PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. PENGUINS
Returning home to take on their cross-state rival in a game with wildcard playoff race implications, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (34-23-12) host Mike Sullivan's Pittsburgh Penguins ((38-24-8) in a Saturday matinee. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 1 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the second of four meetings between the teams this season, and the first of two in Philadelphia. On Jan. 21 in Pittsburgh, the Flyers held a 2-0 lead at the first intermission but succumbed to a disastrous second period and went to lose in regulation, 4-3. The teams will rematch on April 3 in Pittsburgh and April 9 in Philadelphia.
In the race for the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference, the Flyers enter this game one point behind the Detroit Red Wings (35-25-11, 81 points) with two games in hand. Detroit has a 33-32 regulation/overtime win (ROW) tiebreaker advantage in the event of a points tie. Philly is four points behind the Penguins for the higher wildcard seed. Philadelphia holds one game in hand.
The Flyers have had two nights off since defeating the Detroit Red Wings (home) and Chicago Blackhawks (away) on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Penguins have had one night off since defeating the Carolina Huricanes on Thursday.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers are 8-1-1 over their last 10 games. For the season, the team currently has a 19-9-7 record at home compared to a 15-14-5 road mark.
On Wednesday, Radko Gudas scored the game-winning goal on a bouncing point shot, which deflected off the stick of Chicago defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and into the net at 9:53 of the third period. The Flyers also got goals by Brayden Schenn and Ryan White (power play deflection). Claude Giroux had a nifty assist on Schenn's tying goal in the second period. Philly also received two assists from Sean Couturier and one helper apiece from Andrew MacDonald, Wayne Simmonds and Michael Raffl.
One night after the Flyers received brilliant third period goaltending by Steve Mason against Detroit, it was Michal Neuvirth's turn to come up big between the pipes against the Blackhawks. Neuvirth turned aside 24 of 26 shots; none bigger than a mid-third period breakaway by Marian Hossa and a couple of stops during the first period 5-on-3 penalty kill.
Based on Friday's practice, it appears that Neuvirth will get the start against the Penguins. For the season, Neuvirth has appeared in 31 games, posting a 17-8-4 record, 2.28 GAA, .925 save percentage and three shutouts. Mason has appeared in 42 games this season, posting a 17-15-8 record, 2.61 goals against average, .915 save percentage and four shutouts (five regulation shutouts).
Dating back to Jan. 1, Brayden Schenn is seventh in scoring in the NHL. He has 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists) in his last 33 games. Checking left winger Chis VandeVelde will be out the next two games as he serves an NHL suspension for an elbow to the head of Jonathan Toews in Wednesday's game in Chicago.
On the injury front, Jakub Voracek appears probable to return on Saturday from a lower-body injury. He has missed the last nine games. Top-pairing defenseman Michael Del Zotto (torn ligaments in his left wrist, suffered on Feb. 13) is out for the rest of the season.
Shayne Gostisbehere has set two franchise records and an NHL record this season: most goals by a Flyers rookie defenseman (16 to date), and longest consecutive-game point streak (15 games) by a Flyers rookie or any rookie defenseman in NHL history. Gostisbehere needs 10 points to match Behn Wilson's franchise rookie defenseman season record of 49 points (set over 80 games in 1978-79). The top four in points are Wilson, Janne Niinimaa (44 points in 77 games in 1996-97), Thomas Eriksson (44 points in 68 games in 1983-84) and Tom Bladon (42 points in 78 games in 1972-73). Gostisbehere is currently fifth.
Team captain Giroux leads the Flyers with 18 goals, 41 assists and 59 points in 66 games. He is followed on the Flyers' scoring leader list by Wayne Simmonds (25 goals, 24 assists, 49 points, 129 penalty minutes), Schenn (24 goals, 24 assists, 48 points) and Voracek (10 goals, 38 assists, 48 points in 60 games). Among Gostisbehere's 16 goals, seven have come on the power play, and four in overtime and he has scored five game-winners overall to go along with 23 assists and 39 points in 51 games. Sean Couturier rounds out the top six with nine goals, 22 assists and 31 points in 51 games.
Penguins Outlook
The Penguins are 7-3-0 over their last 10 games. For the season, the club is 16-14-4 on the road and 22-10-4 on home ice.
On Thursday, Pittsburgh trailed Carolina 2-0 early but came back to score four unanswered goals. Sidney Crosby, who has played to his accustomed level in the second half of the season after a slow first half by his standards, had two goals. Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist and Carl Hagelin had two helpers. Nick Bonino rounded out the scoring. Backup goalie Matt Murray stopped 32 of 34 shots to earn the win.
The Penguins will be without star center Evgeni Malkin (upper body, suspected left wrist injury) for the rest of the regular season. He will miss six to eight weeks from March 12. In 57 games this season, Malkin posted 27 goals (11 power play), 31 assists and 58 points.
Ben Lovejoy (upper body) could be ready to return for Saturday's game. Officially, his status is now day-to-day. Beau Bennett remains on IR (shoulder) as does Kevin Porter (leg). Scott Wilson (upper body) is also out.
Crosby leads the Penguins with 72 points (31 goals, 41 assists) in 69 games. The last time the Pens played the Flyers, Crosby sniped a shot under the crossbar from a virtually impossible angle below the circles.
After the injured Malkin, Crosby is followed on the scoring list by defenseman Kris Letang (13 goals, 40 assists, 53 points, minus-four in 60 games), Kessel (21 goals,26 assists, 47 points), Patric Hörnqvist (18 goals, 26 assists, 44 points), Chris Kunitz (14 goals, 20 assists, 34 points, plus-28), Matt Cullen (11 goals, 11 assists, 22 points), former Dallas Stars and Chicago defenseman Trevor Daley (four goals, 16 assists, 20 points) and defenseman Olli Mà¤à¤ttठ(six goals, 12 assists, 18 points, plus-24 in 64 games).
Marc-Andre Fleury has appeared in 52 games this season, posting a 30-16-6 record, 2.32 goals against average, .922 save percentage and five shutouts. Murray has made seven starts, posting a 4-2-1 record, 1.85 GAA and .935 save percentage. Jeff Zatkoff (13 GPI, 4-6-1 record, 2.78 GAA, .917 SV%) is a likely healthy scratch.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.59 (19th), Penguins 2.73 (11th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.58 (14th), Penguins 2.46 (7th) 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 115/108, Penguins 127/110 Power play efficiency: Flyers 18.7% (16th), Penguins 18.0% (18th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.1% (22nd), Penguins 83.6% (T-6th) Shots per game: Flyers 30.7 (T-7th), Penguins 32.9 (1st) Shots against per game: Flyers 31.0 (T-24th), Penguins 30.3 (T-18th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.4% (T-12th), Penguins 50.6% (8th)
Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)
Flyers
10 Brayden Schenn - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds 12 Michael Raffl - 14 Sean Couturier - 89 Sam Gagner 93 Jakub Voracek - 52 Nick Cousins - 24 Matt Read 21 Scott Laughton - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Ryan White
47 Andrew MacDonald - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit 23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
35 Steve Mason [30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Evgeny Medvedev (healthy), R.J. Umberger (healthy) Chris VandeVellde (NHL suspension), Jordan Weal (healthy), Michael Del Zotto (IR, wrist).
Penguins
14 Chris Kunitz - 87 Sidney Crosby - 72 Patric Hornqvist 62 Carl Hagelin - 13 Nick Bonino - 81 Phil Kessel 49 Dominik Simon - 7 Matt Cullen - 17 Bryan Rust 34 Tom Kuhnhackl - 16 Eric Fehr - 43 Conor Sheary
3 Olli Mà¤à¤ttठ- 58 Kris Letang 8 Brian Dumoulin - 6 Trevor Daley 28 Ian Cole - 4 Justin Schultz
29 Marc-Andre Fleury [30 Matt Murray]
Scratches: Oskar Sundqvist (healthy), Derrick Pouliot (healthy), Ben Lovejoy (questionable, upper body), Evgeni Malkin (upper body, suspected left wrist injury, Beau Bennett (IR, shoulder), Kevin Porter (IR, leg). Scott Wilson (upper body),Jeff Zatkoff (healthy).