Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Flyers Gameday: 2/8/20 @ WSH

February 8, 2020, 10:25 AM ET [262 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
GAME 55: FLYERS @ CAPITALS

Beginning a busy and mission-critical stretch of four games in six nights, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (29-18-7 overall, 11-13-3 away) are in DC on Saturday to play Todd Reirden's Washington Capitals (36-13-5 overall, 16-7-4 home). Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.

The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast will be on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on the Flyers Radio 24/7 component of the Flyers Broadcast Network.

This is the third of four meetings this season between the teams, and the first of two in Washington. The Flyers are 1-0-1 to date against the Caps. The season series concludes at Capital One Arena on March 4.

FLYERS OUTLOOK

Exiting the All-Star break, the Flyers took five of six possible points. However, a putrid trap-game performance on Thursday in a 5-0 home loss to the lowly New Jersey Devils was paired with other teams in the playoff chase continuing to win.

As a result, the Flyers now face a situation where, for a third time this season, to get points (preferably two, of course) against the top team in the NHL in order to mitigate the damage. The Flyers are in a points tie with Carolina for the lower wildcard spot in the East but are below the playoff cutoff line due to the regulation wins tiebreaker. Meanwhile, the New York Islanders have opened a three-point on the Flyers (plus they hold two games in hand and already own the tiebreaker edge over Philly).

The next four games are crucial and there won't be any time to practice in between them. After this game, the Flyers host Florida on Monday, go on the road to play the Islanders on Tuesday and then have a return match with the Panthers in Sunrise on Thursday. At the other end of that stretch will be a road game in Tampa Bay next Saturday.

The Flyers recalled Morgan Frost from the Phantoms on Friday evening. Claude Giroux has moved from center back to left wing on Sean Couturier's line. Andy Andreoff has been returned to Lehigh Valley.

Friday's practice saw the team work on yet more tweaks to the power play after a disastrous performance on Thursday in which most of the scoring chances generated were by the shorthanded Devils. At Friday's practice, Claude Giroux was on the left side, Jakub Voracek on the right, Sean Couturier the bumper, Travis Konecny at netfront, and Ivan Provorov at the point. The second unit had Kevin Hayes, James van Riemsdyk, Scott Laughton (for the first time in many years), Shayne Gostisbehere and Matt Niskanen.

On Friday, Nolan Patrick skated with the team for a third straight day. After participating in a Sklls Day session on Wednesday and the morning skate on Thursday, Patrick did an individual skills session with Angelo Ricci on Friday and then remained on the ice for practice. The center's only involvement was as a stand-in "eighth defenseman", taking passing reps with Shayne Gostisbehere. Even so, it is a hopeful sign that Patrick's level of participation is taking baby steps of daily progression.

Gostisbehere is a frustrated hockey player right now. Vigneault said after practice that it was unfair, in hindsight, to have brought Gostisbehere back into the lineup after knee surgery with only two 25-minute practices with the team under his belt. Gostisbehere served as the seventh defenseman at practice but also took second power play unit reps. At the end of practice, Gostisbehere hurled his stick from the ice. It helicoptered over the glass and hit the wall on the bench side.

Joel Farabee, who has been battling a severe strain of the flu since Tuesday, did not practice again on Friday. Vigneault said the player has lost several pounds and is still on the mend. Farabee did not make the trip to DC with the team.

Carter Hart (lower right abdominal muscle strain) is close to returning but will need a few more days. It is possible that Hart could be ready for Monday's home game against Florida. Brian Elliott will get the start against the Capitals.

CAPITALS OUTLOOK

Sitting atop the NHL standings, the Capitals have won six of their last 10 games. Unlike the Flyers, the Caps have put themselves in a position where they don't have to sweat the occasional off-night or worry about what other teams are doing in their games.

Washington holds a six-point lead over Pittsburgh in the Metro; it was eight points 10 games ago, which shows how hard it is for a team to play catch-up this time of year even with Pittsburgh winning seven of its last 10 games.

The main focus around this game from the Capitals side is whether Alex Ovechkin can bag two goals tonight on home ice against the Flyers. If he does, the future Hall of Famer will hit the 700-goal milestone for his career. The Flyers have contained Ovechkin in the two meetings so far this season, but he has 34 goals in 55 career games against Philly.

On Saturday, the Caps recalled defenseman Martin Fehervary from the AHL's Hershey Bears. The 20-year-old has previously appeared in four games for Washington.

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

FLYERS

28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 18 Tyler Pitlick
12 Michael Raffl - 82 Connor Bunnaman (?) - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel

9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim -5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hägg - 61 Justin Braun
53 Shayne Gostisbehere (possible 7th D/ power play)

37 Brian Elliott
[34 Alex Lyon]

Power Play 1: Giroux, Couturier, Konecny, Voracek, Provorov.
Power Play 2: JVR, Hayes, Frost/Laughton, Sanheim/Gostisbehere, Niskanen.

Scratches: one of 53 Shayne Gostsisbere (healthy) or 82 Connor Bunnaman (healthy), 49 Joel Farabee (illness), 79 Carter Hart (abdominal muscle strain).

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


CAPITALS

8 Alex Ovechkin - 19 Nicklas Backström - 43 Tom Wilson
13 Jakub Vrana - 92 Evgeny Kuznetsov - 77 T.J. Oshie
62 Carl Hagelin - 20 Lars Eller - 14 Richard Panik
28 Brendan Leipsic - 26 Nic Dowd - 21 Garnet Hathaway​

6 Michal Kempny - 74 John Carlson
9 Dmitry Orlov - 3 Nick Jensen
42 Martin Fehervary - 33 Radko Gudas​

70 Braden Holtby
30 Ilya Samsonov

Power Play 1: Backström, Kuznetsov. Oshie, Ovechkin, Carlson
Power Play 2: Vrana, Eller, Wilson, Ovechkin, Orlov

Scratches: 72 Travis Boyd (healthy), 34 Jonas Siegenthaler (healthy).
Join the Discussion: » 262 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Bill Meltzer
» Flyers Gameday: 3/28/24 @ MTL
» Wrap: Flyers Lose 6-5 OT Game to Rangers
» Flyers Gameday: 3/26/24 @ NYR
» Quick Hits: Flyers-FLA Wrap, Flyers Daily, Phantoms, Bigger than Hockey
» Flyers Gameday: 3/24/2024 vs. FLA; Phantoms Update