GAME 39 PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. PENGUINS
Playing their first game of 2018, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (16-14-8) host Mike Sullivan's Pittsburgh Penguins (19-18-3) on Tuesday night. Game time is 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on NBCSNP.
This is the second of four meetings this season between the arch-rival teams and the first of two in Philadelphia. The clubs will rematch on March 7 in Philadelphia before the season series concludes March 25 with a nationally televised 12:30 p.m. matinee in Pittsburgh.
On Nov. 27 at PPG Paints Arena, the Flyers were unable to protect a two-goal lead in the third period after the same thing happened the previous game against the Winnipeg Jets. Not even the potential lifeline of a clutch late-game go-ahead goal on a great individual rush by Michael Raffl could save Philly from ultimately settling for one point when two were on the table. In the end, the Flyers lost to the Penguins in overtime, 5-4.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Tuesday's game marks the start of a four-game homestand. The Flyers have identical 8-7-4 home and road records to date, but won four of five games on their most recent homestand and posted 53, 54 and 55 points at home in each of the three most recent seasons.
On Dec. 30, the Flyers concluded a four-game road trip that book-ended the NHL's Christmas break. After going 0-2-1 in the first three games, the Flyers stepped up big at the end to defeat the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-3.
Wayne Simmonds (power play goal, 12th of the season), Shayne Gostisbehere (power play, 8th), Sean Couturier (18th), Brandon Manning (4th) and Valtteri Filppula (empty net, 9th) scored for the Flyers.
Couturier also picked up his 17th and 18th assists of the season, including a picturesque backhanded saucer pass across the crease to Simmonds on the Flyers' first goal. Additionally, Couturier won eight of 10 faceoffs and was plus-one at even strength.
Team captain Claude Giroux picked up three assists (31st, 32nd, 33rd of the season). Jakub Voracek chipped in his 37th and 38th assists of the season to reach 400 points for his Flyers career (19th player in franchise history to reach that mark). Travis Konecny got his 8th and 9th assists of the season.
Brian Elliott, who started every game the Flyers played in December, earned the win with 24 saves on 27 shots in his 13th straight start. One of his most timely saves was an early third period glove save on the deadly Nikita Kucherov from the bottom of the right circle and the Flyers leading 3-2. Shortly thereafter, the Flyers scored to take a two-goal lead.
Head coach Dave Hakstol made two lineup changes for the Tampa game. After Brandon Manning was activated off injured reserve, he returned to the starting lineup. Rookie defenseman Travis Sanheim sat out as a healthy scratch. Veteran forward Jori Lehterठwas reinserted in the lineup, while rookie Taylor Leier was a healthy scratch.
The Flyers had a total off-day on Saturday, followed by practices on Sunday and Monday. In the meantime, they did not fare too badly in terms of losing ground in their uphill climb to get into playoff position.
Philly still remains four points (plus an 18-16 ROW tiebreaker disadvantage) behind the New York Islanders for the lower wildcard seed in Eastern Conference. The Flyers now hold one game in hand over the Islanders. Beneath the playoff cutoff line, Philly remains three points behind the Carolina Hurricanes and one point behind the Penguins. However, the New York Rangers' win in the Winter Classic on Monday pushed the Flyers seven points (plus a tiebreaker disadvantage) behind both the Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets in the chase for the higher wildcard seed or the automatic playoff spot that comes with taking third place in the Metropolitan Division. Entering Tuesday's game, the Flyers have scored 106 goals (tied for 21st in the NHL) and also yielded 106 (10th fewest in the NHL). At five-on-five, Philly has scored 65 goals (tied for 24th in the NHL) and yielded 56 (tied for 2nd fewest in the NHL).
On the power play, the Flyers rank tied for 14th at 19.5 percent (26-for-133) with six shorthanded goals yielded (only four teams have given up more). On the penalty kill, the Flyers rank 29th (93-for-121, 76.8 percent). Scott Laughton's shorthanded goal in the home opener against Washington still stands as the lone shorthander for the Flyers to date this season.
PENGUINS OUTLOOK
So far, 2017-18 has been an inconsistent season for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, including from the top of the lineup. Entering Tuesday's game, the Penguins have lost back-to-back games in regulation and are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games.
On New Year's Eve, the Penguins suffered a 4-1 road setback at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings. Evgeni Malkin (power play, 14th goal of the season) had the lone Pittsburgh tally.
Overall, the Pens bring a 7-12-2 road record into Tuesday's game. The Pens are 12-6-1 on home ice this season.
Phil Kessel (16 goals, 26 assists, 42 points, minus-eight) leads the Penguins in scoring to date. He is followed by fellow veteran forwards Malkin (36 points, minus-six) and Sidney Crosby (14 goals, 35 points, minus-13), veteran defenseman Kris Letang (two goals, 25 points, minus-15), veteran forward Patric Hörnqvist (12 goals, 24 points, minus-five) and young forward Jake Guentzel (13 goals, 23 points, minus-13).
As the ugly plus-minus ratings but respectable point totals of the top Pittsburgh players attest, the team has done much of its damage on the power play but struggled mightily both to score and to keep the puck out of their own net at five-on-five. Crosby, for example, has recorded 18 of his points on the power play and Kessel has 23 points on the man advantage.
Both Letang (lower-body injury) and fellow defenseman Justin Schultz (lower-body injury) have been on the injured reserve list but could return for this game. Fourteen of Letang's points have come via the power play.
A Stanley Cup winner in each of his first two NHL seasons, Matt Murray has appeared in 28 games this season, posting a 14-11-1 record, 2.98 GAA, .902 save percentage and one shutout. Tristan Jarry, recalled earlier this season from the AHL's Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins, has made 10 starts and two relief appearances (5-3-2, 2.40 GAA, .921 SV%, one shutout).
To date, the Penguins have scored 109 goals (tied for 17th in the NHL) and yielded 127 (28th in the NHL). At five-on-five, the Pens have scored just 53 goals (ranked 30th) and yielded 91 (also ranked 30th).
On the power play, Pittsburgh is tied for 2nd in the NHL with a robust 25.0 percent efficiency rate (36-for-144) and have only given up one shorthanded goal to date. The penalty kill is ranked 15th at a respectable 81.0 success rate (115-for-142) and has produced five shorthanded goals including two by Bryan Rust and one each for Matt Hunwick and Carter Rowney.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny 12 Michael Raffl - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 93 Jakub Voracek 22 Dale Weise - 19 Nolan Patrick - 17 Wayne Simmonds 15 Jori Lehterà¤- 21 Scott Laughton - 40 Jordan Weal
9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 47 Andrew MacDonald - 8 Robert Hà¤gg 23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
37 Brian Elliott [30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: 6 Travis Sanheim (healthy), 20 Taylor Leier (healthy).
Penguins
59 Jake Guentzel - 87 Sidney Crosby - 72 Patric Hörnqvist 62 Carl Hagelin - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 81 Phil Kessel 41 Daniel Sprong - 15 Riley Sheahan - 43 Conor Sheary 34 Tom Kuhnhackl - 37 Carter Rowney - 75 Ryan Reaves…‹
8 Brian Dumolin - 58 Kris Letang 28 Ian Cole - 6 Jamie Oleksiak 3 Olli Mà¤à¤tà¤à¤ - 4 Justin Schultz
35 Tristan Jarry [30 Matt Murray]
Scratches: 2 Chad Ruhwedel (IR, upper body), 17 Bryan Rust (IR, upper body), 49 Dominik Simon (healthy, recalled Jan. 1) 22 Matt Hunwick (healthy), 18 Frank Corrado (healthy).
********************
WJC Update
The 2017-18 World Junior Championship medal round (single elimination) and relegation round (best-of-three) starts on Tuesday. Three Flyers prospects are involved in the quarterfinals and one is playing in the relegation round.
The quarterfinal games will pit Team Canada (Carter Hart) vs. Switzerland, Team Sweden (the sparingly used Linus Högberg) vs. Slovakia, Team USA vs. Russia (German Rubtsov) and Finland vs. Czech Republic. The relegation round features Belarus (Maksim Sushko) vs. Denmark.
For a preview of these games and a look at how the Flyers prospects fared in round-robin group play, click here.