PREVIEW 9 AM EST
It has been six long days since the Philadelphia Flyers (13-7-3) last played a hockey game. Tonight, the club opens a brutally difficult December schedule that will see the team play 13 of 16 games on the road. The opponent will be the Anaheim Ducks (7-13-4), with new head coach Bruce Boudreau making his debut less than 48 hours after replacing former Stanley Cup winning coach Randy Carlyle behind the bench.
The game starts at 10 PM EST (7 PM PST) and will be broadcast locally on the Comcast Network (not CSN Philly).
The game marks the only meeting of the season between the two clubs. Last year, the Flyers played the Ducks twice, with Anaheim winning both times (3-2 and 5-2).
The first game last season was a heartbreaker at home for Philly, as the Flyers battled back from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 on goals by Scott Hartnell and Claude Giroux to take the game late into the third period tied. With 1:46 left in regulation, Ryan Getlzaf put the Ducks ahead to stay.
The second meeting took place in Anaheim on New Year's Eve. The Ducks built a 3-0 lead, which the Flyers (Andreas Nodl and Jeff Carter) whittled down to a single goal by early in the third period. Anaheim struck right back, as Bobby Ryan quickly restored a two-goal lead and Philadelphia never really mounted another challenge. Lubomir Visnovsky added some additional insurance late in the game.
In preparation for tonight's game, the Flyers took advantage of the lengthy schedule break to fly out to California a full two days in advance of the game, which eliminated the three-hour time change being a potential factor. Meanwhile, Bruce Boudreau ran the Ducks practice yesterday.
The Flyers expect to have Jaromir Jagr (groin pull) back in the lineup today. He has not played a full game since suffering the initial injury in the game against Phoenix. The club will also have Brayden Schenn in the lineup for the first time since rehabbing a broken foot.
If Matt Walker clears re-entry waivers today, he is expected to be in the starting lineup in place of rookie Kevin Marshall.
James van Riemsdyk (upper body injury) appears likely to miss the game. Defensemen Chris Pronger (LTIR, knee surgery and illness), Andreas Lilja (LTIR, high ankle sprain) and Erik Gustafsson (LTIR, hand/wrist surgery) are all out for lengthy stretches.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Schenn - Briere - Read
Voracek - Talbot - Simmonds
Shelley - Couturier - Rinaldo
Timonen- Coburn
Carle - Walker/Marshall
Bourdon - Meszaros
Bryzgalov
[Bobrovsky]
DUCKS
Ryan - Getzlaf - Perry
Cogliano - Koivu - Selanne
Hagman - Maxwell - Smith-Pelly
Beleskey - McMillan - Gordon
Fowler - Lydman
Beauchemin - Sbisa
Brookbank - Guenin
Hiller/Mason
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We had an overwhelming response to the Flyers-Bruins ticket trivia contest started on Tuesday. Some 385 HockeyBuzz readers enters, with nearly 2/3 coming up with the correct answer to the following question:
The Flyers made their first ever trade with the Boston Bruins on Oct. 18, 1967. Philadelphia dealt a first-round draft pick in 1970 (which Boston used to select Rick MacLeish) to the Bruins and received a player in return. Who came over from Boston to Philadelphia in the deal?
Answer: Rosaire Paiment
Congratulations to Shannon Sigafoos of Bethlehem, PA for winning the two tickets to the Flyers-Bruins game at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday, December 17.
If you didn't win this contest, keep on trying! We'll be having ticket contests throughout the remainder of the regular season.
Thank you to all who entered, and a big thank you to HockeyBuzz's own Steve Hindle, who arranged for the tickets, sorted through the entries and randomly selected our winner.
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