PREVIEW: FLYERS @ WILD
Taking a short westward sojourn before returning home for three games, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (16-15-7) are in St. Paul to take on Mike Yeo's Minnesota Wild (21-11-7). Game time at the Xcell Energy Center is 8:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on TCN Philadelphia and nationally on NBC Sports Network.
This is the first of two meetings between the inter-conference teams this season. The Flyers and Wild will rematch in Philadelphia on Feb. 25. Last year, the teams split two games with the road team winning each game. The Wild's win, pulled out in the waning seconds of regulation, came on the night the Flyers inducted Eric Lindros and John LeClair into the team hall of fame.
The Flyers last played on Tuesday, hosting the Montreal Canadiens on the heels of a three-game road trip through California. After this game, the Flyers start a three-game homestand with a Saturday matinee against the New York Islanders. Philly held an optional practice on Wednesday before departing for St. Paul.
The Wild last played on Tuesday in Columbus. This game, Minnesota's first home match of January, is the start of a three-in-four set that will see the Wild go on the road to Dallas on Saturday and then return home on Sunday to play the New Jersey Devils. Yeo gave the team an off-day from practice on Wednesday to rest for the busy stretch ahead.
Flyers Outlook
Philadelphia corrected two major problems that plagued them during the west coast road trip -- poor starts and special teams letdowns -- to take a step in the right direction as they defeated Montreal on Tuesday by a 4-3 score and outshot the Habs by a 31-24 margin.
Brayden Schenn had one of his best games of the season, scoring a breakaway goal, adding two assists and registering six credited hits. Linemate Sean Couturier had a goal and an assist. Shayne Gostisbehere notched a goal and an assist. Wayne Simmonds added a power play deflection goal. Winning goaltender Michal Neuvirth stopped 21 of 24 shots.
The Flyers made a cap-space creating trade on Wednesday, sending seldom-used veteran forward Vincent Lecavalier and impeding unrestricted free agent defenseman Luke Schenn to the Los Angeles Kings. In return, the Flyers received 23-year-old center Jordan Weal and a third-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft. Weal will join the Flyers immediately, but it is not known if he will get directly into the lineup without the benefit of any practices with the club.
Pointless in seven of his last eight games, Claude Giroux still leads the Flyers with 12 goals, 17 assists and 29 points in 38 games. The Flyers captain was selected on Wednesday to represent the team in the upcoming NHL All-Star Game.
Giroux is followed on the Flyers' scoring leader list by Jakub Voracek (four goals, 21 assists, 25 points), Wayne Simmonds (10 goals, 12 assists, 22 points, 82 penalty minutes) and Brayden Schenn (nine goals, 10 assists, 19 points). Couturier rounds out the top five with seven goals, 10 assists and 17 points. Offensive-minded rookie defenseman Gostisbehere has contributed seven goals (four on the power play, three in overtime), nine assists and 16 points.
Wild Outlook
Minnesota enters this game coming off a 4-2 win over the Blue Jackets to end a four-game road trip (2-1-1). The Wild are 1-1-1 since the calendar flipped to 2016 and are 3-2-1 since the Christmas break.
The Wild never trailed the Blue Jackets in Tuesday's game but Columbus was pesky. Minnesota was lifted by a Zach Parise hat trick (two even-strength goals and an empty net tally) and also got an empty-net goal from Mikael Granlund. Devan Dubnyk stopped 29 of 31 shots to earn the win in goal.
Team captain and leading scorer Mikko Koivu left the game early in the first period and did not return. Koivu was injured as he got heavily checked by Blue Jackets defenseman David Savard near the goal the goal line, and crashed into the end boards. Koivu was hospitalized for precautionary reasons but has since returned to St. Paul. His status for Thursday's game is unknown but it is not expected to be a long-term absence if he misses time. Koivu left the ice under his own power after the crash into the boards but appeared to take impact at the base of his neck.
Koivu leads the Wild with 32 points (10 goals, 22 assists) in 39 games. He is followed by star veteran defenseman Ryan Suter (five goals, 22 assists, 27 points), veteran sniper Thomas Vanek (12 goals, 14 assists, 26 points), Parise (14 goals, 11 assists, 25 points in 30 games after missing a total of nine games with a right knee injury), Granlund (four goals, 20 assists, 24 points) and Charlie Coyle (10 goals, 11 assists, 21 points).
Veteran checking forward Chris Porter, who signed with the Flyers last summer and spent training camp with the Flyers before the Wild claimed him off waivers at the end of training camp when Philly hoped to have the former University of North Dakota player open the season in the AHL, has dressed in 38 of 39 games for Yeo's team this season.
Backup goaltender Darcy Kuemper is still sidelined with a concussion. Ryan Carter (hand) may be available to play, and Nate Prosser (hand) is day-to-day).
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.16 (29th), Wild 2.69 (13th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.68 (T-18th), Wild 2.33 (5th) 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 52/57, Wild 70/57 Power play efficiency: Flyers 16.8% (25th), Wild 18.3% (21st) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 78.0% (25th), Wild 79.0% (22nd) Shots per game: Flyers 30.1 (T-11th), Wild 28.8 (22nd) Shots against per game: Flyers 32.4 (29th), Wild 29.0 (T-10th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 49.4% (22nd), Wild 51.5% (5th)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
93 Jakub Voracek - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds 12 Michael Raffl - 14 Sean Couturier - 10 Brayden Schenn 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Ryan White 24 Matt Read - 21 Scott Laughton - 20 R.J. Umberger
15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas 55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit 53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 82 Evgeny Medvedev
30 Michal Neuvirth [35 Steve Mason]
Scratches: Brandon Manning (healthy), Jordan Weal (with team, acquired 1/6/16).
Wild
11 Zach Parise - 9 Mikko Koivu - 26 Thomas Vanek 22 Nino Niederreiter - 64 Mikael Granlund - 3 Charlie Coyle 16 Jason Zucker - 56 Erik Haula - 29 Jason Pominville 7 Chris Porter - 19 Jarret Stoll - 14 Justin Fontaine
20 Ryan Suter - 46 Jared Spurgeon 6 Marco Scandella - 24 Mathew Dumba 28 Tyson Strachan - 25 Jonas Brodin
40 Devan Dubnyk [32 Niklas Backstrom]
Scratches: Mikko Koivu (questionable, neck/shoulder), Ryan Carter (available, hand), Nate Prosser (day-to-day, hand), Darcy Kuemper (IR, concussion).