PREVIEW: FLYERS @ DEVILS
In their final game before a five-night schedule break over the holidays, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (20-11-4) are in Newark on Thursday to take on John Hynes' New Jersey Devils (12-13-7). Game time at the Prudential Center is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on TCN Philadelphia.
This is the first of five meeting this season between the Metropolitan Division teams, and the first of three in Newark. Last season, the clubs played four times, with the Flyers going 2-1-1.
Flyers Outlook
Thursday's game is the second half of back-to-back games for the Flyers and the final segment of a three-in-four. After this game, the Flyers have five nights off, overlapping the NHL's three-night Christmas break (Dec. 24 to 26). The schedule resumes on Dec. 28 with a road game against the St. Louis Blues.
On Wednesday night, the Flyers earned a valuable bonus point via shootout after playing to a spirited 2-2 tie through 65 minutes against the Washington Capitals at the Wells Fargo Center.
Twice, the Flyers battled from one-goal deficits in regulation. Michael Raffl scored on a wraparound and, during late second period 4-on-4 play, Claude Giroux turned an Evgeny Kuznetsov bad-bounce turnover into Philly's second goal as he wristed a shot under the crossbar. In the first period, Andre Burakovsky scored high to the long-side from the bottom of the right circle. In the second, Lars Eller converted a rebound on a third-opportunity chance for Washington.
The Flyers also trailed 1-0 in the shootout in the third round, just as they had in Monday's skills competition loss to the Nashville Predators. On Monday, third-round shooter Jakub Voracek had Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne down and out but hit the outside of the net with his sharp-angle shot. This time, Voracek converted his chance against defending Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby.
Steve Mason, who stopped 36 of 38 shots during regulation and overtime, sent the shootout to a fourth round by denying Nicklas Bà¤ckström. After Wayne Simmonds scored against Holtby, Mason's blocker save on former Flyers forward Justin Williams sealed the skills competition point for the Flyers. Phily won its fourth shootout of the season. That equals the team's highest full-season shootout wins in a season, done four times before.
The victory gave the Flyers 20 wins on the season. The last time the Flyers reached that mark prior to the Christmas break was in the 2011-12 season. More important, the extra point earned by the Flyers gives the team a two-point edge on the Capitals in the race for the higher wildcard seed in the Eastern Conference. The Caps still hold four games in hand, however. Meanwhile, the Flyers trail the Columbus Blue Jackets (five games in hand) by two points for third place in the Metro, the New York Rangers by three points and the first-place Pittsburgh Penguins (two games in hand) by four points.
After sitting out Monday's game as a healthy scratch, Dale Weise rejoined the Flyers' lineup against the Capitals. Boyd Gordon was a healthy scratch.
Voracek leads the Flyers with 35 points (11 goals, 24 assists) in 35 games. Giroux is second on the team with 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists), while Simmonds paces the club with 16 goals and eight power play tallies among his 29 points.
Brayden Schenn is fourth on the Flyers' scoring leaderboard with 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 32 games. He's followed by rookie forward Travis Konecny (four goals, 12 assists), Shayne Gostisbehere (four goals, 12 assists) and injured veteran offensive defenseman Mark Streit (five goals, 11 assists).
Rookie defenseman Provorov has 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) while dressing in all 35 games. The 19-year-old is already now routinely matched up against other teams' top lines and is averaging a team-high 21:01 of ice time and 28 shifts per game.
On the injury front, Matt Read (midsection), Sean Couturier (knee) and Michal Neuvirth (sprained left knee) remain on injured reserve. Veteran Mark Streit is out with a suspected sprained left shoulder (officially, an upper-body injury). None are expected to return before the Christmas break. According to Flyers general manager Ron Hextall, there is chance several of the players could play before the end of December. Neuvirth is likely out until the new year.
Devils Outlook
The Devils, who are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games, have struggled mightily on the road thus far (4-11-5) this season but have usually taken care of business on home ice (8-2-2).
New Jersey enters this game coming off a 5-1 road loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. A late goal by Sergey Kalinin averted a shutout. Cory Schneider stopped 27 of 32 shots.
Travis Zajac leads the Devils in scoring with 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) in 32 games. He is followed by ballyhooed offseason acquisition Taylor Hall (eight goals, 12 assists in 24 games), Mike Cammalleri (nine goals, nine assists in 26 games), Adam Henrique (seven goals, 10 assists) and defenseman Damon Severson (three goals, 14 assists, minus-16).
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 3.03 (5th), Devils 2.28 (26th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.89 (22nd), Devils 3.00 (25th) Power play efficiency: Flyers 22.4% (5th), Devils 15.0% (25th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 83.0% (9th), Devils 82.7 (10th) Shots on goal per game: Flyers 31.7 (5th), Devils 28.4 (26th) Shots against per game: Flyers 29.1 (7th), Devils 31.9 (24th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.3% (12th), Devils 49.8% (13th)
Projected Lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek 11 Travis Konecny - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 P-E Bellemare - 13 Roman Lyubimov 58 Taylor Leier - 25 Nick Cousins - 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald 15 Michael Del Zotto- 3 Radko Gudas 53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 23 Brandon Manning
35 Steve Mason [41 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Sean Couturier (lower body, suspected left MCL), Michal Neuvirth (IR, knee), Matt Read (IR, abdominal area), Mark Streit (shoulder), Boyd Gordon (healthy), Nick Schultz (healthy).
DEVILS
9 Taylor Hall - 19 Travis Zajac - 13 Mike Cammalleri 44 Miles Wood - 14 Adam Henrique - 21 Kyle Palmieri 8 Beau Bennett - 37 Pavel Zacha - 11 P.A. Parenteau 51 Sergey Kalinin - 38 Vernon Fiddler - 36 Nick Lappin
6 Andy Greene - 12 Ben Lovejoy 7 Jon Merrill - 28 Damon Severson 2 John Moore - 22 Kyle Quincey
35 Cory Schneider [1 Keith Kinkaid]
Scratches: Jacob Josefson (upper-body injury, questionable), Luke Gazdic (healthy), Devante Smith-Pelly (healthy).