GAME 7: FLYERS VS. GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Looking to snap a four-game winless streak, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (2-3-1) host Gerard Gallant's Vegas Golden Knights (6-3-0) on Monday night. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The radio broadcast is in on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on
Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of two meetings this season between the interconference clubs. They will rematch at T-Mobile Arena on Jan 2. Last season, the Flyers went 1-1-0 against the Stars, with the home team winning both games.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Saturday night's 4-1 loss at home to the Dallas Stars was an odd one. The Flyers dominated puck possession and shot attempts -- and held Dallas to a mere three shots on goal for 38-plus minutes -- but generated only five high-danger chances for the entire game to three for Dallas (per NaturalStatTrick.com).
Sean Couturier's goal in the opening minute of the game on a tic-tac-toe sequence with Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny ended up being the Flyers only goal. Carter Hart had no realistic chance to stop either a Roope Hintz or Esa Lindell (power play) goal in the first period but needed to come with a stop on a Corey Perry backhander from the center slot early in the third period to prevent the deficit from growing to 3-1. Perry's goal was just the second Hart had seen on net since the tail end of the third period. Miro Heiskanen later added an empty-net goal.
After giving up just one power play goal through the first four games of the season, the Flyers gotten beat three straight time in Edmonton and in the first period against Dallas before the Stars later canceled out their own abbreviated second power play with a tripping minor by Alexander Radulov. The Flyers power play opportunities produced neither goals nor momentum for the team in that game.
Overall, the Flyers have gone 6-for-24 on the power play (25.0%, T-9th). The 1-for-4 on the PK over the last two games has dropped the penalty kill success rate to 73.3 percent (11-for-15, 24th).
Entering the seventh game of the regular season, James van Riemsdyk and Shayne Gostisbehere are still looking for their respective first point of the season. Other players still searching for their first goal of the season include Claude Giroux (0g, 4a), Travis Sanheim (0g, 1a) and Scott Laughton (0g, 1a).
On Sunday, an off-day for the team, the Flyers reassigned winger Carsen Twarynski to the American Hockey League's Lehigh Valley Phantoms and recalled both 2018 first-round pick Joel Farabee (3g, 1a in his first four AHL games) and third-year pro Mikhail Vorobyev (2g, 2a for Lehigh Valley) to the NHL squad. Farabee will make his NHL debut on Monday night.
The Flyers lineup on Monday night will feature changes on all four forward lines (see projected lineups below). Brian Elliott will get the start in goal.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS OUTLOOK
Vegas bounced back from a 5-2 home loss to Nashville on Tuesday with a 3-2 shootout win at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday night. On Saturday, the Golden Knights started a three-games-in-four-nights road trip with a 3-0 shut out of the Penguins in Pittsburgh.
On Saturday, Paul Stastny (power play, 4th) scored the game's only goal through two periods. Late in the third period, with the Penguins on the power play and attacking 6-on-4, a Deryk Engelland shot block begat a William Karlsson empty netter (shorthanded, 1st). Mark Stone then added an additional empty netter (6th). Marc-Andre Fleury recorded a 29-save shutout against his former team.
Through nine games, Stone leads his new team with 12 points (6g, 6a). He is followed by veteran Max Pacioretty (2g, 8a), Karlsson (1g, 7a), Reilly Smith (6a, 1a), Stastny (4g, 3a) and Cody Glass (2g, 4a). The dangerous Jonathan Marchessault (1g, 4a) is coming off seasons of 30, 27, and 25 goals.
To date, Vegas is 9-for-30 on the power play (30.0%, 5th), and a league-leading 33-for-35 (94.3 percent) on the penalty kill. The Golden Knights already have compiled four shorthanded goals; no other team has more than two yet.
With the Golden Knights playing the middle game of a 3-in-4 and front end of a back-to-back, Oskar Dansk will get the start in net against the Flyers.
PROJECTED LINES
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
23 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 49 Joel Farabee
12 Michael Raffl - 24 Mikhail Vorobyev - 44 Chris Stewart
9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 8 Robert Hägg
37 Brian Elliott
[79 Carter Hart]
Power Play 1: Giroux, JVR, Farabee, Voracek, Gostisbehere.
Power Play 2: Lindblom, Couturier, Konecny, Provorov, Niskanen.
Scratches: 18 Tyler Pitlick (healthy), 55 Sam Morin (healthy).
Injured non-roster: 19 Nolan Patrick (migraines).
GOLDEN KNIGHTS
81 Jonathan Marchessault - 71 William Karlsson - 19 Reilly Smith
67 Max Pacioretty - 26 Paul Stastny - 6 Mark Stone
73 Brandon Pirri - 21 Cody Eakin - 9 Cody Glass
28 William Carrier - 92 Tomas Nosek - 75 Ryan Reaves
3 Brayden McNabb - 27 Shea Theodore
15 Jon Merrill - 22 Nick Holden
45 Jake Bischoff - 5 Deryk Engelland
35 Oskar Dansk
[29 Marc-Andre Fleury]
Power Play 1: Glass, Stastny, Pacioretty, Theodore, Stone.
Power Play 2: Pirri, Marchessault, Smith, Merrill, Karlsson.
Scratches: 10 Nicolas Roy (healthy, recalled Oct. 20), 14 Nicolas Hague (healthy), Malcolm Subban (lower body, day-to-day).
Injured reserve: 89 Alex Tuch (upper body).
NHL suspension: 7 Valentin Zykov (20 games, Oct. 17).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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