UPDATE: 11:00 A.M. ET
One day after Steve Mason took a maintenance day, Michal Neuvirth missed most of the morning skate before making a late appearance. Mason initially skated to the backup net but was summoned to the starter side by goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh. It was later revealed that Neuvirth is unavailable to dress for this game and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
The Flyers have placed Ryan White (suspected shoulder injury) on injured reserve. As such, they can recall goaltender Anthony Stolarz to back up Mason without having to send forward Taylor Leier down to the AHL to create a roster space to add a back up for one game.
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PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. KINGS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (6-8-3) return to action on Tuesday night, hosting Darryl Sutter's Los Angeles Kings (11-6-0). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7 p.m. ET. Prior to the game, there will be a pregame video tribute to the recently retired Simon Gagne. The game and Gagne commemoration will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the first of two games between the inter-conference clubs. The teams will retach in Los Angeles on Jan. 2. Last season, the Flyers won both games against the Kings, claiming a 3-2 overtime decision on home ice and riding brilliant goaltending to a 2-1win in LA.
The Flyers played in Raleigh on Saturday night, took an off-day on Sunday and then practiced on Monday. After this game, the Flyers will host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday before going on the road to play the Ottawa Senators two nights later. The Kings hosted the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. The game in Philadelphia marks the start of a five-game road trip for the Kings, with subsequent stops in Detroit (Fri.), Raleigh (Sun.), Sunrise (Mon.) and Tampa Bay (Nov. 25).
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers have lost eight of their last 10 games overall (2-6-2) but are enter this game returning home from a comeback 3-2 overtime win on Saturday against the host Carolina Hurricanes.
Philadelphia trailed 2-0 midway through the game and were held to seven shots through two periods but goals by Luke Schenn in the second period and Wayne Simmonds in the third forced overtime. Early in the extra frame, Jakub Voracek ended his season-long goal drought with the game-winning score. Steve Mason earned the win in goal, stopping 19 of 21 shots.
Shayne Gostisbehere made his season debut for the Flyers on Saturday. He earned his first NHL point by creating the scoring chance that led to Simmonds deflecting Gostisbehere's right point shot into the net to send the game to OT. Taylor Leier made his NHL debut, drawing the team's lone power play of the game.
A healthy scratch is Saturday's game, Brayden Schenn will not only return to the lineup on Tuesday but also be promoted to the top line with Claude Giroux and Voracek. Michael Raffl will skate on the left wing on Pierre-Edouard Bellemare's line.
Mason, who received treatment for an undisclosed minor ailment after last Thursday's game against Washington, played and won on Saturday but took a maintenance day off practice on Monday. Hakstol and Flyers GM Ron Hextall said Mason is fine. Hakstol declined to name a starting goaltender for Tuesday.
The Flyers also insist that defenseman Evgeny Medvedev -- who returned from a concussion last Thursday and took a heavy hit in a game against Washington -- is fine. Officially, the player was a healthy scratch in Carolina on Saturday. The same defense pairs remained together at Monday's practice, making Medvedev the odd-man out again.
On the injury front, the Flyers will be without Ryan White (suspected right shoulder injury) for two to four weeks after getting injured in the third period of Saturday's game against Carolina. Forward R.J. Umberger (suspected foot injury) remains on injured reserve and has yet to resume skating since going down in the Nov. 7 game in Winipeg. Defenseman Mark Streit is on long-term injured reserve and scheduled to undergo surgery on Tuesday to repair a displaced pubic plate. Streit is expected to miss approximately six weeks.
Kings Outlook
Hakstol described the two-time Stanley Cup champions as being "like clockwork" in the way they consistently churn out solid two-way goals and use their team's size effectively. The Kings are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games including a 4-3 regulation home win against Edmonton on Saturday.
In Saturday's match, the Kings held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 only for the Oilers to battle back to tie the game. Finally, Nick Shore's tally with 1:37 left in the third period put the Kings ahead to stay after earlier goals by Marian Gaborik, Tanner Pearson and Milan Lucic. Jonathan Quick stopped 22 of 25 goals to earn the win in goal.
Entering Tuesday's game, ex-Flyers forward Jeff Carter leads the team in overall scoring (17 points) and assists (10). Tyler Toffoli paces the team with 10 goals among his 16 points. Drew Doughty leads the blueline with 11 points (two goals, nine assists).
On the LA injury front veteran defenseman Matt Greene (upper body) has resumed skating but is not with the team in Philadelphia. Dwight King (broken foot) is also on injured reserve.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 1.88 (29th), Kings 2.53 (19th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.94 (25th), Kings 2.12 (3rd) 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 22/30, Kings 24/26 Power play efficiency: Flyers 14.3% (26th), Kings 20.4% (12th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 76.2% (24th), Kings 87.1% (3rd) Shots per game: Flyers 29.4 (18th), Kings 31.0 (8th) Shots against per game: Flyers 33.4 (29th), Kings 27.8 (6th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.0% (16th), Kings 49.1% (22nd)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
10 Brayden Schenn - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek 24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds 58 Taylor Leier - 21 Scott Laughton - 89 Sam Gagner 12 Michael Raffl - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -76 Chris VandeVelde
15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas 55 Nick Schultz - 22 Luke Schenn 23 Brandon Manning - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
35 Steve Mason [65 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Evgeny Medvedev (healthy), Vincent Lecavalier (healthy), R.J. Umberger (suspected foot injury), Mark Streit (LTIR, displaced public plate), Ryan White (IR, suspected shoulder injury), Michal Neuvirth (day-to-day, upper body injury).
KINGS
17 Milan Lucic - 77 Jeff Carter - 73 Tyler Toffoli 70 Tanner Pearson - 11 Anze Kopitar - 12 Marian Gaborik 23 Dustin Brown - 21 Nick Shore - 22 Trevor Lewis 13 Kyle Clifford - 15 Andy Andreoff - 71 Jordan Nolan
3 Brayden McNabb - 8 Drew Doughty 6 Jake Muzzin - 27 Alec Martinez 10 Christian Ehrhoff - 5 Jamie McBain
32 Jonathan Quick [1 Jhonas Enroth]
Scratches: Derek Forbort (healthy), Jordan Weal (healthy), Matt Greene (IR, upper body), Dwight King (IR, foot).
On Nov. 18 at 7 p.m., I will be part of the hockey panel at the Puck & Pitch Talks event at Bourbon & Branch (705 N. 2nd St.) in Philadelphia. CSN Philly's Sarah Baicker will be the moderator and my fellow panelists will include Al Morganti (WIP & CSN Philly), Dave Isaac (Camden Courier Post) and Adam Kimelman (NHL.com).
Former Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov will also be on hand as a special guest, doing a Q&A session wih hockey fans in attendance.
Tickets can be purchased at PuckTalksLive.com. Use promo code "Bullies" to get a $5 discount off the $20 ticket price. Further information and updates are available on the Puck Talks Twitter page (@PuckTalksLive) and on Facebook (Facebook.com/Pucktalks).
