PREVIEW: FLYERS @ AVALANCHE
In the third game of a critical four-game road trip, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (35-24-13) are in Denver on Thursday to take on Patrick Roy's Colorado Avalanche (38 31-4). Game time at Pepsi Center is 9:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the inter-conference teams. On November 10, the Flyers played one of their worst games of the season and lost 4-0 to an Avalanche team that had entered the game dragging a 4-9-1 record.
The Flyers got outshot by a 40-25 (15-7, 14-7, 11-11) margin, generating all of one power play opportunity the entire night (0-for-1) and going 1-for-2 on the penalty kill. The game started on an ominous note, with Michal Neuvirth going into a reverse VH and having a hideous side-angle knuckleball off the stick of Jarome Iginla find a coin-slot like opening on the short side.
Things scarcely got better as the night progressed. The Avs built a 3-0 lead with a pair of early second period goals by Matt Duchene. Cody McLeod tacked on a power pay goal early in the third period. Reto Berra earned a 25-save shutout but was only tested a few times. The loss dropped the Flyers to 5-7-3 up to that point of the season.
Coming off a gut-wrenching 3-2 shootout loss in Columbus on Tuesday, the Flyers are playing for the fourth time in six days. The Avalanche, meanwhile, are a rested team. They have played just twice over the last seven night and have had three off-nights since earning a 3-2 regulation road win over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers are 9-2-2 over their last 13 games. For the season, the team currently has a 16-14-6 road record and 19-10-7 record at home.
On Monday, the Flyers wasted a brilliant 51-save performance by Steve Mason and a 2-0 lead with 1:07 left in regulation. The Flyers got goals by Claude Giroux and Ryan White (power play). Brayden Schenn had two assists. Nick Schultz and Sean Couturier had one apiece. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 of 33 shots during the game and went 5-for-5 in the shootout.
A horrific icing by Wayne Simmonds, a Boone Jenner deflection goal that was seemingly played with his stick blade over the crossbar, a deflected shot into traffic that resulted in a Cam Atkinson rebound goal, five futile Flyers shootout attempts after Mason kept the first four shooters at bay and a game-winning shootout goal by Jenner turned a vital victory into a lost point the Flyers can only hope doesn't haunt them in the final Eastern Conference standings come the conclusion of their game in Brooklyn on April 10.
Mason has started each of the last five games. With Michal Neuvirth (suspected meniscus tear in his left knee) sidelined for the rest of the regular season, Hakstol will have to decide if and when the time is right to give rookie Anthony Stolarz a spot start or two over the final 10 games of the season.
Mason has appeared in 45 games this season, posting an 18-16-9 record, 2.56 goals against average, .918 save percentage and four shutouts (five regulation shutouts). Neuvirth appeared in 31 games, posting a 17-8-4 record, 2.28 GAA, .925 save percentage and three shutouts.
Second year pro Stolarz has had several NHL recalls but has yet to appear in an NHL regular season game. Stolarz had an outstanding first half of the AHL season -- especially the first two months -- and earned a selection to the AHL All-Star Game. in 40 games this season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Stolarz has posted a 19-14-6 record, 2.57 GAA and .917 SV%.
There is also a decision to be made up front. Chris VandeVelde finished serving a two-game NHL suspension on Monday and was eligible to return to the lineup in Columbus. However, Hakstol opted to keep the same lineup intact. If VandeVelde returns against the Avalanche, Hakstol will have to scratch a winger.
The Flyers have been getting more -- and more balanced -- scoring since the All-Star break. Brayden Schenn has been very productive going to the start of the calendar year. In his last 36 games, he has 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists). Sean Couturier has eight assists in his last nine games, although he has not scored a goal in his last 20 games.
Thus far, the team has done a remarkably good job of playing around the absence of top-pairing defenseman Michael Del Zotto. The player, who suffered torn ligaments in his left wrist on February 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. He has recently found it much harder to find time and space to make plays, as he now draws considerable defensive attention.
Team captain Giroux leads the Flyers with 20 goals, 41 assists and 61 points in 69 games. He is followed on the Flyers' scoring leader list by Schenn (24 goals, 27 assists, 51 points), Simmonds (25 goals, 25 assists, 50 points, 129 penalty minutes) and Jakub Voracek (10 goals, 39 assists, 49 points in 61 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 54 games. Sean Couturier rounds out the top six with nine goals, 24 assists and 33 points in 54 games.
Avalanche Outlook
The Avs bring a a three-game winning streak into this tilt and have won five of their last six games. This is the first game of a brief, two-game homestand. The Avs have historically been a tough team to play on their home rink but they have actually been a little better on the road (21-16-0) than at home (17-15-4) this season.
On Monday in Edmonton, goals by Gabriel Landeskog and Tyson Barrie gave the Avalanche a 2-0 lead heading into the third period. After Matt Hendricks cut the Colorado edge to one goal, a Blake Comeau power play goal at 9:09 of the third period restored a two-goal lead. Edmonton's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a goal with eight seconds left in the game but there wasn't enough time left to push for an equalizing goal in a 3-2 final. Calvin Pickard earned the win with 26 saves on 28 shots.
Colorado is missing two key forwards from the lineup. Both Matt Duchene (team-leading 29 goals and 56 points in 71 games) and Nathan MacKinnon (second on the team with 52 points in 72 games) are out with knee injuries. However, the acquisitions of Mikkel Boedker (combined 71 games, 16 goals, 30 assists and 46 points) from Arizona and Shawn Matthias (combined 62 games, nine goals, 15 assists 24 points) from Toronto before the trade deadline have provided some depth to the roster.
Without Duchene or MacKinnon, Landeskog is the leading scoring on Colorado with 18 goals, 30 asssists and 48 points in 66 games. He is followed by Barrie (13 goals, 34 assists, 47 points in 69 games), Carl Söderberg (12 goals, 35 assists, 47 points in 69 games), Boedker, Iginla (19 goals, 24 assists, 43 points in 73 games) and Comeau (11 goals, 22 assists, 33 points). Veteran defenseman Erik Johnson has 11 goals among his 26 points in 64 games.
Semyon Varlamov will get the start in goal on Thursday. In 49 games this season, he has posted a 26-18-3 record, 2.66 goals against average, .917 save percentage and two shutouts. Pickard has made 18 appearances (12 starts) with a 7-5-1 record, 2.57 GAA, .922 SV% and one shutout.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.58 (18th), Avalanche 2.66 (15th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.57 (14th), Avalanche 2.80 (20th) 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 120/112, Avalanche 123/130 Power play efficiency: Flyers 18.2% (17th), Avalanche 19.4% (11th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.9% (T-19th), Avalanche 82.1% (9th) Shots per game: Flyers 30.4 (T-9th), Avalanche 28.9 (24th) Shots against per game: Flyers 31.2 (26th), Avalanche 31.9 (28th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.6% (8th), Avalanche 49.8% (T-17th)
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 76 Chris VandeVelde - 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 [65 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Evgeny Medvedev (healthy), R.J. Umberger (healthy), Scott Laughton (healthy), Jordan Weal (healthy), Michael Del Zotto (IR, wrist), Michal Neuvirth (suspected left knee injury).
Avalanche
27 Andreas Martinsen - 7 John Mitchell - 12 Jarome Iginla 92 Gabriel Landeskog - 34 Carl Söderberg - 18 Shawn Matthias 89 Mikkel Boedker - 25 Mikhail Grigorenko- 14 Blake Comeau 55 Cody McLeod - 96 Mikko Rantanen - 8 Jack Skille
32 Francois Beauchemin - 6 Erik Johnson 2 Nick Holden - 4 Tyson Barrie 3 Chris Bigras - 41 Andrew Bodnarchuk
1 Semyon Varlamov [31 Calvin Pickard]
Scratches: Zach Redmond (healthy), Matt Duchene (knee), Nathan MacKinnon (knee), Eric Gelinas (elbow), Brad Stuart (IR, back surgery), Jesse Winchester (IR, post-concussion syndrome).