PREVIEW: FLYERS @ CANADIENS
In their first game after the NHL All-Star break, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (21-18-8) play host to Michel Therrien's Montreal Canadiens (24-22-4) at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season, and the second and final game in Philadelphia. On Jan. 5, the Flyers skated to a 4-3 regulation home win over the Canadiens. The season series concludes in Montreal on Feb. 19.
After this game, the Flyers are off Wednesday night and then begin a difficult three-in-four gauntlet that will see them play the Nashville Predators (road) on Thursday, the New York Rangers (home) on Saturday afternoon and the NHL-leading Washington Capitals (road) on Sunday at noon.
The Habs start off their February schedule with back-to-back games, two nights off and then a three-in-four. After this game, the Canadiens return home to host the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.
Flyers Outlook
Heading into the All-Star break,the Flyers were 6-3-1 in their last 10 games. Last Wednesday, Philadelphia snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-3 overtime road win against the Capitals.
At the Flyers' practice on Monday, Sean Couturier (lower-body injury) skated for the first time in two weeks. However, the player expects to be cleared to come off the injured reserve list and play on Tuesday. The team is 2-5-2 in the nine games he's missed to date and 19-11-4 when he's been available.
Goaltender Steve Mason took back-to-back maintenance days and then missed last Wednesday's game with a lower-body injury. He reported feeling better, and will get the start on Monday. The goaltender is said to be on a maintenance plan to manage the issue and get him through the rest of the season.
In the meantime. Neuvirth also dealt with some sort of lower-body issue last week but played well in Washington. However, he left Monday's practice early and will miss seven to 10 days with a lower-body injury. He has not been announced as being placed on injured reserve as of yet, but that seems inevitable. Second-year pro Anthony Stolarz has been recalled in Neuvirth's place.
After a slow start to the season, Jakub Voracek hit a groove in the weeks leading up the All-Star break, including a two-goal performance in Washington. Voracek has at least one point in 15 of his last 18 games. In that span, the Czech forward has compiled 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists). Prior to his injury, Couturier had 14 points in his last 14 games.
Team captain Claude Giroux leads the Flyers with 14 goals, 25 assists and 39 points in 47 games. He is followed on the Flyers' scoring leader list by Voracek (eight goals, 28 assists, 36 points), Wayne Simmonds (14 goals, 15 assists, 29 points, 88 penalty minutes), and Brayden Schenn (12 goals, 14 assists, 26 points). Couturier rounds out the top five with nine goals, 13 assists and 22 points. Rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has contributed eight goals (four on the power play, three in overtime), 14 assists and 22 points in 29 games.
Mason has appeared in 29 games, posting a 10-12-6 record, 2.72 goals against average, .914 save percentage and three shutouts (four regulation shutouts). Neuvirth has appeared in 20 games, posting an 11-6-2 record, 2.05 GAA, .933 save percentage and three shutouts.
Canadiens Outlook
The Habs were glad to see the month of January come to an end. The team opened the new calendar year with a 3-7-1 record, to fall out of a playoff spot if the season ended now. Montreal, which started the season as the NHL's final undefeated team, has been in a two-month nosedive and riddled with injuries.
In their final game before the All-Star break, the Habs suffered consecutive 5-2 losses in a home-and-home set with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The team has been idle for seven nights, overlapping the leaguewide break.
Superstar goaltender Carey Price is expected to miss three to four more weeks from the time a setback in his recovery from a lower-body injury was reported on Jan. 21. The club is also without Paul Byron (IR, lower-body) and Daniel Carr (IR, right knee). Tom Gilbert is questionable with a lower-body injury.
All-Star defenseman P.K. Subban leads the Habs in scoring with 37 points (four goals, 33 assists) in 50 games. He's followed by leading goal-scorer Max Pacioretty (19 goals, 17 assists, 36 points), center Tomas Plekanec (nine goals, 25 assists, 34 points), Alex Galchenyuk (11 goals, 17 assists, 28 points), Brendan Gallagher (12 goals, 14 assists, 26 points in 33 games), David Desharnais (nine goals, 15 assists, 24 points), Andrei Markov (two goals, 22 assists, 24 points) and Dale Weise (11 goals, 10 assists, 21 points).
Mike Condon is expected to get the start in goal for Montreal Overall he is 13-13-4 in 33 appearances with a 2.45 goals against average and .904 sae percentage. Ben Scrivens is 0-4-0 with a 3.85 GAA and .873 save percentage.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.28 (27th), Canadiens 2.66 (10th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.62 (15th), Canadiens 2.66 (T-19th)
5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 64/68, Canadiens 97/66
Power play efficiency: Flyers 17.4% (T-21st), Canadiens 17.4% (T-21st)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 78.0% (26th), Canadiens 84.3% (6th)
Shots per game: Flyers 30.4 (11th), Canadiens 31.8 (4th)
Shots against per game: Flyers 32.3 (29th), Canadiens 27.4 (4th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.1% (T-15th),Canadiens 51.3% (T-5th)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
93 Jakub Voracek - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
89 Sam Gagner - 14 Sean Couturier - 10 Brayden Schenn
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Ryan White
12 Michael Raffl - 21 Scott Laughton - 24 Matt Read
15 Michael Del Zotto - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit
82 Evgeny Medvedev - 3 Radko Gudas
35 Steve Mason
[65 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Brandon Manning (healthy), Jordan Weal (healthy), R.J. Umberger (healthy), Michal Neuvirth (lower-body injury).
Canadiens
67 Max Pacioretty - 51 David Desharnais - 22 Dale Weise
27 Alex Galchenyuk - 14 Tomas Plekanec - 11 Brendan Gallagher
15 Tomas Fleischmann - 81 Lars Eller - 42 Sven Andrighetto
32 Brian Flynn - 17 Torrey Mitchell - 21 Devante Smith-Pelly
79 Andrei Markov - 76 P.K. Subban
74 Alexei Emelin - 26 Jeff Petry
28 Nathan Beaulieu - 45 Mark Barberio
39 Mike Condon
[40 Ben Scrivens]
Scratches: Lucas Lessio (healthy), Greg Pateryn (healthy), Tom Gilbert (questionable), Carey Price (IR, lower body), Paul Byron (IR, lower body), Daniel Carr (IR, right knee).
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In celebration of nearly a half-century of Flyers hockey, the Flyers Alumni Association is bringing together players representing every decade of franchise history for a special Orange vs. Black intrasquad Alumni game on Feb. 5, 2016 at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be held at the Santander Arena in Reading, PA, home of the Philadelphia Flyers' ECHL affiliate, the Reading Royals.
For a full rundown of the playing rosters, coaching staffs and special guests,
click here.
The game and all premium packages -- afternoon youth hockey skills clinic run by select Alumni, a pre-game dinner buffet and a post-game VIP meet-and-greet with all of the Alumni -- have sold out. However due to high demand, a few extra tickets have been released.
For game ticket information,
click here.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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