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Flyers Gameday: 12/14/17 vs. BUF |
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GAME 31 PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. BUFFALO SABRES
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (11-11-7) host Phil Housley's Buffalo Sabres (8-17-6). Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season, and the first of two in Philadelphia. The teams will rematch on Dec. 22 in Buffalo and the afternoon of Jan. 7 at the Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers went 2-1-0 against the Sabres last season.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Thursday's match is the second of a five-game homestand for the Flyers. Philadelphia, which has won four straight games overall (all in regulation), opened the homestand with a 4-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
Claude Giroux (13th goal of the season) Travis Konecny (4th), Sean Couturier (game-winner, 15th) and Scott Laughton (empty net, 5th) got the goals for Philadelphia in the win over Toronto. Couturier (15th assist), Robert Hägg (4th), Ivan Provorov (11th), Giroux (21st), Wayne Simmonds (9th) and Michael Raffl (3rd) collected assists. Brian Elliott stopped 20 of 22 shots.
Hakstol made one lineup tweak on Tuesday, putting Konecny on a line with Laughton and Taylor Leier. Dale Weise moved to a line with rookie Nolan Patrick and Jordan Weal.
The Flyers enter Thursday's game four points (and a 3 ROW tiebreaker disadvantage) behind the New York Rangers for the lower wildcard seed in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. Philadelphia has one game in hand. The Pittsburgh Penguins, tied with the Rangers, are on the road on Thursday against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Through 30 games, the Flyers have scored 87 goals while yielding 86. The club has allowed the fewest goals against in the NHL at five-on-five (44) but their 29th-ranked penalty kill at 76.5 percent (88-for-102), four opposing shorthanded goals yielded and three losses during 3-on-3 sudden death overtime have hurt the goal differential. The Flyers power play enters Thursday's game at a 19.0 percent (19-for-100, 16th overall) success rate.
SABRES OUTLOOK
The Sabres are 3-5-2 over their past 10 games but are coming off a 3-2 home win against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night. The Sabres scored three times in the second period and then held on the rest of the way.
Benoit Pouliot (8th), Kyle Okposo (5th) and Evander Kane (power play, 14th) tallied the Buffalo goals, while Rasmus Ristolainen collected his 8th and 9th assists of the season and both Ryan O'Reilly (9th) and Jack Eichel (16th) had a helper apiece. Robin Lehner earned the win with 24 saves.
On the road, the Sabres are 4-8-5 this season. They are 4-9-1 at home. Buffalo has scored an NHL-lowest 67 goals while yielding 104 (ranking 29th in the league). To say the least, not a good combination.
A significant piece of Buffalo's anemic scoring: a near total lack of goals chipped in from members of the blueline. To date, Jake McCabe's goal against Colorado on Dec. 5 is the only goal scored by any member of the Sabres' defense corps this season. The Sabres are also the lone NHL team to not yet have a defenseman with double-digit points on the season.
Kane leads the Sabres with 28 points (14 goals, 14 assists) through the team's first 31 games. Eichel is second with 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists), followed by O'Reilly's 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists), Jason Pominville's 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) and Okposo's five goals and 13 points in 29 games. Ristolainen has logged an average 27:07 of ice time and 29.8 shifts per game, and leads the blueline with nine assists and nine points in 22 games.
The Sabres have scored 42 goals at 5-on-5 (fewest in the NHL) and allowed 62 (tied for 21st). On the power play, Buffalo is 13-for-98 (13.3 percent, 30th in the NHL) and has yielded an NHL-worst eight opposing shorthanded goal. The Sabres are in the middle of the NHL pack on the penalty kill; ranking 15th (18-for-97, 81.4 percent) and have scored four shorthanded goals.
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 (healthy), Mark Alt (healthy), Brandon Manning (IR, upper body), Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body).
Sabres
9 Evander Kane- 15 Jack Eichel - 29 Jason Pominville
67 Benoit Pouliot - 90 Ryan O'Reilly - 24 Hudson Fasching
17 Jordan Nolan - 22 Johan Larsson - 23 Sam Reinhart
20 Scott Wilson - 71 Evan Rodrigues - 21 Kyle Okposo
6 Marco Scandella - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
19 Jake McCabe - 47 Zach Bogosian
41 Justin Falk - 93 Viktor Antipin
40 Robin Lehner
[31 Chad Johnson]
Scratches: Zemgus Girgensons (healthy), Josh Gorges (healthy), Nathan Bealieu (illness, questionable), Jacob Joseson (IR, ankle), Taylor Fedun (IR, lower body).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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