GAME 24 PREVIEW: FLYERS @ PENGUINS
In a matchup of cross-state archrivals, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (8-9-6) are in western Pennsylvania on Monday to take on Mike Sullivan's Pittsburgh Penguins (12-10-3). Game time at PPG Paints Arena is 7 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the first of four meetings between the teams this season, and the first of two in Pittsburgh. The teams will rematch on January 2 and March 7 in Philadelphia before the season series concludes March 25 with a nationally televised 12:30 p.m. matinee in Pittsburgh.
Last season, the teams evenly split four games, with one home and one road win apiece. The Penguins won the first two games, including the Stadium Series game at Heinz Field on Feb. 25, and the Flyers took the latter two games.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers are just 2-4-5 in November and drag a seven-game (0-3-4) winless streak into this tilt. Philadelphia enters this game coming off back-to-back overtime losses (4-3 and 5-4) in a home-and-home set with the New York Islanders.
Monday's game is the start of a back-to-back set that will continue on Tuesday with a home game against the San Jose Sharks. By the time that is done, the Flyers will have played five games in eight nights.
Based on Sunday's practice, it appears that Andrew MacDonald (lower-body injury sustained on Oct. 21) is ready to be activated from injured reserve after a 15-game absence. If so, he will be paired with Ivan Provorov. The Flyers will also need to make a roster move (perhaps sending Samuel Morin back to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms) to get back to a 23-man roster.
It also appears as if there could be two changes in the forward lines, with veterans Dale Weise and Jori Lehterठre-entering the lineup and Jordan Weal and Taylor Leier sitting out as healthy scratches. With the team reeling, Hakstol is going with a bigger/heavier look in the bottom six.
Veteran defenseman Radko Gudas will serve the fifth game of his 10-game NHL suspension for a slashing incident against Winnipeg Jets' forward Mathieu Perrault on Nov. 16.
Through the season's first 23 games, Jakub Voracek leads the team in scoring with 29 points (seven goals, 22 assists). He is followed by linemates Sean Couturier (13 goals, 12 assists, 25 points) and Claude Giroux (10 goals, 15 assists, 25 points).
Shayne Gostisbehere paces the blueline offensively with 18 points (two goals, 16 assists) in 20 games played. His goal on a delayed penalty during Friday's tilt with the Islanders ended a 13-game drought.
Wayne Simmonds has posted points in back-to-back games, and ended a 14-game goal drought on Friday. For the season, he has seven goals and 14 points.
Valtteri Filppula has chipped in 11 points (six goals, five assists) through 23 games. He is nine games removed from his last goal and has just one goal and two assists over the last 11 games. Fourteen games removed from his last goal, Travis Konecny is still sitting on two goals and eight points through 22 games.
Highly touted rookie center Nolan Patrick has perhaps his best game to date in the Black Friday tilt with the Islanders, although he was also quite good in the Nov. 18 game against Calgary. For the season, the 19-year-old has two goals and five points in 14 games.
Pint-sized recent recall Danick Martel did not score in either end of the home-and-home with the Islanders. However, the 5-foot-8 left winger had multiple looks at the net, including a breakaway chance in his NHL debut last Wednesday.
In goal, Brian Elliott has made 17 appearances (16 starts) with a 6-5-5 record, 2.85 GAA and .905 save percentage. Michal Neuvirth has made seven starts and posted a 2-4-1 record, 2.59 GAA, .916 save percentage and one shutout.
On the power play, the Flyers are 14-for-74 (18.9 percent, 18th overall) with three opposing shorthanded goals yielded. On the penalty kill, the spate of seven PPGA in the last three games has dropped the team to 60-for-80 on the season (75 percent, 28th overall). Laughton's shorthanded goal against the Washington Capitals in the home opener stands as the lone Flyers SHG to date.
Overall, the Flyers have scored 65 goals and yielded 68. At five-on-five, however, the team has scored 42 times (tied for 16th) and yielded an NHL-lowest 29 opposing goals. Philly is just 1-3 in games decided in overtime (3-on-3 play) and has yielded a pair of 4-on-4 goals while scoring one.
PENGUINS OUTLOOK
Monday's game will conclude the Penguins' November schedule as well as a stretch of four games in six nights. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions have had a rollercoaster month to date. The club is 5-5-2 this month. For the season, the Pens are 7-2-1 at home but have lost two of their last three at home in regulation. The team is just 5-8-2 on the road.
On Saturday at PPG Paints Arena, however, the Penguins snapped a three-game overall losing streak and two-match home skid with a 5-2 win over the Eastern Conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning.
In the win against Tampa, Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel scored twice apiece while Bryan Rust tallied a shorthanded goal. Rookie goaltender Tristan Jarry made 33 saves to earn the win and third-star honors. Jarry was also credited with an assist on the Rust goal. The Lightning's deadly top line trio of Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov was held off the scoresheet.
The Penguins earned the win against Tampa without the services of veteran star center Evgeni Malkin, who has been sidelined for the last three games with an upper-body injury. Officially, he is day-to-day. Projected lineups below will be updated if he is able to play.
Pittsburgh made a switch on two defense pairings in Saturday's game. Olli Mà¤à¤ttठmoved up to the top pairing with veteran Kris Letang, while Brian Dumoulin was paired with Chad Ruhwedal. Veteran defenseman Justin Schultz had two assists against Tampa.
The key to playing the Penguins successfully this season has been to keep the game at 5-on-5, where the team has struggled terribly , and to stay out of the penalty box. The Penguins have done most of their damage on the man advantage, including three power play goals in the Tampa game.
Through 25 games, Kessel leads the Penguins with 31 points (11 goals, 20 assists). Six of his goals and 17 points have come on the power play and he is even in plus-minus. Crosby is second with 22 points (nine goals, 13 assist), with a dozen points (six goals, six assists) on the power play and an uncharacteristically low minus-12 ranking.
Malkin has posted 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in 22 games. Four goals and nine points have come on the power play. Malkin is minus-two at even strength. Letang has been healthy enough to dress in all 25 games this season and paces the blueline with 17 points (one goal, 16 assists) with 10 power play points (one goal, nine assists) but is a team-worst minus-16 at even strength.
Jake Guentzel has scored nine goals among his 14 points to date. Five goals and nine points have come on the power play. The shifty 23-year-old forward is minus-nine at even strength to date.
Riley Sheahan has points in five of the team's last six games. He moved up in the lineup to fill in for the injured Malkin in recent games. Overall, Sheahan has six points (one goal, five assists) in 16 games since coming over to the Penguins in the Oct. 21 trade with Detroit that sent forward Scott Wilson and a 2018 third-round pick to the Red Wings. The 6-foot-3, 214-pound center was pointless in eight games with Detroit this season prior to the trade.
In goal, two-time Cup winning 23-year-old Matt Murray has had trouble on glove side shots. However, in 20 appearances (19 starts), he has an 11-7-1 record and one shutout as the bottom line to balance off a pedestrian 2.94 GAA and .906 save percentage.
A disastrous early season experiment with aging former Cup winner (Chicago) and Vezina finalist (San Jose) Antti Niemi ended up with Niemi yielding 16 goals in three games. He was waived by Pittsburgh and claimed by the Florida Panthers. In turn, Niemi was later waived by the Panthers and claimed by the Montreal Canadiens. In three outings since Jarry was promoted from the AHL's Wilkes Barre/ Scranton Penguins, the 23-year-old has posted a 1-0-2 record, 2.57 GAA and .917 save percentage.
On the power play, the Penguins are a robust 25-for-94 (26.6 percent, 2nd in the NHL) and are the final team in the league that has yet to yield an opposing shorthanded goal. On the penalty kill, Pittsburgh has been much less successful at just 76-for-99 (76.8 percent, 24th overall) with two shorthanded goals scored by Bryan Rust and one apiece by Greg McKegg and Matt Hunwick.
Overall, the Penguins have scored 69 goals but yielded 85 (30th in the 31-team NHL). At five-on-five, Pittsburgh has scored only 33 times (also ranking 30th) while yielding 57 (again ranking 30th) . However, the Penguins have scored four OT goals at 3-on-3 and given up two.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 70 Danick Martel - 19 Nolan Patrick - 17 Wayne Simmonds 12 Michael Raffl - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 11 Travis Konecny 15 Jori Lehterठ- 21 Scott Laughton - 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald 53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 8 Robert Hà¤gg 6 Travis Sanheim - 23 Brandon Manning
37 Brian Elliott [30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Jordan Weal (healthy), Taylor Leier (healthy), Radko Gudas (NHL suspension, game 5 of 10).
Penguins
43 Conor Sheary - 87 Sidney Crosby - 72 Patric Hörnqvist 59 Jake Guentzel - 15 Riley Sheehan - 81 Phil Kessel 62 Carl Hagelin - 37 Carter Rowney - 17 Bryan Rust 34 Tom Kuhnhackl - 33 Greg McKegg - 75 Ryan Reaves
3Olli Mà¤à¤ttठ- 58 Kris Letang 22 Matt Hunwick - 4 Justin Schultz 8 Brian Dumoulin - 2 Chad Ruhwedal
30 Matt Murray [35 Tristan Jarry]
Scratches: Ian Cole (healthy), Josh Archibald (healthy), Evgeni Malkin (day-to-day, upper-body injury).
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PROSPECT UPDATES
* QMJHL: Flyers 2016 first-round pick German Rubtsov returned to the Acadie-Bathurst lineup on Sunday after a three-game absence due to an undisclosed injury. He recorded an assist in the Titan's 5-4 home win against the Halifax Mooseheads. Primarily played wing, he was 1-for-4 on faceoffs, minus-one, with no attempted shots and one credited hit. In seven games since coming over to Acadie-Bathurst in a trade with Chicoutimi, Rubtsov has posted eight points (two goals, six assists).
* OHL: Kitchener Rangers' captain Connor Bunnaman posted one assist to extend his current point streak to six games (three goals, six assists, nine points) but his team sustained a 4-2 road loss to the Sudbury Wolves on Sunday. Bunnaman, who did not record a shot on goal in this game, was 9-for-15 on faceoffs. The 19-year-old center has at least one point in 12 of his last 13 games (nine goals, seven assists, 16 points). After a slow start that may have been partially illness related, the streak-scoring 6-foot-2, 220-pounder is up to a point-per-game on the season with 14 goals and 10 assists for 24 points in 24 games.
* OHL: Flyers 2017 second-round pick Isaac Ratcliffe's four-game goal/point streak came to an end on Sunday as he was held off the scoresheet in the Guelph Storm's 5-1 home loss to the London Knights. He recorded two shots on goal, was minus-one and took checking-from-behind and crosschecking minors (the first of which ended up with London cashing in on the power play). Ratcliffe has at least one point in six his last eight games, with seven goals, five assists and 12 points in that span. For the season, the 6-foot-6, 202-pound left winger has 12 goals, 21 points and a minus-11 rating in 24 games.