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Flyers Gameday: 2/28/17 vs. COL |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. AVALANCHE
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (28-26-7) return home on Tuesday to take on Jared Bednar's Colorado Avalanche (17-40-3). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams, and the lone game in Philadelphia. On Dec. 14, back when the Flyers were the hottest team in the NHL, Philly squeaked out a 4-3 regulation win in Denver.
Tuesday's game is the final one the Flyers will play before Wednesday's NHL trade deadline, which is actually a Stanley Cup playoff roster eligibility deadline.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers had 20 wins before the Christmas break but have won only eight times since then despite a three-game winning streak heading into the NHL's All-Star break. Philly is just 2-6-1 over its last nine games.
Entering play on Tuesday, the Flyers are six points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the lower wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. If the Flyers defeat Colorado, Toronto loses in regulation to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday and then the Flyers beat the visiting Florida Panthers in regulation at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday, Philly would be back in the race for the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. That's a lot of "ifs" for a team that held a nine-point cushion in the playoff chase back in mid-December, but that's the reality of where things stand.
The Flyers are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in their Stadium Series game at Heinz Field on Saturday. The game was reminiscent of many recent ones for Philly. The team had the better of the play for much of the game but continued struggling to score. Michal Neuvirth turned in his third subpar goaltending performance in his last four starts, stopping 25 of 29 shots. Jakub Voracek and Shayne Gostisbehere (power play) scored for the Flyers.
Steve Mason will get the start in goal against Colorado. Brandon Manning will serve the first game of a two-game NHL suspension for a hit on Jake Guentzel away from the puck in the Stadium Series game in Pittsburgh.
Travis Konecny (lower body) is on IR, but skated for the first time on Monday and is progressing in his recovery.
Avalanche Outlook
Colorado brings to Philadelphia by far NHL's worst record this season. The team has lost seven of its last 10 games in regulation (2-7-1) , is just 9-20-1 on the road and has scored just 121 goals in 60 games.
However, the Avs are coming off a rare win. On Saturday, the Avalanche struck for three goals in the first period and went on to skate off with a 5-3 home win against the Buffalo Sabres. Gabriel Landeskog scored the first and fifth goals for the Avs, sandwiched around tallies by Mikhail Grigorenko, Tyson Barrie and Blake Comeau. Jeremy Smith earned the win in goal, stopping 34 of 37.
On the injury front, goaltender Semyon Varlamov (groin muscle tear surgery) and defenseman Nikita Zadorov (ankle) are on injured reserve and expected to miss the rest of the season.
Projected lineups (subject to change)
FLYERS
40 Jordan Weal - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
25 Nick Cousins- 10 Brayden Schenn - 93 Jakub Voracek
12 Michael Raffl - 14 Sean Couturier - 22 Dale Weise
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Édouard Bellemare - 24 Matt Read
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
32 Mark Streit - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas
35 Steve Mason
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Brandon Manning (NHL suspension), Nick Schultz (healthy), Roman Lyubimov (healthy), Travis Konecny (IR, lower body).
AVALANCHE
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 - Nathan MacKinnon - 83 Matt Nieto
14 Blake Comeau - 9 Matt Duchene - 96 Mikko Rantanen
25 Mikhail Grigorenko - 7 John Mitchell - 12 Jarome Iginla
17 Rene Bourque - 27 Andreas Martinson - 8 Joe Colbourne
51 Fedor Tyutin - 4 Tyson Barrie
32 Francois Beauchemin - 6 Erik Johnson
45 Mark Barberio - 28 Patrick Wiercioch
31 Calvin Pickard / 40 Jeremy Smith
Scratches: Cody Goloubef (healthy), Carl Söderberg (healthy), Semyon Varlamov (IR, groin muscle surgery), Nikita Zadorov (IR, ankle).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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