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Flyers Gameday: 1/21/20 vs. PIT

January 21, 2020, 9:30 AM ET [157 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
UPDATE 11:30 AM ET

Michael Raffl (neck/shoulder) will be held out of tonight's game. Joel Farabee will skate on Sean Couturier's line. German Rubtsov will play fourth line left wing on Connor Bunnaman's unit.

Justin Schultz (lower body) is close to returning from IR for Pittsburgh but will not play in this game.

Projected lineups are updated below.

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GAME 50: FLYERS vs. PENGUINS

In the final game before the NHL All-Star break and the team's bye week, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (26-17-6 overall, 16-4-4 home) host Mike Sullivan's Pittsburgh Penguins (31-13-5 overall, 13-8-2 road) on Tuesday night. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:30 p.m. ET.

The game will be nationally televised on NBC Sports Network. The radio broadcast will be on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.

This is the second of four meetings this season between the Metro Division archrivals, and the first of two in Philadelphia. The teams will rematch in Pittsburgh on Jan. 31 (the Flyers' first game after the upcoming break, making it an unusual home-and-home set) and back in Philadelphia on March 29.

On Oct. 29, the Flyers suffered one of their worst losses of the season; a 7-1 pasting at PPG Paints Arena at the hands of the Penguins. The game was 4-0 by the time it was 14:02 into the first period, and Brian Elliott was strafed for six goals on 28 shots over the opening 40 minutes of the game. Carter Hart mopped up in the third period and nearly got through it unscathed before he was abandoned on an unstoppable goal in the final seven seconds. Oskar Lindblom's early third period marker was the only thing that prevented a Matt Murray shutout. Murray stopped 29 of 30 shots.

FLYERS OUTLOOK

The Flyers are 4-2-0 in their last six games. On Saturday, the team bounced back from a disappointing performance two nights earlier against Montreal with a workmanlike 4-1 victory against the struggling Los Angeles Kings.

Travis Konecny, who is second in the NHL with seven goals that have opened the scoring in a game, put the Flyers ahead early in the first period and later notched a second goal. Both goals were assisted by James van Riemsdyk. Joel Farabee got a fortuitous deflection goal that built a 3-0 lead through 40 minutes. Farabee has scored goals in back-to-back games.

In the third period, Dustin Brown (10th) briefly cut the gap to two goals but van Riemsdyk made it a three-goal game again. Brian Elliott earned the win, stopping 34 of 35 shots. Jack Campbell took the loss, with 21 saves on 25 Flyers shots.

Michael Raffl sustained an upper-body injury in the third period on a hit by Brown behind the Flyers' net. He finished his shift. The Flyers had an off-day from practice on Sunday for a season ticket holders' event at the Wells Fargo Center and then returned to practice in Voorhees on Monday. Raffl participated in practice but is officially day-to-day and questionable to play against the Penguins on Tuesday.

The Flyers recalled second-year pro forward German Rubtsov from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The team's 2016 first-round pick, who has been set back by injuries several times in his young career including a shoulder injury earlier this season, has recently returned to form with several straight good all-around games prior to the callup. If Raffl can't go for this game, center/winger Rubtsov will play left wing. The young Russian forward had been recently playing a wing for Lehigh Valley.

With Hart sidelined until after the break due to a lower right abdominal muscle strain, Elliott will get the start in goal on Tuesday. For the season, he is 11-5-3 with a 3.03 GAA and .901 save percentage. He will be backed up by Alex Lyon, who stopped 36 of 40 shots in last Thursday's loss to Montreal.

Vigneault was severely under the weather on Monday. He coached the start of practice, but had to leave early.

PENGUINS OUTLOOK

To their credit, key injuries have not slowed down the Penguins one iota this season. They were without Evgeni Malkin early this season and then without Sidney Crosby for an extended period of time. More recently, they lost Jake Guentzel. Justin Schultz, Brian Dumoulin and Nick Bjugstad have also had to spend signficant time on the injured reserve list.

Nevertheless, the Penguins have piled up the wins. They are the only team in the Metropolitan Division outside of Washington with a comfortable cushion between themselves and the glut of clubs in pursuit.

Entering this tilt, the Penguins have won back-to-back games. The team has gained points in eight of its last 10 games overall (7-2-1). On Sunday, the Penguins earned a 4-3 home win over the Atlantic Division leading Boston Bruins after trailing 3-0.

Goals by Dominik Simon (6th), Teddy Blueger (7th) and defenseman Jack Johnson (shorthanded, 3rd) tied the game by early in the third period. Bryan Rust (21st) then scored what proved to be the game-winer. Crosby earned two assists in the game, while Malkin set up the game-winner. Starting goalie Murray was razzed by the home fans after giving up goals at the 11-second and 2:02 marks of the first period, prompting Malkin after the game to say it's the sort of thing he'd expect from the Philadelphia crowd, but not in Pittsburgh.

Malkin, who leads the Penguins with 50 points (15 goals, 35 assists) in just 36 games played, will undoubtedly get a warm reception on Tuesday from the Wells Fargo Center crowd. Normally, Flyers fans reserve their strongest vitriol for Crosby (25 points in 20 games).

Over the years, in reality, it has become easier for Flyers playes to get under the hot-headed Malkin's skin than Crosby's. Malkin has been involved in stick-swinging and slew-footing (actually injuring himself) incidents in games against the Flyers in recent years. At the Stadium Series game last season, it was Robert Hägg taking Malkin off the ice with him on third period coincidental minors that opened the door for the Flyers' late comeback and eventual overtime win. Conversely, the Flyers' hostilities relative to Crosby have settled down considerably since building from the outset of his career and reaching their peak in the 2012 playoffs.

The Penguins' +35 overall goal differential this season ranks third in the NHL, and tops in the Metro Division. Improved team defense has been at the root of why the Penguins have withstood all of their injuries this season. Pittsburgh's team 2.71 goals against average ranks 8th in the NHL and their average 3.37 goals scored ranks 6th.

In goal, former wunderkind Murray (15-6-4, 2.84 GAA, .900 SV%, 1 SO) has had a couple straight inconsistent seasons since bursting onto the NHL scene and being a significant part of Pittsburgh's back-to-back Stanley Cup seasons. When he's on, he's excellent. When he's off, he's way off.

Twenty-four-year-old Tristan Jarry has been splitting time with Murray in a tandem arrangement. Jarry, who appeared in 26 NHL games in 2017-18 but only two last season, has made 22 starts and two relief appearances this season. He's been the more consistent of the Penguins' tandem, posting a 16-7-1 record, 2.16 GAA, .929 save percentage and three shutouts on the season to date.

Over the last two seasons, Sullivan has steered the Penguins away from overrelying on their offense in general and power play in particular. The turning point was the 2017-18 season, when the Penguins were significantly under water at 5-on-5 (161 GF - 176 GA) and it eventually hurt them when the postseason rolled around despite being a 100-point team in the regular season and taking the Flyers out in six games in a sloppily played first round series on both sides.

Last season,the Penguins improved to a +15 goal differential at 5-on-5 (176 GF- 161 GA). This year, through 49 games, the Penguis are +23 (115 GF - 92 GA) at 5-on-5.

On the special teams side, the Penguins team's 24.6 percent overall success rate ranked 5th in the league last year and is at an even 20.0 percent this season (16th). A season ago, the penalty kill, at 79.7 percent, ranked 19th but has bumped up to 81.7 percent this year (14th). Equally important is the fact that, with an average of just 2.67 times shorthanded per game, the 2019-20 Penguins are the NHL's second least-penalized team (the Flyers are 18th at 3.04 PK situations per game).

Simon left Sunday's game with a lower-body injury. However, he is expected to be in the lineup against the Flyers. Dominik Kahun, who sustained a concussion on Sunday, is out. Defenseman Schultz (lower-body injury) has missed the team's last 15 games. He participated fully in practice on Monday at the UPMC Lemieux Complex. Officially, he is a game-day decision for Tuesday in Philly but remained on IR as of Monday. Also on Monday, the Penguins recalled forward Joe Blandisi from the AHL's WB/S Pens.

If Schultz is ready to be activated for Tuesday's game, the Penguins will need to make another roster move to get down to the roster limit. Kahun going on IR is a possibility.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS (subject to change, will be updated)

FLYERS

25 James van Riemsdyk - 28 Claude Giroux - 11 Travis Konecny
49 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 62 Nic Aube-Kubel
50 German Rubtsov - 82 Connor Bunnaman - 18 Tyler Pitlick

9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim -5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hägg - 61 Justin Braun

37 Brian Elliott
[34 Alex Lyon]

Power Play 1: Giroux, JVR, Konecny, Hayes, Provorov.
Power Play 2: Couturier, Aube-Kubel/Farabee, Voracek, Sanheim, Niskanen.


Scratches: 79 Carter Hart (abdominal muscle strain), 53 Shayne Gostisbehere (knee), 12 Michael Raffl (neck/shoulder).

LTIR: 55 Sam Morin (torn ACL, out for season), 23 Oskar Lindblom (Ewing sarcoma, out for season), 19 Nolan Patrick (migraines).


PENGUINS

19 Jared McCann - 87 Sidney Crosby - 12 Dominik Simon
18 Alex Galchenyuk - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 17 Bryan Rust
36 Joe Blandisi - 26 Andrew Agozzino - 72 Patric Hörnqvist
46 Zach Aston-Reese - 53 Teddy Blueger - 13 Brandon Tanev​

3 Jack Johnson - 58 Kris Letang
28 Marcus Pettersson - 6 John Marino
50 Juuso Riikola - 2 Chad Ruhwedel

35 Tristan Jarry
30 Matt Murray

Power Play 1: Hörnqvist, Crosby, Rust, Letang, Malkin
Power Play 2: Galchenyuk, McCann, Simon, Marino, Riikola

Scratches: 7 Kevin Czuczman (healthy), 24 Dominik Kahun (concussion), 37 Sam Lafferty (healthy).

Injured reserve: 4 Justin Schultz (lower body), 8 Brian Dumoulin (ankle surgery), 27 Nick Bjugstad (core muscle surgery), 59 Jake Guentzel (right shoulder surgery).
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