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Flyers Gameday: 12/17/16 @ DAL |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS @ STARS
Looking to build the franchise's first 11-game winning streak since the fall of 1985, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (19-10-3) are in Texas for a Saturday matinee against Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (12-14-6). Game time at the American Airlines Center is 2 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia in the Delaware Valley and Fox Sports Southwest in Texas.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the inter-conference teams and the lone meeting in Dallas. Last Saturday, the Flyers rode three power play goals by Brayden Schenn and a late empty net goal by Jakub Voracek (four points) to a 4-2 home win over the Stars. Devin Shore scored twice for Dallas; the second tally giving the Stars a 2-1 lead midway through the third period.
Flyers Outlook
After playing one of the NHL's busiest schedules for weeks, the pace of the Flyers' schedule has slowed down a bit of late. The team had two nights off ahead of defeating the host Colorado Avalanche, 4-3. The Flyers then had two nights off after the Colorado game before this game in Dallas.
In Wednesday's win in Denver, Michael Del Zotto (fourth goal of the season), Wayne Simmonds (16th), Roman Lyubimov (third) and Brayden Schenn (ninth) scored for the Flyers. Steve Mason, earning his career-best eighth straight win, stopped 26 of 29 shots.
Jakub Voracek the Flyers with 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in 32 games. Claude Giroux is second on the team with 30 points (nine goals, 21 assists), while Wayne Simmonds paces the club with 16 goals and eight power play tallies among his 28 points.
Schenn is fourth on the Flyers' scoring leaderboard with 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 29 games. He's followed by rookie forward Travis Konecny (four goals, 12 assists), Shayne Gostisbehere (four goals, 12 assists) and injured veteran offensive defenseman Mark Streit (five goals, 11 assists).
Rookie defenseman Provorov has 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) while dressing in all 32 games. The 19-year-old is already now routinely matched up against other teams' top lines and is averaging 20:45 of ice time per game.
On the injury front, Matt Read (midsection), Sean Couturier (knee) and Michal Neuvirth (sprained left knee) remain on injured reserve. Veteran Mark Streit is out with a suspected sprained left shoulder (officially, an upper-body injury).
Stars Outlook
Saturday's game is the third of a five-game homestand for the Stars. The Stars have only won back-to-back games twice this season, going just 1-8-3 in the next game after a win. Ruff's squad is just 3-5-0 thus far in December although the team actually has played improved hockey overall this month. Winnable games have repeatedly slipped away in the third period. They've tightened things up defensively and have gotten pretty good goaltending this month.
Overall, the Stars have fared better at home (8-5-2) than on the road (4-9-4).
Unfortunately for Dallas, the tendency to make the "big mistake" has remained as has surprisingly spotty scoring from what had been one of the NHL's highest powered offenses the last few years.
On Tuesday, the Stars seemed to be on the brink of a breakthrough, exploding for five third-period goals to turn a 2-1 deficit in the third period into a 6-2 blowout win. On Thursday, the Stars and Rangers were in a scoreless deadlock in the third period with Dallas on the power play. A Jamie Benn turnover yielded a Rick Nash breakaway shorthanded goal, and Mats Zuccarello added an empty-net goal to seal a 2-0 final. Antti Niemi was tagged with the tough-luck loss in goal for the Stars.
The Stars will be without third-line center Cody Eakin for the next four games. He was suspended by the NHL for elbowing New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist behind the net in Thursday's game. Two players who were held out of last Saturday's game in Philadelphia as they finished recuperating from injury and illness -- respectively, veteran defenseman Johnny Oduya and veteran forward Jiri Hudler -- have since returned to the Dallas lineup.
Fourth-line Stars forward Curtis McKenzie, who missed the past two games with an upper-body injury sustained last weekend, will return to the lineup for this tilt. Veteran standout Patrick Sharp remains sidelined with a suspected concussion but is practicing with the team.
Although goalie Kari Lehtonen, who owns just one career victory against the Flyers, played well enough for Dallas to beat the Flyers last week, the starting nod for this game could go to Niemi. The former Blackhawk and Shark has started each of the first two games of the homestand, and has fared very well. Overall, he has stopped 62 of the last 65 shots he has faced. For the season, Niemi has posted a 6-2-1 record at home with a .940 SV% with a 1.89 GAA.
Although the Flyers managed to hold Dallas' dangerous top line duo of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin off the scoresheet in Philadelphia, the line generated several dominant shifts in the Flyers' zone. Team captain Benn has six points (two goals, four assists) over his last five games. He's posted 14 points (five goals, nine assists) at home this season.
Promising young defenseman Julius Honka, who missed five games with an upper-body injury, was activated from injured reserve Friday. Dallas assigned him the American Hockey League's Texas Stars. Two-way forward Mattias Janmark (knee) and veteran winger Ales Hemsky (hip) remain on injured reserve.
Entering this game, Seguin leads the Stars with 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists), seven power play goals and 13 power play points in 32 games. He's followed by linemate Benn (nine goals, 18 assists, 27 points), veteran forward Patrick Eaves (team-high 11 goals, eight assists), agitating forward Antoine Roussel (five goals, 11 assists, team-high 85 penalty minutes) and veteran forward Jason Spezza (five goals, 10 assists in 25 games). Top-pairing defenseman John Klingberg has not been as effective this season as he was last year, but still paces the Dallas blueline offensively with 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) in 30 games.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 3.19 (4th), Stars 2.53 (19th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.97 (T-23rd), Stars 3.13 (29th)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 23.5% (2nd), Stars 16.7% (18th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 82.3% (T-13th), Stars 77.2 (27th)
Shots on goal per game: Flyers 31.5 (6th), Stars 29.2 (T-19th)
Shots against per game: Flyers 28.8 (T-7th), Stars 30.1 (14th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.1% (12th), Stars 49.1% (20th)
Projected Lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS (Saturday's lines)
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
11 Travis Konecny - 10 Brayden Schenn - 93 Jakub Voracek
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 P-E Bellemare - 13 Roman Lyubimov
58 Taylor Leier - 25 Nick Cousins - 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
15 Michael Del Zotto- 3 Radko Gudas
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 23 Brandon Manning
35 Steve Mason
[41 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Sean Couturier (lower body, suspected left MCL), Michal Neuvirth (IR, knee), Matt Read (IR, abdominal area), Mark Streit (shoulder), Boyd Gordon (healthy).
STARS
14 Jamie Benn - 91 Tyler Seguin - 18 Patrick Eaves
38 Lauri Korpikoski - 90 Jason Spezza - 22 Jiri Hudler
21 Antoine Roussel - 12 Radek Faksa - 25 Brett Ritchie
11 Curtis McKenzie - 17 Devin Shore - 17Adam Cracknell
23 Esa Lindell - 3 John Klingberg
2 Dan Hamhuis - 28 Stephen Johns
47 Johnny Oduya - 24 Jordie Benn
31 Antti Niemi
[32 Kari Lehtonen]
Scratches: Patrik Nemeth (healthy), Jamie Oleksiak (healthy), Cody Eakin (NHL suspension), Patrick Sharp (IR, suspected concussion), Mattias Janmark (IR, knee surgery), Ales Hemsky (IR, hip).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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