PREVIEW: FLYERS @ BLUES
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (11-11-6) are on the road on Thursday night to take on Ken Hitchcock's St. Louis Blues (16-8-4). Game time at the Scottrade Center is 8:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia.
This is the first of two meetings between the inter-conference clubs. They will rematch in Philadelphia on Dec. 21. Last season, the clubs split the two games. In each of the last two years in the game played in St. Louis, the two teams played to a 0-0 deadlock through 65 minutes before the Blues prevailed via shootout.
The Flyers are in the midst of one of their most brutal scheduling weeks of the season; a three-in-four guantlet against top NHL teams. After hosting the New York Islanders and going to a shootout on Tuesday, the Flyers now play back-to-back games against the top two teams in the Central Division. A rested Dallas Stars team, sporting the best record and the most explosive offense in the NHL, await the Flyers on Friday.
The Blues are playing the second game of a four-game homestand and the first match of a three-in-four. The Arizona Coyotes came to town on Tuesday. After this game, Dallas will pay a visit on Saturday, followed by the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers have taken at least one point in nine of the last 12 games (6-3-3). On Tuesday, the team bounced back from a poor performance against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday with a strong performance against the Islanders on Tuesday. However, Philly had to scramble to come back from deficits of 1-0 and 3-1 to force overtime before losing via shootout.
The Flyers outshot the Isles by a 46-26 margin and held a 90-51 shot attempt edge. Philadelphia got goals by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (shorthanded), Ryan White and Claude Giroux in regulation. Michal Neuvirth came in to relieve starter Steve Mason at 1:14 of the second period and turned back all 16 shots he faced over the balance of regulation and overtime before going 1-for-2 in the shootout. Mason stopped seven of 10 in 21:10 of playing time.
Giroux leads the Flyers with 10 goals, 14 assists and 24 points in 28 games. He is followed by Wayne Simmonds (seven goals, eight assists), Jakub Voracek (one goal, 14 assists) and Brayden Schenn (six goals, six assists, 12 points). In 12 games since his recall from the AHL, offensive-minded rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has contributed four goals (three on the power play, two in overtime), four assists and eight points.
Radko Gudas has finished serving a three-game suspension by the NHL and will return to the lineup for this game. The team held an optional practice on Wednesday, and Hakstol did not indicate which defenseman would be removed from the lineup in favor of Gudas.
Luke Schenn sustained a left foot or ankle injury in the Dec. 5 game. He is officially out for approximately two weeks from that date. Sam Gagner (concussion, laceration) has been out since the Nov. 23 game against Carolina. He was retroactively placed on the injured reserve list on Monday. Gagner hopes to be available to play next week. Defenseman Mark Streit is on long-term injured reserve for surgery to repair a displaced pubic plate. Streit is expected to miss approximately six weeks from Nov. 17. He has resumed skating on his own.
Blues Outlook
The Blues are 1-2-1 in the month of December but are coming off a 4-1 win over Arizona on Tuesday after trailing 1-0 at the first intermission.
Vladimir Tarasenko knotted the game early in the second period and Alexander Steen put the Blues ahead with a shorthanded goal in the final 10 seconds of the period. In the third period, St. Louis added insurance goals by Kevin Shattenkirk and David Backes (empty net). Jake Allen stopped 22 of 23 shots to earn the win in goal.
Tarasenko leads the Blues in scoring with 16 goals, 11 assists and 27 points. He is followed by Steen (10 goals, 14 assists, 24 points), Backes (seven goals, 14 points), hulking rookie defenseman Colton Parayko (five goals, nine assists, 14 points) and Shattenkirk (four goals, 14 points in 18 games).
On the St. Louis injury front, Patrik Berglund (shoulder), Steve Ott (hamstring surgery) and Jaden Schwartz (fractured left ankle) all remain on the injured reserve list.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.00 (29th), Blues 2.54 (17th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.71 (T-20th), Blues 2.39 (T-9th) 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 32/42, Blues 47/44 Power play efficiency: Flyers 16.7% (23rd), Blues 16.5% (25th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 79.2% (20th), Blues 86.9% (2nd) Shots per game: Flyers 30.8 (6th), Blues 30.0 (11th) Shots against per game: Flyers 31.8 (29th), Blues 28.1 (7th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.0% (T-13th), Blues 50.9% (8th)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 10 Brayden Schenn 24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 93 Jakub Voracek 20 R.J. Umberger - 21 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan White
15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas 55 Nick Schultz - 82 Evgeny Medvedev 23 Brandon Manning - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
35 Steve Mason [30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Andrew MacDonald (possible healthy scratch), Vincent Lecavalier (healthy), Mark Streit (LTIR, displaced pubic plate), Sam Gagner (IR, concussion/laceration), Luke Schenn (left foot/ankle).
Blues
56 Magnus Pà¤à¤jà¤rvi - 26 Paul Stastny - 91 Vladimir Tarasenko 20 Alex Steen - 42 David Backes - 36 Troy Brouwer 15 Robby Fabbri - 12 Jori Lehterठ- 23 Dmitrij Jaskin 10 Scottie Upshall - 28 Kyle Brodziak - 75 Ryan Reaves
19 Jay Bouwmeester - 27 Alex Pietrangelo 48 Petteri Lindbohm - 22 Kevin Shattenkirk 4 Carl Gunnarsson - 55 Colton Parayko
1 Brian Elliott [34 Jake Allen]
Scratches: Scott Gomez (healthy), Robert Bortuzzo (healthy), Patrik Berglund (IR, shoulder), Steve Ott (IR, hamstring), Jaden Schwartz (IR, ankle).