FLYERS-CANADIENS GAME PREVIEW (7:30 A.M. EST)
Returning to the Wells Fargo Center after a 10-point post-Christmas road trip, the Philadelphia Flyers (22-17-4) will play host to the Montreal Canadiens (25-14-5) on Wednesday night. Game time is 7:30 p.m. EST. The match will be televised locally on CSN Philly and nationally in Canada on TSN in English and RDS in French.
This is the third and final meeting between the teams this season, and the second of two in Philadelphia.
On Oct. 5, the second game of the regular season and the penultimate game of the Peter Laviolette coaching regime, the visiting Flyers got dominated in a 4-1 road loss in Montreal. Ray Emery held the game close for two periods, keeping the deficit to 1-0. The Canadiens pulled away in the third period. Vincent Lecavalier scored his first regular season goal as a Flyer for the lone Philadelphia tally. Brian Gionta, Lars Eller, Brendan Gallagher and Rene Bourque (empty net) scored for Montreal.
On Dec. 12, the Flyers were returning home from a six-game road trip (2-3-1) and playing for the second time in as many nights; the same set of conditions as tonight. Philly captured a 2-1 win.
Rookie left wing Michael Raffl, whose father traveled from Austria to see his first NHL game, scored his second career NHL goal and third point in the last three matches. Linemate Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist. Jakub Voracek had a pair of helpers, including a nifty setup on the Giroux goal.
Steve Mason turned back 20 of 21 shots to notch the win. Mason flirted with a shutout until the final minute of the third period until a desperation rush and a defensive turnover led to Alex Galchenyuk trimming the deficit to one goal with 56 seconds remaining on the clock.
After tonight's game, the Flyers return to action on Saturday. The club will host the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 1 p.m. matinee.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers finished their most recent six-game road trip with a 5-1-0 record. Four games on the trip, including last night's 3-2 overtime victory in Newark, saw the Flyers rally from behind in the third period and go on to win the game.
Dating back to December 4, the Flyers have won six games they have trailed in the third period. They did not trail at the second intermission in all of these games, but played from behind at some juncture(s) of the third period. According to the Flyers' Brian Smith, who checked with the Elias Sports Bureau, the Flyers all-time franchise record for third period comeback wins in a season is nine.
Last night, the Flyers fell behind in the first minute of the opening period and, after scoring a pair of third-period goals to take a 2-1 lead, yielded a game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation. They bounced back to win 3-2 in overtime.
Claude Giroux's power play goal knotted the score at 1-1 in 5:18 of the third period. Scott Hartnell put Philadelphia ahead a little over four minutes later. Ray Emery (31 saves) helped the team overcome a very sluggish start to the game and emerged the winning goaltender.
Brayden Schenn, who suffered a gash on his torso after being nicked by a skate and was later denied by Martin Brodeur from point blank range with a chance to put the game away, ended up scoring the overtime winner. The winning score was made possible by defensive defenseman Nicklas Grossmann's stunningly perfect pass to an open Schenn as he came off the bench and skated unimpeded down the right wing into the slot.
Grossmann also assisted on Hartnell's goal. It was just the second multi-point game in the big Swede's NHL career. Earlier in the game, Grossmann missed one second period shift after appearing to hurt his left wrist or forearm on a shot block.
Hartnell's goal extend his consecutive game point streak to eight games; a new career high. His previous career high was seven games, which he's accomplished twice. Linemate Simmonds assisted on Schenn's game-winner and has recorded at least one point in nine of the last 10 games. Simmonds has also scored nine goals in that span. Schenn has four goals and seven points in the last five games.
Voracek's assist on Giroux's power play goal gave the Czech player a point in 11 of the last 14 games. Giroux, who learned yesterday that he was not on the Canadian Olympic team roster, has points in 12 of the last 14.
Raffl returned to the lineup yesterday after missing two games with a mild concussion. Matt Read (upper body) remains out of the lineup. Erik Gustafsson (sprained knee) practiced with the team on Monday but is not ready for clearance to play.
Mason is expected to get the start in goal tonight. He had some rebound-control issues in the Flyers' win in Phoenix but otherwise played well in the 5-3 game.
Philly's penalty kill has been excellent of late, killing off 15 straight disadvantages. On the power play, the club has connected on 23.5 percent (20-for-85) of its road opportunities. By contrast, Philly ranks next to the bottom in the NHL (9-for-76, 11.8 percent) in its power play efficiency at home. The club will look to improve upon that starting tonight. It may be tough to do against the NHL's fourth-ranked penalty kill.
CANADIENS OUTLOOK
The Habs, who are 2-1-2 in their last five games, were idle last night after a 2-1 home win over the Florida Panthers on Monday. David Desharnais and Brian Gionta tallied for Montreal, while Carey Price made 26 saves to get the win against Florida counterpart Tim Thomas (33 saves).
It was revealed yesterday that the Canadiens will be without highly regarded 19-year-old forward Alex Galchenyuk for the next four to six weeks. He sustained a broken hand in the Florida game. Galchenyuk is currently fourth in the team in scoring with 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists).
Ryan White missed the Florida game after sustaining an upper-body injury in the Habs' 6-4 win in Dallas last week. He is officially day-to-day.
After much controversy and public debate, reigning Norris Trophy winner P.K. Subban made the Canadian Olympic team. The sometimes-controversial defenseman leads the Canadiens in scoring with 33 points (seven goals, 26 assists) and is a plus-14 on the season.
Ex-Flyer Daniel Briere has been a healthy scratch at times and has not been a good fit with coach Michel Therrien's system. However, he had a three-point game (two goals, one assist) against Ottawa on Jan. 4, snapping a 10-game pointless streak. In many of those games, Briere played sparingly.
Czech Olympian Tomas Plekanec, who hails from the same hometown as Jakub Voracek and Jaromir Jagr, has three assists in the last two games. However, the 31-year-old center had been held pointless in nine of the team's previous 11 matches.
The Habs have been a good road team for the most part this season, bringing a 12-7-2 away mark into tonight's tilt. However, the Flyers have beaten the Canadiens six straight times in Philly heading into tonight's game and are 9-3-0 overall in the last 12 meetings.
KEY STAT COMPARISONS (NHL OVERALL RANKING)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.58 (19th), Canadiens 2.52 (21st)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.67 (16th), Canadiens 2.27 (4th)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 0.92 (19th), Canadiens 0.96 (16th)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 18.0% (17th), Canadiens 20.1% (9th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 84.2% (8th), Canadiens 85.9% (4th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 48.9% (21st), Canadiens 48.87% (22nd)
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 92 Jakub Voracek
19 Scott Hartnell - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
9 Steve Downie - 14 Sean Couturier - 40 Vincent Lecavalier
36 Zac Rinaldo - 76 Chris VandeVelde - 18 Adam Hall
44 Kimmo Timonen - 5 Braydon Coburn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit
41 Andrej Meszaros - 22 Luke Schenn
35 Steve Mason
[29 Ray Emery]
Potential Scratches: Jay Rosehill (healthy), Matt Read (upper body), Hal Gill (healthy), Erik Gustafsson (sprained knee), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).
CANADIENS
67 Max Pacioretty - 51 David Desharnais - 11 Brendan Gallagher
48 Danny Briere - 14 Tomas Plekanec - 21 Brian Gionta
17 Rene Bourque - 81 - Lars Eller - 49 Michael Bournival
8 Brandon Prust - 53 Ryan White (?) - 32 Travis Moen
26 Josh Gorges - 76 P.K. Subban
79 Andrei Markov - 74 Alexei Emelin
6 - Douglas Murray - 55 Francis Bouillon
31 Carey Price
[30 Peter Budaj]
Potential Scratches: Raphael Diaz (healthy), Ryan White (upper body, listed as day-to-day), George Parros (concussion, could play), Alex Galchenyuk (IR, broken hand), Davis Drewiske (IR, shoulder surgery).
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Coming tomorrow: A look at the Flyers' Olympians and Olympic omissions.
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