GAME 61 PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. BLUE JACKETS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (31-19-10) are home on Thursday night to take on John Tortorella's Columbus Blue Jackets (30-25-5) at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on NBCSNP.
Thursday's tilt is the third of four meetings this season between the Metropolitan Division teams and the first of two in Philadelphia. Both of the games in Columbus went past regulation. On Dec. 23, the Flyers dropped a 2-1 shootout decision. On Feb. 16, the Flyers won 2-1 in overtime, ending a streak off 11 straight winless trips to Columbus (0-5-6).
Entering play on Thursday, the Flyers are in third place in the Metropolitan Division, two points and a ROW tiebreaker advantage (30-27) ahead of the New Jersey Devils. The Devils host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. If the Flyers defeat Columbus, they will pull into a points tie with the second-place Pittsburgh Penguins but remain in third place via ROW tiebreaker (currently 33-30 in Pittsburgh's favor). The Penguins are idle on Thursday.
Columbus enters Thursday's game in lower wildcard position in the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets are five points plus a 30-24 ROW disadvantage behind the Flyers and three points plus a 27-24 ROW disadvantage behind New Jersey.
For the Blue Jackets, a win over the Flyers is crucial not only to pressure the teams ahead of them in the standings but to stay ahead of the teams below the playoff cutoff line. Carolina, idle until hosting the Penguins on Friday, are one point behind the Blue Jackets with a 24-24 ROW tie at present. The New York Islanders have played one more game than the Blue Jackets and also trail by one point but have a 26-24 ROW edge over Tortorella's team. The Isles visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers are 7-0-1 in their last eight games and 7-0-2 in the last nine. The club brings a 15-9-6 home record into Tueday's tilt. Thursday's game is the Flyers' final home game in February. Road games in Ottawa on Saturday afternoon and Montreal on Monday evening will complete the February schedule.
The Flyers are coming off a 3-2 overtime home win on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens. It was Philly's third straight game without facing a shorthanded situation, tying an NHL record for consecutive full games without having to kill a penalty.
Figuring in every Flyers goal on the night, Jakub Voracek scored the game-tying and game-winning goals (12th and 13th goals of the season) for Philadelphia. A Nolan Patrick tally (power play, 7th) at 7:18 of the second period erased a 1-0 deficit. Claude Giroux (50th assist), Voracek (55th assist), Sean Couturier (31st assist), Shayne Gostisbehere (36th and 37th assists) and Valtteri Filppula (17th assist) collected helpers. Alex Lyon came up big when he needed to in earning the win in goal. The rookie stopped 25 of 27 Montreal shots.
Acquired on Monday from the Detroit Red Wings, goaltender Petr Mrazek figures to get his first start for his new team in Thursday's game against Columbus. While in Detroit, he appeared in 22 games (18 starts) and posted an 8-7-3 record, 2.89 GAA, .910 save percentage and three shutouts this season.
Known as aggressive puckhandling goalie who also prefers to keep play going to freezing the puck, Mrazek has only had one practice with his new team. The goalie admitted on Wednesday that he will face some early adjustments. He will have keep communications with the skaters as simple and direct as possible.
In Tuesday's game, top-line right wing Travis Konecny took a puck off his foot in the first period. He returned to the bench after missing one shift but was hobbled the rest of the game, and did not play during overtime. Konecny did not practice on Wednesday but Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said the 20-year-old forward
is probable for the Columbus game.
Frequent healthy scratch Taylor Leier skated in Konecny's place at Wednesday's practice. There is a chance that, even if Konecny ultimately plays in Thursday's game, he will skip the morning skate. Per a statement by Hakstol after the All-Star break, all morning skate participation over the remainder of the season is strictly optional. Konecny has 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists) in 25 games since being moved to the top line.
Fourth line winger Jori Lehterä is dealing with an illness. He did not practice on Wednesday. All other line combinations and defense pairs remained the same from Tuesday.
For the season, the Flyers have scored 3.00 goals per game (11th in the NHL) and have a team 2.82 GAA (13th). At five-on-five, the Flyers have scored 109 goals (tied for 21st) and yielded 99 (tied for 5th fewest in the league).
On the power play, the Flyers rank 6th at 21.6 percent (43-for-199) but have yielded nine shorthanded goals yielded (tied for 2nd most in the NHL). On the penalty kill, the Flyers rank 28th (129-for-172, 75.0 percent). The Flyers have scored two shorthanded goals; one apiece for Scott Laughton and Wayne Simmonds.
Simmonds is sidelined 2-3 weeks with an upper-body injury. Patrick has stepped into his spot on the Flyers' top power play unit. Rookie left winger Oskar Lindblom skated on the second power play unit in his NHL debut on Tuesday.
BLUE JACKETS OUTLOOK
Columbus brings a 13-14-3 road record into Thursday's game. Overall, the team has gone 3-6-1 in its last 10 games. The Blue Jackets enter this game coming off a desperately needed 2-1 road win over the Devils on Tuesday.
Sergei Bobrovsky, who played brilliantly against his former team in the Flyers' 2-1 OT win in Columbus and then struggled against Pittsburgh, was back atop his game in Newark. Although the Blue Jackets played with 1-0 and 2-1 leads for much of the game on goals by Boone Jenner (6th) and Scott Harrington (2nd), the ice was tilted in the Devils' favor as the game moved along. Bobrovsky made 30 saves, including numerous tough ones, to preserve the win.
Columbus rookie center Pierre-Luc Dubois has posted seven points, including four goals, in his last nine games. He assisted on Harrington's game-winning goal against the Devils.
Team leader Nick Foligno (13 goals, 26 points) will be out for 1-2 weeks with a lower-body injury sustained on Feb. 18. He was placed on injured reserve. The team recalled pint-sized veteran Nathan Gerbe from the AHL to fill the open spot on the active roster.
On Wednesday, Columbus claimed veteran defenseman Taylor Chorney off waivers from the Washington Capitals. Last month, the Blue Jackets put in a waiver claim on veteran forward Jussi Jokinen.
Even with Chorney's acquisition, the Blue Jackets are thin on the blueline in terms of depth. Markus Nutivaara (upper-body) is on IR, as is rookie Dean Kukan (upper body). Additionally, troubled veteran defenseman Jack Johnson formally requested a trade from the Blue Jackets with the NHL trade deadline looming on Monday. Johnson remains in the lineup.
Through 60 games, Artemi Panarin (16 goals, 32 assists, 48 points) leads the Blue Jackets in scoring. Defenseman Seth Jones (8 goals, 36 points) is next. Josh Anderson is the top goal-scorer to date, with 17 tallies.
Columbus enters the game averaging 2.55 goals per game (28th) and with a team 2.77 GAA (12th). At 5-on-5, they have scored 115 goals (11th) and allowed 111 (13th).
With the team's 5-on-5 splits are OK, special teams have been a huge disappointment. The Blue Jackets clock in at an NHL-worst 14.3 percent efficiency on the power play (24-for-168, 31st) with three shorthanded goals allowed. Although it's improved of late, the Blue Jackets penalty kill enters at 76.1 percent (115-for-151, 27th) with six shorthanded goals scored.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Based on Tuesday/Wednesday, will be updated)
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 12 Michael Raffl
40 Jordan Weal - 19 Nolan Patrick - 93 Jakub Voracek
54 Oskar Lindblom - 21 Scott Laughton - 20 Taylor Leier
15 Jori Lehterä/ 20 Tayor Leier - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
47 Andrew MacDonald -3 Robert Hägg
23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
34 Petr Mrazek
[49 Alex Lyon]
Scratches: 39 Mark Alt (healthy), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, core muscle surgery), 30 Michal Neuvirth (lower body, out 4-6 weeks from Feb. 18), 17 Wayne Simmonds (upper-body, out 2-3 weeks from Feb. 18), 11 Travis Konecny (probable to play, lower body injury).
BLUE JACKETS
9 Artemi Panarin - 18 Pierre-Luc Dubois - 13 Cam Atkinson
38 Boone Jenner - 10 Alexander Wennberg - 28 Oliver Bjorkstrand
11 Matt Calvert - 17 Brandon Dubinsky - 77 Josh Anderson
37 Markus Hannikainen - 45 Lukas Sedlak - 29 Zac Dalpe
8 Zack Werenski - 3 Seth Jones
7 Jack Johnson - 27 Ryan Murray
4 Scott Harrington - 58 David Savard
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
[70 Joonas Korpisalo]
Scratches: 36 Jussi Jokinen (healthy), 24 Nathan Gerbe (recalled Wednesday, healthy), 44 Taylor Chorney (claimed off waivers on Wed, healthy), 46 Dean Kukan (IR, upper body), 65 Markus Nutivaara (IR, upper body), 71 Nick Foligno (IR, lower body).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»