GAME 71 PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. BLUE JACKETS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (35-24-11) host John Tortorella's Columbus Blue Jackets (37-28-5) at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday evening. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSNP.
This is the fourth and final meeting between the Metro Division teams, and the second game in Philadelphia.
On Dec. 23 in Columbus, the Blue Jackets and Flyers skated to a 1-1 tie through 65 minutes of hockey before the Blue Jackets won via shootout (1-0). On Feb. 16 in Columbus, the teams were tied, 1-1, at the end of regulation before the Flyers prevailed on a Sean Couturier goal at 1:52 of overtime. On Feb. 22 in Philadelphia, the game was scoreless after one period before Artemi Panarin put Columbus ahead. In the third period, goals by Claude Giroux and Nolan Patrick (power play) lifted the Flyers to a 2-1 win.
Entering play on Thursday, the Flyers' once-comfortable lead in the push for third place in the Metropolitan Division has dwindled down to almost nothing. The team leads the New Jersey Devils by a single point (plus 33-31 ROW tiebreaker edge) and the Blue Jackets by two points (plus a 33-31 ROW advantage).
FLYERS OUTLOOK
After campaigns of 53, 54 and 55 points on home ice the last three seasons -- the 7th-best home record in the NHL and fourth best in the Eastern Conference over that span -- the Flyers have an unimpressive 17-12-6 record at the Wells Fargo Center this season. In the meantime, after struggling to win road games the previous three seasons, Philly has improved to 18-12-5 on the road this season.
The Flyers are just 1-5-1 through their first seven games in March, which is why the team has fallen from its one-day hold of first place to being in danger of falling to a wildcard spot. The team has played generally solid hockey in each of its last three games but late goals yielded against Boston and Vegas turned matches where at least one point was within the team's grasp into a pair of 3-2 regulation losses.
In seven of the team's last eight games, the club has scored zero goals (1-0 shootout win in Montreal), one goal (two occasions (4-1 losses to Carolina and Florida) or two goals (last four games, including a 2-1 victory over Winnipeg). In a league where, on the majority of nights at least, three goals is often the "magic number" to at least come away with points, the Flyers have left themselves with scant margin for error in the defensive zone and in goal. Unfortunately, costly breakdowns at the worst possible junctures have bitten the Flyers repeatedly of late, especially late in periods.
The team practiced at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday. There were no changes in line combinations or personnel from the last two games. For more,
click here.
BLUE JACKETS OUTLOOK
The Blue Jackets and Flyers have been polar opposites the last two months.
In February, the Flyers rattled off a 10-0-2 streak of earning 22 of 24 possible points. The Blue Jackets stumbled through the month and were in danger of falling out of a playoff spot entirely. In March, very little has gone Philly's way. The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, bring a five-game winning streak into this tilt and just swept a four-game homestand.
On the road, Columbus is 14-17-3 this season. That stands in contrast to the club's 23-11-2 record at Nationwide Arena. On Monday in Columbus, the Blue Jackets steamrolled the Montreal Canadiens (who are a pathetic 9-22-4 on the road) by a 5-2 score.
Key defenseman Seth Jones left the game against Montreal with an upper-body injury (unconfirmed reports say it was a rib injury) and did not return for precautionary reasons. He is expected to play in Philadelphia on Thursday.
The Blue Jackets were buyers at the NHL trade deadline. The club acquired veteran winger Thomas Vanek, veteran center Mark Letestu and veteran defenseman Ian Cole via trades. The team also claimed Taylor Chorney off waivers. Veteran Nathan Gerbe was also recently added to the mix via free agency and recall from the Cleveland Monsters.
Head to head in three games against the Flyers this season, the Blue Jackets are 1-for-5 on the power play and 8-for-9 on the penalty kill. Overall, Columbus has killed off 14-of-15 of opponents power play chances in the past six games (93.3%) and 30-of-34 over the last 14 contests (88.2%).
PROJECTED LINEUPS (will be updated)
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
54 Oskar Lindblom - 19 Nolan Patrick - 93 Jakub Voracek
12 Michael Raffl - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Jori Lehterä - 21 Scott Laughton - 24 Matt Read
9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
47 Andrew MacDonald - 6 Travis Sanheim
23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
6 Travis Sanheim
34 Petr Mrazek
[39 Alex Lyon]
Scratches: 40 Jordan Weal (healthy), 20 Taylor Leier (healthy), 22 Dale Weise (healthy), 29 Johnny Oduya (lower body), 8 Robert Hägg (lower body, out two weeks from March. 10), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, core muscle surgery), 30 Michal Neuvirth (lower body, out until April).
BLUE JACKETS
9 Artemi Panarin - 18 Pierre-Luc Dubois - 13 Cam Atkinson
22 Sonny Milano - 71 Nick Foligno - 28 Oliver Bjorkstrand
38 Boone Jenner - 10 Alexander Wennberg - 26 Thomas Vanek
45 Lukas Sedlak - 17 Brandon Dubinsky - 55 Mark Letestu
8 Zack Werenski - 3 Seth Jones
7 Jack Johnson - 65 Markus Nutivaara
23 Ian Cole - 58 David Savard
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
[70 Joonas Korpisalo]
Scratches: 11 Matt Calvert (questionable, illness), 4 Scott Harrington (healthy), 37 Markus Hannikainen (healthy), 27 Ryan Murray (day-to-day), 44 Taylor Chorney (healthy), 77 Josh Anderson (knee), 46 Dean Kukan (IR, upper body).
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