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Flyers Gameday: 12/18/18 vs. DET

December 18, 2018, 1:22 AM ET [646 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game 32 Preview: FLYERS VS. RED WINGS

Making his Flyers debut, interim head coach Scott Gordon's Philadelphia Flyers (12-15-4) host Jeff Blashill's Detrot Red Wings (14-15-5). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET.

The game will be televised locally on NBCSP. The radio broadcast can be found on 97.5 FM The Fanatic with an online simulcast at FlyersRadio247.com.

This is the first of three meetings this season between the teams, and the first of two in Philadelphia. The teams will rematch for a Feb. 16-17 home-and-home set that starts with a matinee in Philadelphia and then shifts to Detroit the following evening. Last season, the Flyers went 2-0-1 against the Red Wings.

Flyers Outlook

There was a whirlwind of activity from the time the Flyers plane left Vancouver on Sunday after the end of a 1-3-1 road trip through various major announcements made at practice at the Skate Zone on Monday. For a rundown of all the key developments, click here.

Carter Hart is likely to make the start for the Flyers in goal; the team's 6th goaltender to appear this season. The highly touted 20-year-old rookie had some early trials and tribulations in the American Hockey League to start the season but has made some adjustments and was in a groove in his most recent five starts prior to the recall. Practically speaking, Hart is just about the last man standing in goal.

Michal Neuvirth, whose wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy, was off the ice for three days while on family leave. He practiced on Monday but given his injury risk and the fact that he's only played in three games this season (two NHL, one AHL), he's a non-option for starting until he gets more work in.

Alex Lyon, who was returned to the Phantoms on Monday, has had two lower-body injuries this season. Although healthy enough to play, he is not yet in his best form.

Brian Elliott is undergoing further medical testing and a maintenance plan is expected to be created. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said Elliott is not close to playing in the next few weeks but his status is not quite "month-to-month," either. The bottom line, although the Flyers reported he's making progress from a lower-body issue, is that there's no clarity yet on when he'll be able to play and at what degree of health.

Anthony Stolarz, who was doing an adequate job in goal despite poor stats, sustained a lower-body injury in Saturday's game in Vancouver. He was placed on injured reserve on Monday with a projected 4-to-6 week timetable.

By process of elimination, that leaves only Hart as a healthy option in mid-season form. It remains to be seen how long his stint is with the big club the first time around -- and the circumstances for his recall are far from ideal given the team's dire straights and the coaching change behind the bench -- but there really isn't much other choice other than paying a premium price to one of the teams who are shopping NHL veteran goalies; most of whom have either played at middling levels in recent times or have their own injury issues.

Among the five Flyers goaltenders this season, only the injured Elliott has posted a save percentage that higher than 88 percent. Elliott raised his season percentage to .911 before a reinjury forced him back out of the lineup. Stolarz is second-highest at .880.

Gordon will conduct a morning skate on Tuesday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, and then address the media afterwards. The Flyers, without the already-dismissed Dave Hakstol on the ice at Monday's practice, featured some more shuffling of forward line combinations. The projected lineup is based on Monday's practice lines were arranged, since Gordon will not have his first bonafide practice with the team until Wednesday.

Entering this game, the Flyers have won just four of their last 15 games overall (4-8-3) and have fallen into last place in the Eastern Conference. There are many things that need to be improved upon in addition to the goaltending play.

* The Flyers have given up the game's first goal in 21 of 31 games. The team is 6-13-2 in those games.

* The Flyers rank 30th in the NHL on the penalty kill because they were sub-70 percent until an uptick in recent weeks. The team has raised its overall percentage to 73.5 percent (opponents are 27-for-102) but that has barely moved the needle. The league median this season to date is 79.4 percent.

* The Flyers have converted just seven of the last 73 power play attempts. The power play has fallen to 12.9 percent overall (12-for-93) to rank 29th in the NHL. Additionally, the current Flyers have not done much in the way of being able create power play opportunities for themselves. At 93 power play opportunities, Philadelphia ranks 26th.

* Only the Florida Panthers (7) and Pittsburgh Penguins (8) have allowed more opposing shorthanded goals than the Flyers have to date.

* Although the Flyers have scored four or more goals in 13 of 31 games, they have also either been shut out (four times) or held to one goal (six times) in 10 games.

Red Wings Outlook

The Red Wings are 4-4-2 over their last 10 games and 6-7-2 on the road this season. Tuesday's game is the second game of a three-game road trip. Detroit has been a very team of late in its own right. The Wings will be in action for the sixth time in 11 nights.

Detroit is winless in its last three games heading into Tuesday's tilt. Last week, the Red Wings were strafed on the road, 6-2, by the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, returned home on Friday for a 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators and then traveled to New York and claimed one point from a 4-3 shootout loss to the Islanders.

Dylan Larkin (14 goals, 32 points) leads the Red Wings in scoring. He is followed by Gustav Nyquist (nine goals, 30 points), Andreas Athanasiou (11 goals, 20 points), Frans Nielsen (5 goals, 20 points) and Tyler Bertuzzi (nine goals, 18 points). Veteran goaltender Jimmy Howard has made 22 starts and one relief appearance (10-7-4, 2.69 GAA, .922 SV%) while fellow veteran Jonathan Bernier has made 12 starts and two relief appearances (4-8-1, 3.58 GAA, .890 SV%).

To date, the Red Wings have averaged 2.82 goals per game (24th) and carry a team 3.27 GAA (also 24th). The power play comes in at 18.2 percent (21st) and the penalty kill is 78.2 percent (19th). Only Anaheim and Ottawa allow more opposing shots on goal, on average, than the Red Wings at 34.4 per game.


PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)

FLYERS

28 Claude Giroux - 19 Nolan Patrick - 11 Travis Konecny
17 Wayne Simmonds - 14 Sean Couturier- 93 Jakub Voracek
25 James van Riemsdyk - 21 Scott Laughton - 12 Michael Raffl
23 Oskar Lindblom - 44 Phil Varone - 22 Dale Weise

9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 8 Robert Hägg
47 Andrew MacDonald - 3 Radko Gudas

79 Carter Hart
[30 Michal Neuvirth]

Scratches: 15 Jori Lehterä (healthy), 40 Jordan Weal (healthy), 26 Christian Folin (healthy), 41 Anthony Stolarz (IR, lower body), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, lower body), 10 Corban Knight (IR, collarbone), 5 Sam Morin (ACL surgery).

RED WINGS
14 Gustav Nyquist - 71 Dylan Larkin - 8 Justin Abdelkader
72 Andreas Athanasiou - 51 Frans Nielsen - 70 Christoffer Ehn
59 Tyler Bertuzzi - 41 Luke Glendening - 27 Michael Rasmussen
26 Thomas Vanek - 61 Jacob De La Rose - 42 Martin Frk ​

21 Dennis Cholowski - 83 Trevor Daley
55 Niklas Kronwall - 3 Nick Jensen
52 Jonathan Ericsson - 17 Filip Hronek ​

35 Jimmy Howard / 45 Jonathan Bernier

Scratches: 22 Wade Megan (healthy), 28 Luke Witkowski (healthy), 25 Mike Green (IR, lower body), 39 Anthony Mantha (IR, hand), 43 Darren Helm (IR, upper body), 65 Danny DeKeyser (healthy).
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