PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. PREDATORS
Needing a four-point weekend against two tough opponents, Craig Berube's Philadelphia Flyers (24-23-11) host Peter Laviolette's Nashville Predators (39-13-6) on Saturday afternoon. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 1:00 p.m. EST.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams, and the lone game in Philadelphia. On Dec. 27, the Predators skated to a 4-1 home ice win over the Flyers.
Saturday's game is the start of a back-to-back set of weekend afternoon games for the Flyers, and the middle portion of a three-in-four. The club hosted the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night and will wrap up a four-game homestand when the Washington Capitals come to town on Sunday afternoon.
Nashville is also in the start of a weekend back-to-back and the second game of a three-in-four. On Thursday night, the Predators were in Uniondale to play the New York Islanders. A three-game road trip ends with a twilight game on Sunday in Buffalo.
Flyers outlook
The first two games of a vital homestand went awry for the Flyers. The club suffered a 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, snapping a nine-game point streak (6-0-3) for the Flyers. On Thursday, the NHL cellar-dwelling Sabres left the building with a 3-2 shootout win. Both games saw the Flyers rally back from deficits, enter the third period tied, dominate in overall shot attempts and come away with less than two points.
An optimistic way of looking at it would be to say that the Flyers have still gained points in 10 of their last 11 games (6-1-4). Given that time is starting to tick down on the schedule and that the team is still six points behind the Boston Bruins (who lost in regulation on Friday night and are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games) for the last wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference, the more realistic view is that Philly has been regularly letting precious points slip through their grasp.
In Thursday's game against Buffalo, the Flyers recovered from a 1-0 deficit in the first period and a 2-1 disadvantage in the middle stanza but never led at any point of the game. Ryan White and Jakub Voracek (power play) scored for the Flyers. Ray Emery started out a little shakily but settled in to stop 30 of 32 shots in regulation and overtime and two of four in the shootout. Voracek scored the lone Flyers goal in the shootout.
Berube juggled line combinations during the third period of the Buffalo game. At Friday's practice, three of the four forward lines and two of the three defensive pairs featured changes.
Most notably, the team separated Claude Giroux and longtime linemate Jakub Voracek for five-on-five play. The tandem has only been on the ice together at the same time for one even-strength Flyer goal (Jan.19 in Long Island) since the Christmas break. They will remain together on the team's top power play unit.
Wayne Simmonds moved to the first line right wing spot at even strength, with Voracek moving to Sean Couturier's line. Earlier this season, Simmonds spent a few games on Giroux's line but played his off-wing to sub for the then-injured Michael Raffl and to accommodate Voracek. This time around, the righthanded shooting Simmonds was in his more comfortable and familiar right wing spot.
In addition, forward Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn will be healthy scratches on Saturday. Zac Rinaldo will re-enter the lineup for the first time in 10 games (eight-game NHL suspension followed by two games as a coach's decision scratch), and Andrew MacDonald will return to the blueline after a four-game absence (one for family bereavement leave, three as a healthy scratch).
With the Flyers playing back-to-back games on the weekend, they will likely split the goaltending chores between Emery and Rob Zepp.
Top Flyers goaltender Steve Mason has been skating for a few days, rehabbing after arthroscopic right knee surgery. He is still a week or so from being ready to return to game action. Veteran defenseman Kimmo Timonen (blood clot) has been practicing since Wednesday after joining the team for Tuesday's morning skate.
Predators outlook
Saturday's game represents Laviolette's first game back in Philadelphia since opening night of the 2013-14 season. He was fired three games into the season, after the club lost to Toronto on opening night and then sustained back-to-back road losses in Montreal and Carolina.
The Predators enter Saturday's game sitting atop the Western Conference and the entire NHL with 84 points. Within the Central Division, however, Nashville's lead over the second-place St. Louis Blues was reduced to four points after Ken Hitchcock's team downed Boston, 5-1, on Friday night.
Nashville enters this game coming off a 5-2 road loss to the Islanders (the first of the four teams Laviolette has coached in the NHL) on Thursday. Nashville found itself in a 3-0 hole in the first period and never fully recovered. The Predators cut the deficit down to one goal on a late-first period tally by Calder Trophy favorite Filip Forsberg (20th goal of the season) and a late middle stanza score by James Neal (21st). The Islanders then pulled away again with two goals within the opening nine minutes of the third period.
Vezina Trophy favorite Pekka Rinne absorbed the loss on Thursday, stopping 35 of 40 shots. With the setup of the weekend games, Rinne seems more likely to play against the Flyers with backup netminder Carter Hutton (who briefly passed through the Flyers' farm system as a member of the Phantoms at the start of his pro career after college) going against the Sabres on Sunday.
The Predators are missing two defensemen from the lineup, with Ryan Ellis and Anton Volchenkov currently on injured reserve for respective lower-body injuries. The club recently reacquired hard-shooting offensive defenseman Cody Franson in a trade with Toronto.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.64 (20th), Predators 2.97 (6th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.81 (24th), Predators 2.29 (T-2nd) Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 1.01 (T-18th), Predators 1.39 (1st) Power play efficiency: Flyers 23.2% (4th), Predators 17.8% (17th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 75.3% (28th), Predators 81.6% (14th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 51.3% (9th), Predators 48.5% (22nd)
Projected lineups (Subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds 24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 25 Ryan White - 10 Brayden Schenn - 18 R.J. Umberger 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 36 Zac Rinaldo
55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit 15 Michael Del Zotto - 5 Braydon Coburn 8 Nicklas Grossmann - 47 Andrew MacDonald
72 Rob Zepp [29 Ray Emery]
Scratches: Vincent Lecavalier (healthy), Luke Schenn (healthy), Carlo Colaiacovo (healthy), Steve Mason (arthroscopic right knee surgery), Kimmo Timonen (LTIR, blood clot).
PREDATORS
33 Colin Wilson - 63 Mike Ribeiro - 18 James Neal 9 Filip Forsberg - 12 Mike Fisher - 15 Craig Smith 7 Matt Cullen - 19 Calle Jà¤rnkrok - 10 Michael Santorelli 24 Eric Nystrom - 28 Paul Gaustad - 57 Gabriel Bourque
59 Roman Josi - 6 Shea Weber 14 Mattias Ekholm - 44 Cody Franson 64 Victor Bartley - 3 Seth Jones
35 Pekka Rinne [30 Carter Hutton]
Scratches: Taylor Beck (healthy), Anthony Bitetto (healthy), Ryan Ellis (IR, lower body), Anton Volchenkov (IR, lower body).