PREVIEW: FLYERS @ DEVILS
Needing a quick bounce-back from a painful finish to Saturday's game, Craig Berube's Philadelphia Flyers (28-25-13) are in Newark to take on the New Jersey Devils (27-28-10) on Sunday evening. Game time at the Prudential Center is 5:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised locally on TCN Philadelphia.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the teams, and the second in New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Flyers, 6-4, in the Flyers' home opener on Oct. 9. The Flyers won a Dec. 11 meeting at the Wells Fargo Center by a 4-1 count. On Jan. 3 at the Rock, the Devils skated to a 5-2 win.
Sunday's game is the second half of back-to-back games and the third game in less than four nights for Philadelphia. On Saturday, the Flyers played an emotional matinee game in Boston. Philly will play host to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.
The Devils are wrapping up a three-game homestand and a stretch of nine of 10 games on home ice. New Jersey hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. On Tuesday, the Devils will open a three-game road trip in St. Paul against the Minnesota Wild.
Flyers outlook
The Flyers enter this game coming off a devastating three-point swing in the Eastern Conference standings after being 15 seconds away from closing to withing two points of the Boston Bruins in the wildcard chase. Instead, the club is five points out with Boston holding two games in hand and a tiebreaker advantage.
In Saturday's game, goals by Jakub Voracek (power play) and Chris VandeVelde put the Flyers on the brink of a regulation victory despite a first-period power play goal by Boston's Zdeno Chara. Instead, Wayne Simmonds was whistled off for tripping with 2:03 left in regulation, and Boston's Brad Marchand scored a deflection goal on the ensuing 6-on-4 with 15 ticks remaining on the clock tied the game.
In overtime, Voracek had the game on his stick on a breakaway against Tuukka Rask (29 saves) but was unable to finish. With 1:08 left in overtime, a bad turnover by Sean Couturier was turned into a game-winning goal by Marchand, whose backhanded shot deflected into the net off the skate of Flyers defenseman Michael Del Zotto.
Selected third star of the game, Flyers goaltender Steve Mason (34 saves on 37 shots) deserved a better fate in Saturday's game. Incredibly, the luckless goaltender is still stuck on one road win for the entire season (1-9-5) despite a respectable .913 save percentage and 2.62 goals against average.
Saturday's game was a microcosm of why the Flyers are in grave danger of missing the playoffs for the second time in three seasons. The team struggles mightily to win on the road (9-17-7) because the Flyers' penalty kill in road games clocks in at a disgraceful 69.6 percent. On home ice, the Flyers have killed penalties at a solid 83.3 percent clip (tied for 14th in the NHL).
Nevertheless, the Flyers have gained at least one point in 16 of their last 19 games (10-3-6). In each of the last four matches, the Flyers have yielded the game's first goal but still managed two wins and six of eight possible points.
Nicklas Grossmann sustained an upper-body injury while blocking a shot early in the second period of last Saturday's home win over the New York Rangers. He has missed the last three games with a suspected concussion, although he officially remains day-to-day. Carlo Colaiacovo has started the last three games in his place.
Del Zotto sustained an apparent foot injury blocking a shot midway through the first period of Saturday's game. He missed the remainder of the period and then returned to finish the game. Afterwards, the Flyers recalled Brandon Manning from the Phantoms.
Devils outlook
The Devils have fared well in their home-heavy stretch of games. The club is 6-2-1 over the last nine games. However, the Devils enter this game coming off a 3-2 regulation loss to Columbus on Friday night. Jordin Tootoo and Peter Harrold scored in a losing cause for the Devils in Friday's game. Cory Schneider stopped 21 of 24 shots.
The last time the Devils played the Flyers, Jaromir Jagr notched a hat trick. The future Hall of Famer has since been traded to the Florida Panthers.
Michael Cammalleri enters Sunday's game leading the Devils in scoring with 24 goals and 34 points in 53 games. Adam Henrique (12 goals, team-high 21 assists in 58 games) is one point behind.
Bryce Salvador (lower body) and Ryane Clowe (concussion) are on injured reserve for New Jersey.
Sunday's game is the 20th anniversary reunion of the championship-winning 1994-95 Devils team. That year, the Devils defeated the Flyers in six games in the Eastern Conference Final before sweeping the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.61 (21st), Devils 2.18 (27th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.77 (23rd), Devils 2.49 (10th) Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 0.99 (20th), Devils 0.96 (22nd) Power play efficiency: Flyers 23.1% (3rd), Devils 19.4% (10th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 76.2% (28th), Devils 80.5% (21st) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 51.6% (9th), Devils 47.4% (28th)
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 - 22 Luke Schenn 26 Carlo Colaiacovo - 47 Andrew MacDonald
35 Steve Mason [29 Ray Emery]
Scratches: Vincent Lecavalier (healthy), Brandon Manning (healthy, will play if Del Zotto is unable to go), Nicklas Grossmann (upper body), Radko Gudas (IR, knee surgery).
DEVILS
14 Adam Henrique - 21 Scott Gomez - 18 Steve Bernier 23 Michael Cammalleri - 19 Travis Zajac - 20 Jordin Tootoo 8 Dainius Zubrus - 26 Patrik Elias - 11 Stephen Gionta 15 Tuomo Ruutu - 16 Jacob Josefson - 10 Peter Harrold
6 Andy Greene - 5 Adam Larsson 32 Mark Fraser - 22 Eric Gelinas 7 Jon Merrill - 28 Damon Severson
35 Cory Schneider [1 Keith Kinkaid]
Scratches: Martin Havlat (healthy), Michael Ryder (healthy), Bryce Salvador (IR, lower body), Ryane Clowe (IR, concussion).