Preview: Flyers @ Panthers
The next three games are a major early season test for Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (8-8-3). The team opens a three-game-in-four-day gauntlet on Tuesday with a match aganst Gerard Gallant's Florida Panthers (10-8-1). Game time at the BB&T Center is 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the first of three meetings this season between the clubs, and the lone game in Sunrise. The teams will clash again in Philadelphia on December 6 and March 2. Last year, the Flyers went 1-1-1 against the Panthers.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers are coming off a 3-0 home loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Flyers had a 70-to-29 shot attempt advantage and 32-18 shot on goal advantage but could not solve Andrei Vasilevskiy and also repeatedly missed the net on some of their best scoring chances. Despite the low volume of overall Tampa shots, killer defensive breakdowns on Lightning rushes and a breakaway goal in the third period made life tough on Steve Mason (15 saves on 18 shots).
Philadelphia has gotten outscored 36-45 at even strength and has heavily relied on the power play to make up the difference. That has worked at times but five-on-five improvement is a must, and the power play is in an 0-for-10 mini-slump.
Entering this game, Jakub Voracek (seven goals, 10 assists) and Claude Giroux (four goals, 13 assists) are tied for the team overall scoring lead. Simmonds leads the team with nine goals and five power play tallies among his 16 points.
Pathers Outlook
Florida enters this game coming off a 3-2 shootout road win against the New York Rangers on Sunday. Keth Yandle (power play) and Aaron Ekblad scored in regulation for the Panthers, while Vincent Trocheck notched the winning goal in the shootout. James Reimer turned back 33 of 35 shots to earn the win in goal.
Entering Tuesday's game, Jonathan Marchessault leads the Panthers with nine goals and 15 points. He is followed by Trocheck (six goals, 13 points), Aleksander Barkov (two goals, nine assists) and Yandle (one goal, nine assists).The legendary Jaromir Jagr has two goals and nine points on the season while former Dallas Stars forward Colton Sceviour has scored five goals and nine points.
In 12 appearances to date, veteran goalie Roberto Luongo has posted a 7-5-0 record, 2.24 GAA and.923 save percentage. Reimer is 3-3-0 with a 3.05 GAA and .897 save percentage.
Projected Lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS (will be updated)
10 Brayden Schenn- 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds 11 Travis Konecny - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 12 Michael Raffl - 78 P-E Bellemare - 24 Matt Read 76 Chris VandeVelde - 25 Nick Cousins - 22 Dale Weise
15 Michael Del Zotto - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas 9 Ivan Provorov - 32 Mark Streit
35 Steve Mason [41 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Nick Schultz (healthy), Roman Lyubimov (healthy), Andrew MacDonald (healthy), Boyd Gordon (LTIR, upper body), Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body).
PANTHERS
36 Jussi Jokinen - 16 Aleksander Barkov - 68 Jaromir Jagr 81 Jonathan Marchessault - 21 Vincent Trocheck - 18 Reilly Smith 62 Denis Malgin - 27 Nick Bjugstad - 7 Colton Sceviour 41 Greg McKegg - 17 Derek MacKenzie - 24 Seth Griffith
13 Mark Pysyk - 5 Aaron Ekblad 3 Keith Yandle - 55 Jason Demers 19 Michael Matheson - 8 Dylan McIlrath
1 Roberto Luongo [34 James Reimer]
Scratches: Kyle Rau (healthy), Shawn Thornton (healthy), Jonthan Huberdeau (Achilles tendon tear), Alex Petrovic.