Game 34 Preview: FLYERS VS. BLUE JACKETS
Interim head coach Scott Gordon's Philadelphia Flyers (14-15-4) host John Tortorella's Columbus Blue Jackets (19-12-3) on Holiday Light Show Day at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 1:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised locally on NBCSP. The radio broadcast can be found on 97.5 FM The Fanatic with an online simulcast at FlyersRadio247.com.
This is the third of four meetings between the Metropolitan Division teams this season and the second and final game in Philadelphia. The season series concludes in Columbus on Feb. 28.
On Oct. 18 at Nationwide Arena, the Flyers scored first and took a 2-1 lead to the first intermission before Columbus scored three times in a seven-minute span in the second period to take control of the game. The Blue Jackets went on to win, 6-3. Winning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky had a so-so night, which included a gift goal to Sean Couturier. Losing goaltender Cal Pickard (no longer with the Flyers) had a worse night. The team in front of Pickard did him few favors, either, on several key plays., The nadir came in the latter stages of the third period when defenseman Christian Folin fell down, lost the puck and Pickard allowed a very stoppable by Josh Anderson sneak in the short side.
On Dec. 6 at Wells Fargo Center, a two-goal comeback by the Flyers sent the game to overtime but Philly ultimately fell, 4-3. Seth Jones scored twice, including the winning goal in overtime. Brandon Dubinsky (3rd) and Boone Jenner (6th) also scored for the Blue Jackets. Artemi Panarin had a pair of assists. Travis Sanheim tallied the two goals (1st and 2nd) that forced OT, supplementing a first period goal by Claude Giroux (10th). Travis Konecny had two assists for the Flyers. Sergei Bobrovsky was not particularly sharp but stopped 23 of 26 shots to earn the win. Anthony Stolarz made several outstanding saves but let in a leaky first goal and had little to no chance on a couple others as he stopped 26 of 30 shots.
Flyers Outlook
Currently eight points Pittsburgh for third place in the Metro Division, the Flyers wrap up a three-game homestand with this game. The team will look for its first three-game winning streak since Nov. 5-10. After this game, the Flyers embark on a treacherous five-game road trip that will take them through the leaguewide Christmas break to New Year's Day.
The team is 2-0-0 since the dismissal on head coach Dave Hakstol on Monday and the appointment of Gordon as interim head the same day. The Flyers earned a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday and then skated off with a 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators two nights later.
On Tuesday against Detroit, 20-year-old Carter Hart stopped 20 of 22 shots to become the youngest goaltender in Flyers history to win his NHL debut -- or any game. James van Riemsdyk, Radko Gudas and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for the Flyers.
On Thursday against Nashville, six successful penalty kills over the final 27 minutes of the game, including extensive 5-on-3 time with only three available defensemen, 24 blocked shots and a 31-save performance by Hart were just enough to earn a 2-1 win.
Jakub Voracek (9th) and Claude Giroux (12th) scored for the Flyers. Sean Couturier (12th assist), Radko Gudas (7th assist) and Travis Konecny (12th assist) collected an assist apiece. Robert Hà¤gg (20:59 TOI, three hits, five blocks including several key penalty killing blocks) and Travis Sanheim (21:58 TOI, five blocks) combined for 10 of the team's 24 blocks.
The Flyers held a full practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees on Friday. Couturier and Giroux took a maintenance day. Both are fine to play on Saturday.
Entering Saturday's game, the Flyers are averaging 2.94 goals per game (ranked 18th in the NHL) and carry a team 3.61 GAA (29th). At 5-on-5, the Flyers have scored 71 goals (tied for 14th) and allowed 72 (ranked 8th).
The deeply struggling Philadelphia power play showed hints of life in the Nashville game but came away without a goal to fall to last in the NHL at 12.1 percent (12-for-99) with six shorthanded goals allowed. The penalty kill is on a 33-for-38 run over the last 12 games, but still checks in ranked tied for 28th (opponents are 28-for-111). The Flyers have scored three shorthanded goals, all in December: Dale Weise at Pittsburgh on Dec. 1, Giroux in Buffalo on Dec. 8, Couturier in Calgary on Dec. 12.
To date this season,rhe Flyers have scored first in 12 games and are 8-2-2 in those games. They have trailed first 21 times. When yielding the game's first goal, the Flyers are 6-13-2.
Blue Jackets Outlook
Columbus is riding a four-game point streak (3-0-1) with the last three outings decided by a single goal (2-0-1). As with the Flyers, Saturday's game is the front end of a back-to-back set of games and the middle game of a three-in-four heading into the Christmas break. On Sunday, the Blue Jackets will be in Newark to take on the New Jersey Devils.
Bobrovsky struggled with inconsistency the first two months of this season, and was not all that good in either game against the Flyers played so far despite winning both. Since that time, he has returned to the form that propelled him to two Vezina Trophies. This has been accompanied by an uptick in the team play in front of him; one feeding into and propelling the other forward. For the season, Bobrovsky has lowered his GAA to 2.78 and raised his save percentage to .908 after he'd been above a 3.00 GAA and below a 90 percent save percentage in early December.
Cam Atkinson has tortured the Flyers this season, but has done the same to much of the NHL this season. He's already hit the 20-goal mark for the season and leads the Blue Jackets with 35 points in 33 games. Artemi Panarin has 34 points (nine goals, team-high 25 assists) in 32 games. Jones leads the blueline with 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in 27 games.
Entering Saturday's game, the Blue Jackets have scored an average 3.23 goals per game (10th) and carry a team 3.09 GAA (tied for 20th). At five-on-five, Columbus has scored 80 goals (tied for 6th) and allowed 74 (tied for 20th).
The Columbus power play enters Saturday's game at 14.6 percent (16-for-110, 26th) with three shorthanded goals allowed. The penalty kill checks in at 80.2 percent (tied for 14th, opponents are 19-for-96) with three shorthanded goals scored.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk - 28 Claude Giroux - 11 Travis Konecny 17 Wayne Simmonds - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 21 Scott Laughton - 19 Nolan Patrick - 12 Michael Raffl 23 Oskar Lindblom - 44 Phil Varone - 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim 53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 8 Robert Hà¤gg 47 Andrew MacDonald - 3 Radko Gudas
79 Carter Hart [30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: 15 Jori Lehterठ(healthy), 40 Jordan Weal (healthy), 26 Christian Folin (healthy), 41 Anthony Stolarz (IR, lower body), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, lower body), 10 Corban Knight (IR, collarbone), 5 Sam Morin (ACL surgery).
BLUE JACKETS
9 Artemi Panarin - 18 Pierre-Luc Dubois - 13 Cam Atkinson 71 Nick Foligno - 10 Alexander Wennberg - 91 Anthony Duclair 28 Oliver Björkstrand - 38 Boone Jenner - 77 Josh Anderson 37 Markus Hà¤nnikà¤inen - 17 Brandon Dubinsky - 20 Riley Nash …‹
27 Ryan Murray - 3 Seth Jones 8 Zach Werenski - 58 David Savard 4 Scott Harrington - 65 Markus Nutivaara…‹
72 Sergei Bobrovsky [70 Joonas Korpisalo…‹]
Scratches: 14 Dean Kukan (healthy), 22 Sonny Milano (healthy), 45 Lukas Sedlak (healthy).
*************
Phantoms Drop Shootout to Syracuse, Visit Hershey
After posting a 5-0 home shutout win over the Hershey Bears on Wednesday, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms ran into stellar opposing goaltending and had to settle for one point from a 3-2 shootout defeat by the Syracuse Crunch at the PPL Center on Friday night.
The Phantoms (16-9-3) held a pair of one-goal leads during Friday's tilt but were not quite able to get one more to put away Syracuse when there were golden opportunities to do so. This was primarily due to a phenomenal goaltending performance by Syracuse goalie Connor Ingram, who stopped 40 of 42 shots, including a mind-boggling glove save (on a play where the puck may actually have been snared from behind the goal line) and four saves during the 3-on-3 overtime.
Phantoms captain Colin McDonald (3rd goal of the season) established a 1-0 lead at 4:34 of the second period after a scoreless opening frame. The Crunch were outshot by Lehigh Valley, 17-6, in the second period but got the game to the second intermission tied at 1-1. With 4:21 left in the second period, Cameron Gaunce finally solved Alex Lyon, who was coming off a shutout of Hershey the previous game.
In the third period, the Phantoms held a 10-6 shot advantage. Greg Carey's 15th goals of the season, scored at the 5:02 mark, gave Lehigh Valley a very short-lived 2-1 lead. Syracuse scored immediately after play resumed, with Ross Colton tying the game at 2-2 at 5:13.
The Phantoms controlled the first half of overtime, while the Crunch got the better of the latter portion. Lyon, who finished with 27 saves on 29 shots, made three saves in OT. The Lehigh Valley netminder played well, just not quite as well as Ingram.
Taylor Leier led off the shootout by beating Ingram for a goal but it would be the only one the Phantoms would get in the five rounds. A third-round goal by Nicolas Aube-Kubel or a bottom of the round save by Lyon on Cory Conacher would have given Lehigh Valley the win. Finally, after neither side scored in the fourth round, Carter Verhaeghe beat Lyon to end the game.
Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher was in attendance at Friday's game. He told the media that something is close to happening on the Phantoms coaching front. Most likely, that will mean the hiring of a new head coach, with acting head coach Kerry Huffman returning to his assistant coach role and acting assistant coach Kjell Samuelsson returning to his defenseman development coach role.
The Phantoms have a 7:00 p.m. road game in Hershey on Saturday. The Bears (12-16-2) are coming off a 3-2 home win on Friday against the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins.