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Flyers Gameday: 12/3/16 vs. Blackhawks |
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UPDATE 11 AM ET
Chicago number one goaltender Corey Crawford is ill and unavailable for this game. Scott Darling will get the start in goal. Temple University's Eric Semborski will serve as the emergency backup on a one-game ATO.
Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas is also unavailable due to illness. Brandon Manning, who was activated from injured reserve on Friday, will return to the lineup in Gudas' place.
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PREVIEW: FLYERS vs. BLACKHAWKS
Looking to build their first four-game winning streak of the season, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (12-10-3) host Joel Quenneville's Central Division leading Chicago Blackhawks (16-6-3) on Saturday afternoon. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 1 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams. On Oct. 18 in Chicago, the Flyers dramatically bounced back from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game at 4-4 in the third period but a slew of defensive and puck-management blunders proved fatal. Chicago surged ahead again and went on to defeat the Flyers, 7-4, including a late empty-netter.
The Flyers bring a 12-game home regular season winning streak against Chicago into this game.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers are coming off a 3-2 comeback road win in overtime against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. Nicely set up twice by Jakub Voracek, Flyers captain Claude Giroux began and finished the comeback with goals in the second period and overtime. Defenseman Michael Del Zotto was credited with the tying goal one minute after Giroux got the Flyers on the board. Goaltender Steve Mason turned back 19 of 21 shots to earn the win.
While special teams by its very nature tends to be somewhat streaky for all teams, winning the special team battles against Chicago would greatly increase the Flyers' chances at victory on Saturday. Penalty killing has been the main chink in the Blackhawks armor over the least season-plus. So far this year, the Blackhawks by far rank at the bottom on the NHL this season at 70.1 percent on the PK. The Chicago power play (16.5 percent) has been ordinary thus far, despite the team's many weapons. With the Flyers still seeking more consistency at 5-on-5, the special teams department could take on added significance against the Blackhawks.
Wayne Simmonds enters Saturday's game leading the Flyers with 22 points in 25 games, including a team-high 11 goals. He is followed by Voracek (eight goals, 14 assists), Giroux (seven goals, 15 assists), Brayden Schenn (three goals, 11 assists in 22 games), Travis Konecny (four goals, nine assists), Mark Streit (four goals, nine assists) and Shayne Gostisbehere (four goals, eight assists).
Blackhawks Outlook
Winners of back-to-back games, the Blackhawks have come away with points in seven of the last 10 games (6-3-1). The team is coming off a 4-3 home overtime win against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. Chicago overcame a pair of one-goal deficits and ageless Marian Hossa scored his 12th goal of the season to win the game in OT. Marcus Krüger (2nd), Artem Anisimov (10th) and defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson (3rd) also scored for Chicago. In goal, Corey Crawford turned back 30 of 33 shots.
Both the Flyers and Blackhawks are in the same boat schedule-wise. Saturday's game is the start of a back-to-back set and the second game of a three-in-four. The Hawks return home after this game to host the Nashville Predators on Sunday.
Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews (back issue) will miss his fifth straight game. However, he skated on Friday and could return as early as Sunday's game. Even in his absence, the Hawks have taken seven of eight possible points from the last four games. For the season, Toews has posted four goals and 12 points in 21 games.
Last season's winner of both the Hart Trophy and the Art Ross Trophy, the perpetually dangerous Patrick Kane leads the Blackhawks in scoring with 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists) in 25 games. He is followed by two-way forward Anisimov (10 goals, 11 assists, 21 points, plus-11 rating), 2015-16 Calder Trophy winner Artemi Panarin (eight goals, 13 assists, 21 points), Hossa (12 goals, six assists, 18 points) and two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith (zero goals, 17 assists).
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 3.08 (3rd), Blackhawks 2.80 (10th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 3.20 (29th), Blackhawks 2.48 (T-10th)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 23.6% (3rd), Blackhawks 16.5% (17th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.0% (23rd), Blackhawks 70.1% (30th)
Shots on goal per game: Flyers 32.4 (3rd), Blackhawks 28.9 (25th)
Shots against per game: Flyers 28.7 (7th), Blackhawks 31.2 (22nd)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.2% (15th), Blackhawks 48.0% (28th)
Projected Lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
11 Travis Konecny - 10 Brayden Schenn - 93 Jakub Voracek
24 Matt Read - 78 P-E Bellemare - 22 Dale Weise
76 Chris VandeVelde - 25 Nick Cousins - 13 Roman Lyubimov
9 Ivan Provorov - 23 Brandon Manning
15 Michael Del Zotto - 32 Mark Streit
47 Andrew MacDonald - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
35 Steve Mason
[41 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Nick Schultz (healthy), Scott Laughton (healthy), Sean Couturier (lower body, suspected left MCL), Boyd Gordon (LTIR, upper body), Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body), Radko Gudas (illness).
BLACKHAWKS (via Dailyfaceoff.com)
72 Artemi Panarin - 15 Artem Anisimov - 88 Patrick Kane
38 Ryan Hartman - 48 Vince Hinostroza - 81 Marian Hossa
70 Dennis Rasmussen - 16 Marcus Krüger - 14 Richard Panik
11 Andrew Desjardins - 8 Nick Schmaltz - 64 Tyler Motte
2 Duncan Keith - 4 Niklas Hjalmarsson
51 Brian Campbell - 7 Brent Seabrook
42 Gustav Forsling - 32 Michal Rozsival
33 Scott Darling
50 Eric Semborski
Scratches: Jonathan Toews (IR, back), Jordin Tootoo (healthy), Michal Kempny (healthy), Trevor van Riemsdyk (healthy), Corey Crawford (illness).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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