[35 Steve Mason]

Scratches: Nick Schultz (healthy), Brandon Manning (healthy), Dale Weise (healthy).


DEVILS

9 Taylor Hall - 14 Adam Henrique - 11 P.A. Parenteau
13 Mike Cammalleri - 19 Travis Zajac - 21 Kyle Palmieri
16 Jacob Josefson - 37-Pavel Zacha - 8 Beau Bennett
44 Miles Wood - 40 Blake Coleman - 25 Devante Smith-Pelly

7 Jon Merrill - 12 Ben Lovejoy
22 Kyle Quincey - 28 Damon Severson
46 Karl Stollery - 34 Steven Santini

1 Keith Kinkaid
[35 Cory Schneider]

Scratches: Luke Gazdic (healthy), Seth Helgeson (healthy), Andy Greene (wrist), Sergey Kalinin (lower body), John Moore (IR, concussion), Vernon Fiddler (IR, lower body), Yohann Auvitu (lower body), Marc Savard (LTIR, concussion).

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