Game 55 Preview: Flyers vs. Blackhawks
Interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (16-28-10) will host interim head coach Derek King's Chicago Blackhawks (20-27-8) at the Wells Fargo on Saturday afternoon. Game time is 3:00 p.m. ET (ABC, 97.5 The Fanatic).
The Flyers enter this game coming off a galling 5-4 loss to the visiting Minnesota Wild on Thursday evening. Philadelphia held leads of 1-0 (first period), 2-1 (first period), 3-2 (second period) and 4-3 (second period into the latter half of the third period). A pair of breakdowns on back-to-back shifts were converted into tying and go-ahead goals by the Wild.
The Flyers were unable to find an equalizer once they finally trailed. Overall, though, it was a sloppy performance from start to finish; one that resulted in Yeo calling out the team publicly after the game and, after an "uncomfortable" team meeting on Friday morning, addressing again with the media following Friday's practice.
The Blackhawks, conversely, won their last game. On Thursday, in Duncan Keith's return to Chicago, the Blackhawks saw three separate one-goal leads evaporate before prevailing in overtime, 4-3. Alex DeBrincat scored the game-winner at 2:23 of sudden death for his 30th goal of the season. Sam Lafferty (2nd), Patrick Kane (17th) and Dominik Kubalik (11th) tallied in regulation for Chicago. Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves to earn the win.
Kevin Hayes will return to the Flyers' lineup for the first time since Jan. 17. Three of the four forward lines have combination changes since last game. Gerry Mayhew will be a healthy scratch. Martin Jones is in goal.
Jonathan Toews made his return to the Chicago lineup last game. Patrick Kane has gotten hot of late with five goals and eight points in his last four games. DeBrincat is seventh in the Rocket Richard Trophy race, one goal behind Boston's David Pastrnak (31 goals).
For an in-depth preview of this game, see Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com. Projected lineups are below. The Chicago lineup will be posted after warmups.
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny 86 Joel Farabee - 19 Derick Brassard - 89 Cam Atkinson 23 Oskar Lindblom - 13 Kevin Hayes - 25 James van Riemsdyk 71 Max Willman - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen 9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun 6 Travis Sanheim - 70 Rasmus Ristolainen 3 Keith Yandle - 8 Kevin Connauton
35 Martin Jones [79 Carter Hart]
BLACKHAWKS
8 Dominik Kubalik - 17 Dylan Strome - 88 Patrick Kane 12 Alex DeBrincat -19 Jonathan Toews - 90 Tyler Johnson 38 Brandon Hagel - 77 Kirby Dach - 58 Mackenzie Entwhistle 23 Philipp Kurashev - 22 Ryan Carpenter - 24 Sam Lafferty
44 Calvin de Haan - 4 Seth Jones 82 Caleb Jones - 4 Connor Murphy 61 Riley Stillman - 6 Jake McCabe
32 Kevin Lankinen [29 Marc Andre Fleury]