PREVIEW: FLYERS @ SHARKS
Playing their final game of the 2016 calendar year, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (19-13-4) are in California to take on Peter DeBoer's San Jose Sharks (22-12-1). Game time at the SAP Center is 10:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the first of two meetings this season between the interconference teams. The clubs will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Feb. 11. Last season, the Sharks won a 1-0 overtime decision after Steve Mason and Martin Jones dueled to a scoreless deadlock through 60 minutes. In the rematch in San Jose on Dec. 30, 2015, the Sharks prevailed by a 4-2 score.
Flyers Outlook
Following a 10-game winning streak, the Flyers have posted a 1-3-1 over the last five games. On Wednesday, the Flyers exited the Christmas break with a 6-3 road loss to the St. Louis Blues.
In St Louis, the Flyers held a 1-0 lead in the first period and 3-2 edge in the third but ended up getting steamrolled on the scoreboard by the time the night was through.
Wayne Simmonds (17th goal of the season), Nick Cousins (fourth) and Brayden Schenn (10th, power play goal after a disallowed would-be Flyers tally) scored in a losing cause. Philly was held to just nine shots through two periods before meaninglessly outshooting the Blues 11-5 in the process of getting outscored 1-4 in the third period. Repeatedly hung out to dry, Steve Mason stopped just 19 of 24 shots. The final Blues goal was a Robby Fabbri empty netter, completing a hat trick.
Goaltender Michal Neuvirth, who has been out since mid-November with a sprained left knee, practiced with the team on Tuesday but is likely out until early January according to Flyers general manager Ron Hextall's injury updates before the holidays.
On the injury front, Sean Couturier returned to the Flyers' lineup on Wednesday after a 16-game absence. With Michael Raffl dealing with a lower-body injury suffered last week, rookie Taylor Leier started Wednesday's game on the top line. Veteran defenseman Nick Schultz, a healthy scratch since mid-November, got a start in St. Louis, with Brandon Manning sitting out as a healthy scratch. Matt Read (midsection) and Mark Streit (sprained left shoulder) re-joined practice on Tuesday but are not ready for contact yet.
Jakub Voracek leads the Flyers with 35 points (11 goals, 24 assists) in 37 games. Claude Giroux is tied for second on the team with 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists), while Wayne Simmonds paces the club with 17 goals and eight power play tallies among his 31 points.
Brayden Schenn is fourth on the Flyers' scoring leaderboard with 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists) in 34 games. He's followed by rookie forward Travis Konecny (four goals, 14 assists), Shayne Gostisbehere (four goals, 13 assists) and the injured Streit (five goals, 11 assists).
Rookie defenseman Ivan Provorov has 16 points (three goals, 13 assists) while dressing in all 37 games. The 19-year-old leads the Flyers in ice time and is already now routinely matched up against other teams' top lines.
Sharks Outlook
The defending Western Conference champions hold first place in the Pacific Division. The Sharks, who are 7-3-0 in their 10 games, boast a gaudy 12-4-0 record on home ice this season.
Although the Sharks have been nothing special in terms of scoring depth, ranking 20th in the NHL in goals per game, the team's stingy two-way play (2nd fewest shots allowed per game, fourth best goals against average) and size up front is a formidable load for any opponent to handle.
On Tuesday, offensively dynamic roving defenseman Brent Burns scored his 14th goal of the season, bringing the Sharks a 3-2 overtime road victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Paul Martin and Melker Karlsson (the player whose overtime goal in Philadelphia last season broke a scoreless tie) also tallied for the Sharks.
Burns leads the Sharks in scoring with 34 points in 35 games, and is also a plus-13 on the season. Joe Pavelski is second with 33 points (12 goals, 21 assists), followed by ageless Joe Thornton (two goals, 22 assists), Logan Couture (11 goals, 12 assists), and long-tenured Sharks forward Patrick Marleau (nine goals, four assists). Workhorse starting goaltender has appeared in 31 games, posting a 19-11-1 record, 2.08 GAA and .920 save percentage with two shutouts.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.95 (6th), Sharks 2.51 (20th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 3.00 (26th), Sharks 2.20 (4th) Power play efficiency: Flyers 22.1% (8th), Sharks 16.4% (19th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.9% (T-17th), Sharks 83.7 (T-8th) Shots on goal per game: Flyers 31.0 (7th), Sharks 30.7 (9th) Shots against per game: Flyers 28.8 (7th), Sharks 26.5 (2nd) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.7% (10th), Sharks 47.7% (28th)
Projected Lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS (Wednesday's lines)
58 Taylor Leier - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek 11 Travis Konecny - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds 25 Nick Cousins - 14 Sean Couturier - 22 Dale Weise 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 P-E Bellemare - 13 Roman Lyubimov
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald 15 Michael Del Zotto- 3 Radko Gudas 55 Nick Schultz - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
35 Steve Mason [41 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Michal Neuvirth (IR, knee), Matt Read (IR, abdominal area), Mark Streit (shoulder), Michael Raffl (lower-body), Boyd Gordon (healthy), Brandon Manning (healthy).
SHARKS
12 Patrick Marleau - 19 Joe Thornton - 8 Joe Pavelski 62 Kevin Labanc - 39 Logan Couture - 89 Mikkel Boedker 28 Timo Meier - 50 Chris Tierney - 27 Joonas Donskoi 68 Melker Karlsson - 38 Micheal Haley - 42 Joel Ward
7 Paul Martin - 88 Brent Burns 44 Marc-Edouard Vlasic - 61 Justin Braun 4 Brenden Dillon - 74 Dylan DeMelo
31 Martin Jones [30 Aaron Dell]
Scratches: Matt Nieto (healthy), David Schlemko (healthy), Tommy Wingels (healthy), Tomas Hertl (IR, right knee surgery).
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World Junior Championship: Flyers Prospect Updates
* David Kase and the Czech team were upset in overtime, 3-2, by the surprise Team Denmark squad in WJC preliminary round action on Thursday. The Danes now have two wins in the preliminary round. Kase had one shot on goal in 20:36 of ice time against Denmark.
* Team USA knocked off Russia, 3-2, in regulation on Thursday. Flyers prospects Tanner Laczynski of Team USA (one assist, two shots on goal, plus-one in 11:44 of ice time) and Mikhail Vorobyov of Team Russia (one assist, two shots on goal, 17:03 of ice time) each collected an apple on the scoresheet. Flyers 2016 first-round pick German Rubtsov, continuing to play wing in a primarily defensive role, remained pointless in the tourney to date. Rubtsov skated 11:14 of ice time and did not register a shot on goal. Both Vorobyov and Rubtsov were even in plus-minus in this game.
* Felix Sandström was excellent in goal for Team Sweden, turning back 28 of 29 shots in a 3-1 win over arch-rival Finland. He had no chance on the lone Finnish goal on a fortuitous bounce off a Junior Crowns player. Defenseman David Bernhardt was plus-one in 17:44 of ice time for the victorious Swedes.
* Canada dismantled Latvia, 10-2, on Thursday. The Canadians were actually outshot, 10-9, in the first period but took a 3-0 lead to intermission and never looked back. Flyers defense prospect Philippe Myers notched a pair of first-period assists. Goaltending prospect Carter Hart stopped 23 of 25 shots in all.
* Friday's games: Switzerland vs. Denmark, Slovakia (Matej Tomek) vs. Latvia.