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Flyers Gameday: 12/16/17 vs. DAL |
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GAME 32 PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. STARS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (13-11-7) host Ken Hitchcock's Dallas Stars (18-14-1) at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on NBCSP in the Philadelphia and Fox Sports Southwest Plus in Texas.
Prior to the game, there will be a holiday light show; something the Flyers' organization hopes will become an annual December tradition.
This is the first of two meetings between the teams this season, and the lone game in Philadelphia. The clubs will rematch at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on March 27; the Flyers' penultimate inter-conference game of the 2017-18 season.
Last season, the clubs split a pair of December games spaced one week apart. On the afternoon of Dec. 10, 2016, the Flyers ran their winning streak to eight straight games with a 4-2 home win over the Stars. Special teams made the difference, as Philly went 3-for-6 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. One week later in Dallas, the Stars brought Philly's 10-game winning streak to an end with a 3-1 decision in another afternoon tilt.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Saturday's match is the third of a five-game homestand for the Flyers. Philadelphia, which has won five straight games overall (all in regulation), opened the homestand with a strong 60-minute effort in a 4-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday and followed it up with a less impressive performance in a 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres two nights later.
The Flyers did not practice on Friday. It is likely the team will continue to roll with the same personnel and line combinations as in the first two games of the homestand.
On Thursday, the Flyers got goals from rookie defenseman Travis Sanheim (1st NHL goal) and veteran center Valtteri Filppula (8th). Dale Weise (2nd assist), Jordan Weal (6th), Jakub Voracek (31st) and Michael Raffl (4th) chipped in helpers on a night when the top line did get onto the scoresheet. Brian Elliott recovered from a costly early puckhandling gaffe to stop 19 of 20 shots and earn the victory.
In each of the five games of the current winning streak, the Flyers have taken no more than two minor penalties. They are 7-for-8 on the penalty kill over the current stretch, with the lone goal being a double-deflection credited to Toronto left wing James van Riemsdyk.
The Flyers enter Saturday'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, two points ahead of the Flyers and two behind the Rangers, are on the road on Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes.
Through 31 games, the Flyers have scored 89 goals while yielding 87. The club has allowed the fewest goals against in the NHL at five-on-five (45) but their 28th-ranked penalty kill at 76.7 percent (89-for-103), four opposing shorthanded goals yielded and three losses during 3-on-3 sudden death overtime have hurt the overall goal differential. The Flyers power play enters Saturday's game at an 18.6 percent (19-for-102, 16th overall) success rate.
STARS OUTLOOK
Which Stars team will the Flyers' see on Saturday? Will they run into the defensively improved, relentless club that uses it depth and imposing top-end talent to strong effect? Or will they get a night against the breakdown-prone, undisciplined club that sometimes seems hard-wired to go off the rails?
Entering Friday's game in New Jersey, the "good Stars" had shown up for the first two games of the current four-game east coast road trip. The Stars played quite well in wins against the Rangers and New York Islanders. Even with a three-game stumble the previous week, Dallas had won seven of its last 10 games.
On Friday night, however, Dallas reverted to the club that is sub .500 on the road (now 8-10-1) in a 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils in Newark.
The Stars started out slowly, taking a penalty on the first shift, getting outshot 5-0 to start the game (although Dallas defenseman Stephen Johns rang a shot off the crossbar), and fell into an early 1-0 deficit on a Steven Santini right point blast that eluded Kari Lehtonen.
Dallas, which had been in a 1-for-35 power play funk over its previous 12 games, got a power play goal to tie the game at 1-1. The play was a bit of good puck luck as Martin Hanzal tipped the puck from the left side of the net and then it bounced in off defenseman Andy Greene. However, if the puck had gone to wide-open Jamie Benn at the right post, it still would have been a probable goal for Dallas because Benn would have had a tap-in.
New Jersey retook the lead at 19:06 of the first period. Dallas cleanly lost a left circle faceoff and then Blake Coleman was unmarked near the net to stash home the fat rebound of a Greene point shot.
Alexander Radulov, who had left Wednesday's game in Brooklyn early with a lower-body injury and then did not practice on Thursday, showed no ill-effects. At 8:09 of the second period, he generated Dallas' biggest highlight of the game on a great individual effort goal to tie the game at 2-2. Radulov powered up the left wing, cut in front of the net and slid home a backhander. Mattias Janmark and Esa Lindell collected the apples.
The Devils went ahead to stay at 13:39 of the second period on a Brian Boyle power play goal. Initially fronting Boyle near the net on a center point shot, John Klingberg got outmuscled and could not prevent the large forward from stashing home the rebound.
The Stars got outworked yet again down low in their own zone as New Jersey built a 4-2 lead at 12:57 of the third period. Nick Lappin's initially harmless looking shot from the left circle rebounded in the slot and he was the first one to the loose puck to fire a second attempt past Lehtonen.
Boyle closed out the scoring with a long-distance empty netter. The Stars outshot the Devils overall, 30-26. Lehtonen stopped 21 of 25 shots, while Cory Schneider denied 28 of 30. Dallas went 1-for-3 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Saturday night's game marks the end of Dallas' road trip. They'll be playing for the fourth time in six nights (third in four nights and the second game of a back-to-back) against a rested Flyers team. Coming off last night's loss and representing the difference between a strong overall road trip (3-1-0), a decent one (2-1-1) or an ordinary one (2-2-0), the tilt against the Flyers is a gut-check game for a team currently on the wildcard bubble in the West. Former Flyers head coach Hitchcock will get his second crack at his 800th career win.
Ben Bishop will get the start in goal on Saturday. Lehtonen started each of the first three games of the road trip. The Stars will not hold a morning skate on Saturday. However, it would be a little surprising if Hitchcock does not make any lineup personnel or line combination changes from Friday's lineup.
The Stars currently have the NHL's most favorable shot-attempt differential; a testament to the depth that has emerged and to their ability to move the puck from the back end to the attack. Once Dallas gains the offensive zone, they can be a load to deal with for any opponent.
The long-running deadly duo of Benn and Tyler Seguin started out the season on the same line (with Radulov often as the third member) but they've more recently been apart. Benn has recently been on a five-on-five line with Radek Faksa and Tyler Pitlick while Seguin has centered Remi Elie and Devin Shore. Radulov is now on Jason Spezza's line.
When things are clicking for Dallas, they have four solid lines to roll out, and John Klingberg (coming off a bit of a down year in 2016-17 on the defensive side of the puck despite strong offensive numbers) is having a strong all-around season. The Dallas blueline has become an underrated one after Hitchcock did a lot of experimentation and tinkering with both personnel and combinations. Marc Methot (knee) remains out of the lineup.
As with most teams, however, the nights where the Stars have problems with turnovers from circle-to-circle and run into opponents that clog the neutral zone can trigger the sort of frustration that leads things to unravel. Friday night aside, the Stars have generally done a much better job over the last month-plus of dictating the pace and showing resiliency.
Previously, they'd be fine until that first costly breakdown or stoppable goal that leaked through and then the team would have trouble stopping the bleeding until it was too late. Friday night's game was somewhere in the middle -- there were stretches where Dallas strung together some quality shifts -- but it was still far from Dallas' A game.
Overall, the Stars have scored 96 and allowed 96 goals. At five-on-five, they have a 63-61 edge. On the power play, Dallas ranks 15th (19-for-100, 19 percent) with four shorthanded goals yielded. On the penalty kills, the Stars are 16th (95-for-122, 81.2 percent) with three shorthanded goals to their credit.
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).
Stars
14 Jamie Benn - 91 Tyler Seguin - 17 Devin Shore
13 Mattias Janmark - 90 Jason Spezza - 47 Alexander Radulov
21 Antoine Roussel - 12 Radek Faksa- 25 Brett Ritchie
40 Remi Elie - 10 Martin Hanzal - 17 Devin Shore
23 Esa Lindell - 3 John Klingberg
2 Dan Hamhuis - 29 Greg Pateryn
28 Stephen Johns - 6 Julius Honka
30 Ben Bishop
[32 Kari Lehtonen]
Scratches: Brett Ritchie (healthy), Jamie Oleksiak (healthy), 16 Jason Dickinson (healthy), Marc Methot (IR, knee).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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