PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. OILERS
In the fourth game of a six-game homestand, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (28-22-11) host Todd McLellan's Edmonton Oilers (24-34-7). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the two clubs. On Nov. 3, the Flyers suffered a 4-2 setback in Edmonton -- the fifth straight Philadelphia loss of an early season six-game swoon (0-4-2) against a succession of non-playoff caliber opponents from which the team has been working ever since to fully recover in the standings.
The Flyers enter this game with a 3-0-0 record thus far on the homestand. The team is coming off a 5-3 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday. Hakstol gave the players an off-day on Tuesday before the club returned to practice. The Flyers will host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
The Oilers are in the second game of a four-game road trip. Edmonton is coming off a 2-1 overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. Thursday's game is the front end of back-to-back games. They will travel to Columbus on Friday. By the time the road trip wraps up on Sunday in Winnipeg, the Oilers will have been away for six of their last seven games .
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers finished the month of February with an 8-4-3 record. For the second straight season, the team has been considerably more successful at home (16-8-7) than on the road (13-14-4).
On Monday night, Brayden Schenn exploded for his first NHL hat trick and Wayne Simmonds notched two goals in a 5-3 win over Calgary. Team captain Claude Giroux racked up four assists, and the team received an assist apiece from five of its six defensemen in the lineup. The Flyers went 2-for-3 on the power play against Calgary's bottom-ranked penalty killing. Goalie Michal Neuvirth let in a leaky third goal by Calgary less than a minute after its second tally but otherwise played well enough to earn the win. He stopped 29 of 32 shots.
Jakub Voracek, who has been wearing a walking boot, is expected to return from a lower body injury sometime around the March 15 game against the Detroit Red Wings. Top-pairing defenseman Michael Del Zotto (torn ligaments in his left wrist, suffered on Feb. 13) is out for the rest of the season. Sparingly used forward Jordan Weal (upper body) is out approximately three weeks from Feb. 16.
Rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere is one goal away from tying Behn Wilson's 13 goals in 1978-79. Gostisbehere needs 15 points to match Wilson's franchise-record 49 points (set over 80 games) the same season. The top three in points are Wilson, Tom Bladon (42 points in 78 games in 1972-73) and Janne Niinimaa (44 points in 77 games in 1996-97). Gostisbehere is currently fourth.
Giroux leads the Flyers with 17 goals, 37 assists and 54 points in 59 games. He is followed on the Flyers' scoring leader list by Voracek (10 goals, 38 assists, 48 points), Simmonds (23 goals, 20 assists, 43 points, 123 penalty minutes), and Schenn (21 goals, 21 assists, 42 points). Gostisbehere has 12 goals (six on the power play, four in overtime), 23 assists and 35 points in 44 games. Sean Couturier rounds out the top six with nine goals, 15 assists and 24 points in 44 games.
Suddenly related to a backup goaltending role, Steve Mason has appeared in 37 games, posting a 13-15-7 record, 2.70 goals against average, .915 save percentage and three shutouts (four regulation shutouts). Neuvirth has appeared in 29 games, posting a 16-7-4 record, 2.22 GAA, .927 save percentage and three shutouts.
Mason has not played a single minute since removing himself due to leg cramping in the third period of the Feb. 20 game in Toronto. He may return to the net on Thursday.
Oilers Outlook
Winner of back-to-back games, the Oilers started the month of March with a 2-1 OT win in Buffalo after going 4-8-2 in February. The perennial NHL Draft lottery team (and frequent lottery winner) was in a 1-8-2 spell before a 3-1 home win over the New York Islanders in the final game of the month.
This season, the Oilers have been a competitive club at home for the most part (16-14-2). On the road, it's been a different story. Away from Rexall Place, the Oilers have posted an atrocious 8-20-5 record.
The Flyers' last opponent, Calgary, has seen its defensive undoing in special teams, where it ranks last in penalty killing. The Oilers, conversely, haven't been awful on the penalty kill (80.4 percent efficiency) but no team in the NHL has given up more five-on-five goals. The big news in Edmonton has been the healthy return of highly touted rookie franchise player Connor McDavid from a broken collarbone he sustained crashing into the end boards in the previous game against the Flyers. Some in the Canadian media attempted to blame Flyers defenseman Brandon Manning for causing the injury, although it was clearly a case of the player wiping out on an otherwise routine rush and careening awkwardly into the wall with an unfortunate result.
The top overall pick of the 2015 NHL Draft, McDavid opened the month of March with regulation and overtime goals in the Oilers' win over the the Sabres, was chosen as the NHL's Rookie of the Month for February over Gostisbehere. While McDavid was not undeserving -- he had five-point and three-point games in the month and racked up five goals, 12 assists and 17 points in 14 games -- Gostisbehere set a new NHL consecutive game point streak for rookie defensemen, the second-longest point streak among all players in the league this season and a Flyers franchise rookie record. The defenseman did have three straight zero-point games late in month but forward McDavid was held off the scoresheet four times during the month.
Even with McDavid's return after the All-Star break, the Oilers' injured list is packed: Andrew Ference (hip surgery), Eric Gryba (knee), Oscar Klefbom (broken knuckle), Benoit Pouliot (separated right shoulder) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (hand surgery).
The Oilers acquired former Flyers farmhand Patrick Maroon from the Anaheim Ducks at the deadline. He could make his Edmonton debut on Thursday.
Former first overall draft pick Taylor Hall leads the Oilers in scoring with 54 points (20 goals, 34 assists) in 65 games. He is followed by Leon Draisaitl (16 goals, 28 assists, 44 points), Jordan Eberle (20 goals, 19 assists, 39 points), Pouliot (14 goals, 22 assists, 36 points), the since-traded Teddy Purcell (11 goals and 32 points in 61) and McDavid (12 goals, 19 assists, 31 points in just 28 games).
Two other former first overall picks, Nugent-Hopkins (eight goals, 22 assists, 30 points in 46 games) and Nail Yakupov (five goals, 10 assists, 15 points in 43 games), respectfully rank seventh and 11th on the team in scoring.
Without consistent defensive support around him, goaltender Cam Talbot has managed to post generally respectable if unspectacular stats this season in 43 appearances; 14-22-4 record, 2.60 goals against average, 915 save percentage and one shutout. Prior to being traded to St. Louis two days before the NHL deadline, backup Anders Nilsson made 26 appearances (10-12-2, 3.14 GAA, .901 SV%).
Laurent Brossoit has appeared on one game this season, stopping 32 of 33 shots in the Oilers' 2-1 shootout home loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 13. The game was his season debut. Formerly in the Calgary Flames system, the 22-year-old native of Port Alberni, BC, signed a two-year contract extension on Monday of this week. Before his recall, Brossoit spent most of the season in the AHL with the Bakersfield Condors, for whom he posted a 2.69 GAA and .919 save percentage in 28 games. Brossoit played his junior hockey for the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.50 (23rd), Oilers 2.37 (22nd) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.61 (T-15th), Oilers 2.95 (T-25th) 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 98/96, Oilers 104/133 Power play efficiency: Flyers 19.2% (13th), Oilers 17.0% (27th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 79.3% (T-22nd), Oilers 80.4% (18th) Shots per game: Flyers 30.3 (12th), Oilers 28.7 (T-24th) Shots against per game: Flyers 31.6 (T-28th), Oilers 31.4 (26th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 49.9% (15th), Oilers 49.4% (T-22nd)
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 21 Scott Laughton - 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 83 Evgeny Medvedev - 3 Radko Gudas
30 Michal Neuvirth [35 Steve Mason]
Scratches: Brandon Manning (healthy), R.J. Umberger (healthy) Jakub Voracek (out, lower body), Jordan Weal (IR, upper body), Michael Del Zotto (IR, wrist).
Oilers
10 Nail Yakupov - 97 Connor McDavid - 14 Jordan Eberle 4 Taylor Hall - 29 Leon Draisaitl - 44 Zack Kassian 19 Patrick Maroon - 55 Mark Letestu - 28 Lauri Korpikoski 23 Matt Hendricks - 51 Anton Lander - 22 Adam Cracknell
2 Andrej Sekera - 5 Mark Fayne 25 Darnell Nurse - 6 Adam Pardy 88 Brandon Davidson - 27 Adam Clendening
33 Cam Talbot [1 Laurent Brossoit]
Scratches: Iiro Pakarinen (healthy), Luke Gazdic (healthy), Nikita Nikitin (healthy, Andrew Ference (IR, hip surgery), Eric Gryba (IR, knee), Oscar Klefbom (IR, broken knuckle), Benoit Pouliot (IR, separated right shoulder), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (hand surgery).
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FLYERS ALUMNI IN WILLIS FOUNDATION BENEFIT FOR STROKE: MARCH 6
The Philadelphia Flyers Alumni Team will play its second annual benefit game against a team representing the Willis Towers Watson risk advisor, insurance brokerage and reinsurance brokerage company. All proceeds go to the benefit of the Willis Foundation charities.
The game will be held on March 6 at the Flyers Skate Zone in Pennsauken, NJ, with a 12:10 pm. opening faceoff. After the event, there will be a VIP meet-and-greet with the Flyers Alumni players, with food, soft drinks and beer served.
The event is free to attend for Willis employees, partners and clients. It is open to the public at a cost of $10 for admission to only the game and $50 including the meet-and-greet. For more information or to purchase admission contact organizer Joe Clark at (610)254-5664.
At this year's game, a donation check will be presented to the Philadelphia-based Delaware Valley Stroke Council, which is dedicated to providing resources for support, treatment for stroke patients and their families as well as public education on reducing the risks of strokes and life after a stroke.
This cause has become near and dear to the heart of Flyers Hall of Fame left winger Brian Propp, who suffered a stroke last year despite seemingly being the picture of good health and an active lifestyle. "Propper" has made a tremendous recovery and is doing well now. He will be coaching in Sunday's game.