PREVIEW: FLYERS @ FLAMES
In the third match of a four-game road trip through Canada, Craig Berube's Philadelphia Flyers (29-28-15) will take on Bob Hartley's Calgary Flames (38-27-5) on Thursday night. Game time at the Saddledome is 9:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the second of two meetings between the inter-conference teams this season, and the lone game in Calgary. On March 3 in Philadelphia, the Flyers recovered from a 2-0 deficit in the third period despite a controversial disallowed goal. The Flames went on to win, 3-2, in overtime.
The Flyers played on Tuesday night in Vancouver. Their road trip wraps up on Saturday night in Edmonton. Calgary is in the second game of a five-game homestand, with every game played on alternating days. The Flames hosted the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. On Saturday afternoon, the Columbus Blue Jackets will pay a visit to the Saddledome.
Flyers outlook
The Flyers are still in search of their 10th road win of the season. They make their eighth try at it on Thursday night after going 0-4-3 in their last seven away matches. The team enters this game with a 9-19-9 in road games.
When playing on home ice (20-9-6 record), the Flyers have scored an average 2.89 goals per game while allowing 2.34 per game. On the road, Philly has mustered just 2.24 goals per game while yielding 3.11 per game.
On Tuesday in Vancouver, the Flyers absorbed a 4-1 loss.
After a scoreless first period, the Flyers briefly held a 1-0 lead midway through the middle frame. With Jakub Voracek in the penalty box for a fight with Vancouver defenseman Dan Hamhuis, a revised top line of Wayne Simmonds and Michael Raffl flanking Claude Giroux stepped up to score Philadelphia's lone goal of the night.
The game entered the third period tied at 1-1. The Canucks then struck for three unanswered goals -- a pair by Alex Burrows in a 17-second span in the earlier stages of the period plus a late empty netter by Radim Vrbata -- to win the game.
Flyers goaltender Steve Mason fell to 1-11-6 in road decisions on the season, despite a respectable 2.62 road GAA and .913 road save percentage. Mason stopped 31 of 34 shots against the Canucks. Afterwards, Flyers head coach Craig Berube publicly pinned the winning Vancouver goal on Mason's shoulders. The goaltender agreed that Burrows first goal was stoppable.
Michael Del Zotto is expected to return to the Flyers lineup on Thursday night. The defenseman has been out since sustaining an upper-body injury in Boston on March 7.
Matt Read is still not with the team but is expected to rejoin the club in Edmonton on Saturday. Earlier this week, Read traveled to be home with his wife for the birth of their first child.
Forward R.J. Umberger was slated to undergo hip and abdominal surgery on Wednesday. He will miss the remainder of the season.
Flames outlook
While the Flyers' opportunity to make a serious push for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference passed them in games following their previous meeting with the Flames, Thursday's game is of huge importance to Calgary.
The Flames enter play with 81 points. If the season ended today, Calgary would miss the playoffs. However, the Flames are currently just one point behind the Los Angeles Kings for the guaranteed playoff spot would come with finishing third in the Pacific Division. The Flames are also one point behind the Winnipeg Jets for the lower wildcard seed in the Western Conference.
Including their overtime win in Philadelphia, the Flames started the month of March by rattling off a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1). Since that time, Calgary has lost back-to-back games in regulation to the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues.
On Tuesday night, the Flames opened their five-game homestand with a 4-0 loss to the Blues, with St. Louis pulling away with a three-goal third period. Brian Elliott shut out Calgary on 25 shots. Jonas Hiller stopped 22 of 25 Blues' shots in a losing cause.
Entering Thursday's game, veteran forward Jiri Hudler leads the Flames with 60 points (25 goals, 35 assists) in 67 games played with rookie Johnny Gaudreau second with 53 points (19 goals and 34 assists) in 69 games. Second-year NHLer Sean Monahan paces the team with 27 goals among his 52 points. Injured defenseman Mark Giordano, who was lost for the season after tearing his biceps, still leads the team with 37 assists and all Flames defensemen with 48 points.
Calgary has gotten a lot of offense out of its blueline this season. Between Giordano, Dennis Wideman and T.J. Brodie alone, the Flames have gotten 33 goals. They've also gotten three from Kris Russell and one from Raphael Diaz.
Apart from the Giordano injury, the Flames have two other players on injured reserve: Paul Byron (lower body) and Ladislav Smid (upper body).
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.56 (21st), Flames 2.87 (8th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.74 (T-21st), Flames 2.61 (T-15th) Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 0.98 (T-20th), Flames 1.02 (17th) Power play efficiency: Flyers 22.5% (3rd), Flames 18.8% (T-11th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 77.0% (29th), Flames 80.1% (23rd) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 51.5% (T-9th), Flames 47.9% (25th)
Projected lineups (Subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
10 Brayden Schenn - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek 12 Michael Raffl - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds 36 Zac Rinaldo - 52 Nick Cousins - 25 Ryan White 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 40 Vincent Lecavalier
55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit 15 Michael Del Zotto - 22 Luke Schenn 8 Nicklas Grossmann - 47 Andrew MacDonald
35 Steve Mason [29 Ray Emery]
Scratches: Carlo Colaiacovo (healthy), Matt Read (family), Brandon Manning (healthy), R.J. Umberger (hip/abdominal surgery), Radko Gudas (IR, knee surgery).
FLAMES
13 Johnny Gaudreau - 23 Sean Monahan - 24 Jiri Hudler 17 Lance Bouma - 11 Mikael Backlund - 19 David Jones 21 Mason Raymond - 86 Josh Jooris - 8 Joe Colborne 25 Brandon Bollig - 18 Matt Stajan - 79 Michael Ferland
7 T.J. Brodie - 29 Deryk Engelland 4 Kris Russell - 6 Dennis Wideman 33 Raphael Diaz - 3 David Schlemko
1 Jonas Hiller / 31 Karri Rà¤mo
Scratches: Markus Granlund (healthy), Emile Poirier (healthy), Corey Potter (healthy), Drew Shore (healthy), Mark Giordano (IR, biceps surgery), Paul Byron (IR, lower body), Ladislav Smid (IR, upper body).