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Flyers Gameday: 2/2/17 vs. MTL (Captains Heritage Night) |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. CANADIENS
Playing their first home game after the NHL All-Star break, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (25-20-6) play host to Michel Therrien's Montreal Canadiens (30-14-7) on Thursday night. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the third and final meeting of the season between the teams, and the lone game in Philadelphia. The Canadiens claimed 3-1 (Oct. 24) and 5-4 (Nov. 5) home ice wins in regulation in the first two games of the season series.
Thursday's game marks the final Heritage Night of the season, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the team. Thursday's game is Captains' Night. On hand for the occasion are inaugural captain Lou Angotti, franchise icons Bob Clarke and Bill Barber, vital 1980s leader Dave Poulin, 1990s superstar Eric Lindros and another Hockey Hall of Famer, 2000s defenseman Chris Pronger.
As with the previous Heritage Nights except for Hall of Fame night, there will not be an on-ice ceremony. There will be video highlight segments and interviews during stoppages of play.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers, who have a 15-7-3 home record this season, took a three-game winning streak into the NHL All-Star break. After a four-night hiatus in the game schedule, Philadelphia produced a south-of-subpar effort on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes in a 5-1 loss that was even worse than the score suggested.
Philadelphia mustered only six shots -- one by a forward -- for the game's first 50 minutes until a Brayden Schenn power play goal broke up a Cam Ward shutout bid and a series of subsequent power plays enabled the Flyers to finish the game with 16 shots. Abandoned repeatedly by turnovers and weak coverages that led to prime scoring chances, Steve Mason finished with 23 saves on 28 shots.
Schenn did not practice on Wednesday due to illness. Defenseman Michael Del Zotto, who said on Monday that he was feeling better, saw a team doctor on Wednesday. Nevertheless, there were hints that second-year defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, struggling mightily all season in his play without the puck and mired in a points slump, may be a healthy scratch on Thursday for the third time this season and the second time within a month.
Jakub Voracek leads the Flyers in scoring with 45 points (14 goals, 31 assists) in 51 games. He is followed by team captain Claude Giroux (11 goals, 29 assists, 40 points). Simmonds paces the team with 21 goals (10 on the power play) among his 38 points. Schenn leads the club with 12 power play markers among his 16 overall goals and 34 points.
Rookie forward Travis Konecny has notched seven goals and 22 points to date. A fellow rookie, defenseman Ivan Provorov, leads the team in ice time and has contributed 22 points (four goals, 18 assists) to date. Gostisbehere has posted 21 points (four goals, 17 assists) and a minus-19 rating in 48 games. Veteran defenseman Mark Streit's five goals among his 19 points in 38 games leads the blueline corps in goal-scoring.
Mason has made 37 starts among his 41 outings this season. He brings a 16-16-6 record, 2.90 GAA, .900 save percentage and one shutout into this tilt. Michal Neuvirth has started 12 games among 15 appearances, posting a 12-7-4 record, 3.17 GAA, and .885 save percentage.
Veteran defenseman Michael Del Zotto skated with the team at practice on Monday. The player, who dealt with a lower-body injury leading into the All-Star break, said he was feeling better. He was paired with eighth defenseman Nick Schultz in practice reps.
Canadiens Outlook
The Canadiens' rocketed out of the starting gates this season and have had little to worry about as the rest of the Atlantic Division has struggled to catch up. The Habs, who have played inconsistently of late, are just 5-4-1 over the last 10 games. The team brings a 12-9-4 road record into Thursday's match.
Exiting the All-Star break, however, the Canadiens produced a convincing 5-2 home win over the Buffalo Sabres higlighted by a Max Pacioretty hat trick (goals 22, 23 and 24 on the season). David Desharnais (fourth) and Paul Byron (14th) also scored for Montreal, who built a 5-0 lead before a pair of late third period goals by Buffalo spoiled a shutout bid by superstar goaltender Carey Price (37 saves on 39 shots).
The Habs currently hold a nine-point lead atop the Atlantic Division. The second-place Ottawa Senators (48 games played) have three games in hand and have recently made up a little bit of ground in the standings but the Montreal lead can still be fairly categorized as a comfortable one baring a dramatic collapse down the stretch.
Pacioretty leads the Canadiens in scoring with 24 goals and 42 points in 51 games. He is followed by veteran Russian forward Alexander Radulov (12 goals, 39 points), star defenseman Shea Weber (12 goals including 10 on the power play, 31 points, plus-19), Byron (29 points), Alex Galchenyuk (11 goals and 27 points in a season limited to 30 games) and Phillip Danault (10 goals, 27 points). Tomas Plekanec has produced seven goals and 23 points. In goal, Price has started 38 games and posted a 23-10-5 record, 2.34 GAA, .922 save percentage and a pair of shutouts after an injury-plagued season last year.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.67 (T-16th), Canadiens 3.02 (7th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 3.06 (25th), Canadiens 2.47 (6th)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 21.5% (9th), Canadiens 23.4% (3rd)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.6% (19th), Canadiens 79.4% (23rd)
Shots on goal per game: Flyers 31.5 (5th), Canadiens 30.0 (T-14th)
Shots against per game: Flyers 29.1 (10th), Canadiens 30.2 (13th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 51.4% (8th), Canadiens 50.1% (14th)
Projected lineups (subject to change)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
24 Matt Read - 10-Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
25 Nick Cousins - 14 Sean Couturier - 22 Dale Weise
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 P-E Bellemare - 13 Roman Lyubimov
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
32 Mark Streit - 3 Radko Gudas
55 Nick Schultz - 23 Brandon Manning
30 Michal Neuvirth
[35 Steve Mason]
Scratches: Nick Schultz (healthy), Michael Del Zotto (lower body), Shayne Gostisbehere (healthy), Travis Konecny (healthy).
CANADIENS
67 Max Pacioretty- 24 Phillip Danault - 47 Alexander Radulov
51 David Desharnais - 27Alex Galchenyuk - 65 Andrew Shaw
62 Artturi Lehkonen - 14 Tomas Plekanec - 41 Paul Byron
25 Jacob De La Rose - 17 Torrey Mitchell - 32 Brian Flynn
74 Alexei Emelin - 6 Shea Weber
28 Nathan Beaulieu - 26 Jeff Petry
79 Andrei Markov - 89 Nikita Nesterov
31 Carey Price
[35 Al Montoya]
Scratches: Brendan Gallagher (IR, hand), Greg Pateryn (healthy), Sven Andrighetto (healthy).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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