PREVIEW: FLYERS @ RED WINGS
Looking to build a nine-game winning streak, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (17-10-3) are on the road on Sunday to take on Jeff Blashill's Detroit Red Wings (13-12-3). Game time at Joe Louis Arena is 5 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on TCN Philadelphia.
This is the third and final meeting between the teams this season, and the lone game in Detroit. Both of the games in Philadelphia went past regulation, with the Flyers earning a 4-3 overtime win on Nov. 2 and Detroit prevailing via shootout, 3-2, six nights later to finally break a 12-game losing streak in Philadelphia that dated back to Jan. 25, 1997.
It is apropos that the Flyers should play Detroit this weekend, as the hockey world mourns the passing of Bill Dineen. The patriarch of one of hockey's most respected families, Dineen played and coached in the Red Wings system before scouting and coaching with the Flyers.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers, who are completing a set of three games (home-home-road) in four nights, are playing the back end of their eighth pair of back-to-back games this season. Ten more will follow. This game also marks a shift in the home/road distribution of games.
The Flyers have played 18 of 30 games to date at home, posting a record of 11-5-2. The team is 6-5-1 on the road thus far. However, during the current eight-game winning streak, the Flyers earned road wins in Ottawa and against a Nashville Predators team that brought the NHL's best home record into their Dec. 4 tilt.
Philly will need to continue their recent success away from the Wells Fargo Center to remain in advantageous position for the second half of the regular season: seven of the Flyers' next nine games are on the road.
On Saturday, the Flyers rode a power play hat trick by Brayden Schenn, an empty net goal and three assists by the scorching hot Jakub Voracek (eight points in the last two games) and a 21-save outing by Steve Mason to a late rally that earned 4-2 home win over the Dallas Stars.
In Detroit, Mason may get his eighth start in a span of 13 nights. Anthony Stolarz, recalled on Nov. 14, made his NHL debut in a 5-3 home win over the Calgary Flames on Nov. 27 but has not otherwise appeared in a game. The third year pro is need of work.
Shayne Gostisbehere took a puck off the hand in Saturday's game against Dallas. Precautionary x-rays were negative an he finished the game. Afterward, he reported feeling fine. Michael Del Zotto has been a healthy scratch the last two games.
Voracek's monstrous week has lifted him into second place in the NHL's Art Ross Trophy race as well as the assist chart. He leads the Flyers with 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in 30 games. Claude Giroux is second on the team with 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists), while Wayne Simmonds paces the club with 15 goals and eight power play tallies among his 27 points.
Schenn is fourth on the Flyers' scoring leaderboard with 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in 27 games. He's followed by veteran offensive defenseman Mark Streit (five goals, 11 assists), Gostisbehere (four goals, 11 assists) and rookie forward Travis Konecny (four goals, 11 assists).
Rookie defenseman Ivan Provorov has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) while dressing in all 30 games. The 19-year-old is already now routinely matched up against other teams' top lines and logs an average 20:29 of ice time.
Boyd Gordon returned to the Flyers' lineup on Saturday after a lengthy stint on IR. Taylor Leier, who barely played in the first game of his recall and had some rough patches in limited time in his second game, sat out Saturday's game as a healthy scratch.
On the injury front, Matt Read (midsection), Sean Couturier (knee) and Michal Neuvirth (sprained left knee) remain on injured reserve. Neuvirth is the closest to being ready to return, and is skating daily.
Red Wings Outlook
Sunday's game is the second match of a five-game homestand for the Red Wings. The team needs to start making hay in the standings before it faces a steep uphill climb after the holidays. The Red Wings are 2-2-1 thus far in December.
On Friday, the Red Wings started the homestand in disappointing fashion. The Columbus Blue Jackets came to the Joe and left with a 4-1 victory for their fifth straight win.
The Red Wings generated 32 shots on goal against Sergei Bobrovsky but only produced an early second period goal by Dylan Larkin (ninth goal of the season) that temporarily tied the game at 1-1 before the Blue Jackets soon retook the lead and never looked back. Petr Mrazek stopped 14 of 17 shots before giving way to Jimmy Howard. The final Columbus goal was a Sam Gagner empty netter.
The two times the Flyers played the Red Wings in December, they got a dose of the speed that Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou (who missed four weeks with a sprained knee before returning on Friday) bring to the table. They also took issue with the agitating Justin Abdelkader, as do many teams around the NHL. Abdelkader is currently out with an MCL sprain.
Veteran forward Henrik Zetterberg, healthy all season thus far, remains Detroit's biggest offensive threat and leads the team with 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in 28 games. He's followed by Frans Nielsen (six goals, 10 assists), veteran offensive defenseman Mike Green (four goals, 11 assists), and Gustav Nyquist (four goals, 11 assists).
Even with Athanasiou back in the lineup and with veteran goalie Jimmy Howard back from a groin strain, the Detroit injury list is extensive. The team is without forward Darren Helm (dislocated right shoulder, expected to be out until January), forward Tyler Bertuzzi (high ankle sprain) and defenseman Brendan Smith (MCL sprain in his right knee).
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 3.23 (4th), Red Wings 2.36 (T-23rd) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 3.07 (28th), Red Wings 2.71(17th) Power play efficiency: Flyers 25.0% (1st), Red Wings 15.2% (25th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.7% (23rd), Red Wings 84.1 (10th) Shots on goal per game: Flyers 31.6 (6th), Red Wings 28.1 (29th) Shots against per game: Flyers 28.8 (7th), Red Wings 31.1 (T-20th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.5% (12th), Red Wings 52.1% (4th)
Projected Lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS (Saturday's lines)
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds 11 Travis Konecny - 10 Brayden Schenn - 93 Jakub Voracek 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 P-E Bellemare - 13 Roman Lyubimov 25 Nick Cousins - 27 Boyd Gordon - 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald 32 Mark Streit - 3 Radko Gudas 53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 23 Brandon Manning
41 Anthony Stolarz [35 Steve Mason]
Scratches: Nick Schultz (healthy), Sean Couturier (lower body, suspected left MCL), Taylor Leier (healthy), Michal Neuvirth (IR, knee), Matt Read (IR, abdominal area), Michael Del Zotto (healthy).
RED WINGS
21 Tomas Tatar - 40 Henrik Zetterberg - 39 Anthony Mantha 71 Dylan Larkin - 51 Frans Nielsen - 41 Luke Glendening 14 Gustav Nyquist - 15 Riley Sheahan - 62 Thomas Vanek 72 Andreas Athanasiou - 29 Steve Ott - 26 Tomas Jurco
65 Dan DeKeyser - 25 Mike Green 55 Niklas Kronwall - 61 Xavier Ouellet 23 Brian Lashoff - 53 Aleksey Marchenko
35 Jimmy Howard [34 Petr Mrazek]
Scratches: Ryan Sproul (healthy), Jonathan Ericsson (healthy), Drew Miller (healthy), Justin Abdelkader (knee), Darren Helm (shoulder), Tyler Bertuzzi (high ankle sprain) and defenseman Brendan Smith (knee), Joe Vitale (LTIR, concussion), Johan FranzΓ©n (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).