GAME 13 PREVIEW: FLYERS @ BLACKHAWKS
Embarking upon the November portion of their respective schedules, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (6-5-1) are on the road on Wednesday night to take on Joel Quenneville's Chicago Blackhawks (5-5-2). Game time at the United Center is 8:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be nationally televised on NBC Sports Network as its Wednesday Day Night Rivalry broadcast.
This is the first of two meetings between the inter-conference teams. The clubs will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on Nov. 9.
Last season, the Flyers went 1-1-0 against Chicago, with each team winning on its home ice. On Oct. 18, 2016, the Flyers lost a wild 7-4 game in Chicago after coming back from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game in the third period. On Dec. 3 in Philadelphia, the Flyers earned a 3-1 win.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Wednesday's game is the middle segment of a 3-in-4 and the first game of a back-to-back with a road game in St. Louis looming on Thursday. By time the latter game is completed, Philly will have played six games in 10 nights.
The Flyers have been plagued by poor first periods of late, especially in two of the last three games. The team is coming off a 4-3 home overtime loss to the heretofore winless Arizona Coyotes. It took a three-goal rally from a 3-0 deficit in the third period, including two goals in the final minute of the third period, to salvage a point.
Sean Couturier scored a pair of goals (power play and the game-tier on 6-on-5, 8th and 9th of the season) for the Flyers, sandwiched around a Jordan Weal (2nd) goal at 6-on-5 to cut the deficit to 3-2 with 56.9 seconds left. Ivan Provorov (28:07 of ice time, five hits, one block) assisted on all three Flyers goals and made two vital and difficult keeps at the offensive blueline in the sequence that led to the tying goal.
The comeback marked only the second occasion in franchise history that the Flyers have scored two goals in the final minute of regulation to tie a game. The one previous time was on February 3, 1980 when the Flyers were trailing Boston 3-1 and received goals from Reggie Leach at 19:11 and Rick MacLeish at 19:44 to tie the game, which ended in a 3-3 tie.
Brian Elliott, who had been excellent in the Flyers' win in Toronto on Saturday, was so-so in the Arizona game but came up with 30 saves on 34 shots.
Philly remains a banged-up team. There is a chance that Nolan Patrick (IR, upper-body injury suspected to be a concussion) and Shayne Gostisbehere (upper body, potentially similar situation to Patrick) might be able to return by Saturday but that is uncertain. Neither player is on the current road trip. Andrew MacDonald (lower body injury) is optimistic of being able to come back at the low end of the initial 4-to-6 week timetable from his Oct. 21 shot-blocking injury.
Flyers GM Ron Hextall said that recall paperwork had not yet been filed with the NHL on Monday for Lehigh Valley Phantoms defenseman Samuel Morin at the time the team learned that a nagging injury he'd been playing through worsened over the weekend. As such, there was no need to place him on injured reserve, although he will be out of action for a projected week or two.
Recalled in lieu of Morin on Monday afternoon, Mark Alt played in the Arizona game. He remains with the team and will be in the starting lineup in Chicago. The team filled its 23rd roster spot by recalling minor league veteran defenseman Will O'Neill for the road trip.
Through 12 games, Jakub Voracek leads the Flyers in scoring with 16 points (two goals, 14 assists), followed by Couturier (nine goals, six assists, 15 points, +10), Claude Giroux (six goals, eight assists, 14 points) and Gostisbehere (one goal, 12 assists, 13 points). Wayne Simmonds has bagged six goals among his 9 points and shares the team power play goal lead with three along with Valtteri Filppula (five goals, three assists, eight points overall).
The Flyers enter Wednesday's game ranked eight in the NHL in power play efficiency (10-for-43, 23.3 percent) while yielding two opposing shorthanded goals. The club is ranked 23rd in penalty killing success (34-for-43, 79.1 percent) with one shorthanded goal by Scott Laughton.
Overall, the Flyers have scored 41 goals and yielded 35. In five-on-five play, the team has scored 23 goals while yielding 20.
BLACKHAWKS OUTLOOK
The Blackhawks may no longer be quite the powerhouse they were in winning three Stanley Cups in a six-year period but they are still a well-coached and proud team. The club has lost three games in a row, all in regulation, but has since had three nights off to rest, regroup and prepare for this game against the Flyers.
On Saturday in Denver, the Blackhawks lost, 6-3. The Hawks dug themselves an impossible-to-escape 5-0 hole before the game was 27 minutes old. Although Chicago "won" the rest of the game 3-1 and held a 21-5 shot edge in the third period, it was far too little and far too late to make a difference in the outcome.
Nick Schmaltz (3rd), Artem Anisimov (3rd) and Ryan Hartman (4th) scored for the Hawks, while Michal Kempny added a pair assists. Anton Forsberg got the start in goal and lasted 26:42 in yielding five goals on 20 shots. Corey Crawford went the rest of the way, seeing just eight shots and stopping seven.
Veteran superstar Patrick Kane leads the Blackhawks in scoring with 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 12 games. He is followed by Hartman (four goals, six assists, 10 points), Brandon Saad (six goals, three assists, nine points), Richard Panik (five goals, three assists, eight points), veteran captain Jonathan Toews (three goals, five assists, eight points) and former Norris Trophy defenseman Duncan Keith (zero goals, seven assists, seven points, -2). Returning to Chicago for a second stint, ex-Flyer Patrick Sharp is now a 35-year-old role player and has chipped in two goals and two assists.
Acquired from the Coyotes in the offseason, 24-year-old defenseman Connor Murphy has dressed in nine of Chicago's first 12 games. He is the son of Flyers assistant coach Gord Murphy.
Chicago defenseman Gustav Forsling is unavailable to play in Wednesday's game, according to the team's official website. Veteran crash-and-bang forward Jordin Tootoo and veteran defenseman Michal Rozsival are both on the injured reserve list.
Chicago is struggling to convert on the power play early this season and is currently ranked 28th in the NHL at 12.7 percent efficiency (7-for-55). On the penalty kill, which is an area that has been a weakness for the Hawks in several recent seasons, the team is currently ranked 13th at 82.3 percent success (42 for 51) with shorthanded goals scored by Anisimov and John Hayden. The Hawks were 24th on the PK last season and 22nd in 2015-16.
Overall, the Blackhawks have scored 48 goals and yielded 43. At 5-on-5, the Hawks have tallied 27 goals while opponents have scored 23.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
Flyers
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 11 Travis Konecny - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds 40 Jordan Weal - 15 Jori Lehterठ- 22 Dale Weise 20 Taylor Leier - 21 Scott Laughton - 12 Michael Raffl
9 Ivan Provorov - 8 Robert Hà¤gg 23 Brandon Manning - 39 Mark Alt 6 Travis Sanheim - 3 Radko Gudas
37 Brian Elliott [30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Matt Read (healthy), Will O'Neill (healthy), Nolan Patrick (IR, upper body), Andrew MacDonald (IR, lower body), Shayne Gostisbehere (upper body).
Blackhawks
14 Richard Panik - 19 Jonathan Toews - 12 Alex DeBrincat 20 Brandon Saad - 8 Nick Schmaltz - 88 Patrick Kane 10 Patrick Sharp - 15 Artem Anisimov - 40 John Hayden 17 Lance Bouma - 57 Tommy Wingels - 38 Ryan Hartman
2 Duncan Keith - 11 Cody Franson 44 Jan Rutta - 7 Brent Seabrook 6 Michal Kempny - 5 Connor Murphy
50 Corey Crawford [31 Anton Forsberg]
Scratches: Tanner Kero (healthy), Jordan Oesterle (healthy), Gustav Forsling (upper body), Michal Rozsival (IR, upper body), Jordin Tootoo (LTIR, upper body), Marian Hossa (LTIR).