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Flyers Gameday: 3/13/17 vs. CBJ |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. BLUE JACKETS
In the first game of a three-in-four set, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (31-28-8) are home on Monday night to face John Tortorella's Columbus Blue Jackets (43-18-6). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised locally on CSN Philadelphia.
Although the two teams play in the same division, this is just the second of four meetings this season between the clubs and the first of two in Philadelphia. From here on out, the two teams will see each other often. On Jan. 8, the host Blue Jackets skated off with a 2-1 win in overtime. After Monday's game, the teams will rematch in Columbus on March 25 and back in Philadelphia on April 8.
Five of the last eight games between the Flyers and Blue Jackets have gone beyond regulation before being settled. Philly has only won once in that span; a 6-0 shutout win on March 5 of last season.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers went 1-2-1 during their crucial four-game road trip. The team's gut-wrenching 2-1 loss in Boston on Saturday dropped the Flyers to 12-18-4 on the road. For the second time in three seasons, this has been a critical factor in why Philly is in severe jeopardy of missing the playoffs. At home, the Flyers are 19-10-4.
At Boston on Saturday, an ill-timed deflection by Flyers defenseman Brandon Manning turned a routine shot into an impossible save with 5.6 seconds remaining, turning an overtime-bound game into a 2-1 regulation loss. Jordan Weal scored the lone Flyers' goal.
The Flyers had a 20-12-4 record and were 5th in the NHL in scoring (3.03 goals per game) at the Christmas break this season. Since that time, the team has gone 11-19-4 and their season goals per game has dropped precipitously. The Flyers enter this game ranked 22nd overall (2.49 goals per game) for the season.
On the injury front, Michael Raffl (lower-body injury) remains on injured reserve and could miss the rest of the regular season.
Blue Jackets Outlook
Columbus enters this game two points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins (with a tiebreaker edge for the Blue Jackets) in the Eastern Conference and three points between the Washington Capitals (with a game in hand but a current 43-41 ROW disadvantage) for the top spot. The Blue Jackets, who have gained points in seven of their last 10 games (6-3-1), have posted a record of 18-9-5 on the road to date.
On Saturday, the Blue Jackets sustained a 5-3 road setback at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres. Columbus actually held a seemingly commanding 3-0 lead at the first intermission but then the wheels fell off and the Sabres struck for five unanswered goals. David Savard (5th), Nick Foligno (24th) and Oliver Björkstrand (5th) scored for Columbus. Joonas Korpisalo took the loss in goal for the Blue Jackets, stopping 26 of 30 shots. The final Buffalo goal was an empty net tally.
Former Flyers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is likely to be back in goal for the Blue Jackets on Monday night. For the season, he has posted a 36-13-4 record, 2.07 GAA, .930 save percentage and six shutouts.
Projected lineups (Subject to change)
FLYERS
40 Jordan Weal - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
11 Travis Konecny - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 93 Jakub Voracek
10 Brayden Schenn - 14 Sean Couturier - 24 Matt Read
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Édouard Bellemare - 13 Roman Lyubimov
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
55 Nick Schultz - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas
35 Steve Mason
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Brandon Manning (upper body), Dale Weise (healthy), Nick Cousins (healthy), Michael Raffl (IR, lower body).
BLUE JACKETS
20 Brandon Saad - 10 Alexander Wennberg - 71 Nick Foligno
38 Boone Jenner - 17 Brandon Dubinsky - 13 Cam Atkinson
43 Scott Hartnell - 89 Sam Gagner - 28 Oliver Björkstrand
29 Lauri Korpikoski - 25 William Karlsson - 49 T.J. Tynan
8 Zach Werenski - 3 Seth Jones
7 Jack Johnson - 58 David Savard
27 Ryan Murray - 65 Markus Nutivaara
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
[70 Joonas Korpisalo]
Scratches: Scott Harrington (healthy), Kyle Quincey (healthy), Josh Anderson (questionable, knee), Ryan Murray (questionable, hand), Matt Calvert (IR, oblique strain), Lukas Sedlak (IR, lower body), David Clarkson (LTIR, spine).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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