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Flyers Gameday: 12/12/17 vs. TOR |
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GAME 30 PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. MAPLE LEAFS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (11-11-7) return home to the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday to take on Mike Babcock's Toronto Maple Leafs (20-10-1). Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the second of three meetings this season between the Eastern Conference teams, and the first of two in Philadelphia. The season series will conclude back in Philly on Jan. 18 when the Flyers retire Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Eric Lindros' famed No. 88 jersey.
On Oct. 27 at the Air Canada Centre, the Flyers skated to a 4-2 win over the Maple Leafs. Brandon Manning, Jakub Voracek, Valtteri Filppula and Claude Giroux tallied for the Flyers. Brian Elliott was sharp in stopping 26 of 28 shots. Nazem Kadri scored twice for Toronto. Frederik Andersen suffered his first career loss against the Flyers, having trouble on glove-side opportunities as he stopped 26 of 30 shots.
The first meeting between the teams this season was also marked by a second period incident during a Flyers' power play. Toronto forward Leo Komarov heavily boarded defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere. There was no penalty called on the play nor any supplementary discipline from the NH:. Afterwards, Komarov was unapologetic about the hit in the numbers, calling it a "normal situation." Gostisbehere, who had been off to the best start of his career on both sides of the puck, missed three games with a suspected concussion.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Philadelphia opens a five-game homestand on Tuesday after completing a three-game sweep of their western Canada road trip that was preceded by an 0-5-5 winless streak. A team that posted 53, 54 and 55 points on home ice over the last three seasons and started the season at 3-1-0 on home ice with the lone loss being a 1-0 decision against Nashville, the Flyers have subsequently gone 1-5-4 in home games.
The Flyers are still six points out of the lower wildcard cutoff even after four nights with no games. Suddenly, the Flyers are the team with games in hand. It is vital to take advantage of that opportunity, especially with a stretch of games at home.
Veteran defenseman Radko Gudas will return to the Flyers lineup. He has finished serving a 10-game NHL suspension for a slashing incident against Winnipeg Jets' forward Mathieu Perrault on Nov. 16. He will resume being paired with rookie Travis Sanheim, who has struggled defensively of late but has continued to make positive plays happen up ice.
Fellow defenseman Manning and goaltender Michal Neuvirth are on injured reserve. Elliott will get the start in goal for the Flyers, backed up by recall netminder Alex Lyon.
The Flyers will continue to use the same lines and defense pairings they featured on the western road trip and will also continue to deploy their modified (1-2-2) forecheck. Michael Raffl and Wayne Simmonds (one power play goal, two empty netters) scored in each game of the western trip. Sean Couturier has no goals and two assists over the last five games, but has not lacked for good looks at the net. Giroux and Voracek have continued to thrive even after the lineup switches.
Through 29 games, the Flyers have scored 83 goals while yielding 84. The club has allowed the fewest goals against in the NHL at five-on-five (43) but their 27th-ranked penalty kill at 77.2 percent (88-for-101), four opposing shorthanded goals yielded and three losses during 3-on-3 sudden death overtime account for the negative differential overall. However, the Flyers went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill during the western Canada road trip. The also improved their season power play success rate to 19.2 percent (19-for-99, 16th overall).
MAPLE LEAFS OUTLOOK
Riding a three-game winning streak and having posted points in seven of the last 10 games (6-3-1), the Maple Leafs bring a 10-5-1 road record into Tuesday's tilt. The club enters this match coming off a 1-0 home win against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Zach Hyman (6th goal) scored just 34 seconds after the opening faceoff for the game's only tally. Veteran backup Curtis McElhinney got the start in goal and stopped all 41 shots that Edmonton fired on his net to earn the shutout.
Budding young superstar Austin Matthews did not play against Edmonton. He was sidelined with a possible head injury after a collision with teammate Morgan Rielly the night before in Pittsburgh. Matthews leads the Leafs with 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) in his 26 games played. Kadri is second with 23 points (13 goals, 10 assists). Ex-Flyers left winger James van Riemsdyk has 14 goals (five on the power play) among his 21 points.
Overall, the Leafs have scored 104 goals while yielding 87. With 73 goals scored at 5-on-5 (57 goals against), Toronto is the NHL's top-scoring team at full strength. The Leafs are ranked 6th on the power play at 21.3 percent success (19-for-89) and are tied for 12th on the penalty kill (81-for-99, 81.8 percent success).
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Flyers
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Jordan Weal - 19 Nolan Patrick - 22 Dale Weise
20 Taylor Leier - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 8 Robert Hägg
6 Travis Sanheim - 3 Radko Gudas
37 Brian Elliott
[49 Alex Lyon]
Scratches: Jori Lehterä (minor illness, healthy enough to play), Mark Alt (healthy), Brandon Manning (IR, upper body), Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body).
MAPLE LEAFS
11 Zach Hyman - 29 William Nylander - 28 Connor Brown
12 Patrick Marleau - 43 Nazem Kadri - 47 Leo Komarov
25 James Van Riemsdyk - 42 Tyler Bozak - 16 Mitch Marner
15 Matt Martin - 20 Dominic Moore - 32 Josh Leivo
44 Morgan Rielly - 2 Ron Hainsey
51 Jake Gardiner - 22 Nikita Zaitsev
55 Andreas Borgman - 46 Roman Polak
31 Frederik Andersen
[35 Curtis McElhinney]
Scratches: Auston Matthews (upper body), Nikita Soshnikov (lower body), Connor Carrick (healthy), Kasperi Kapanen (healthy).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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