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Flyers Gameday: 11/19/19 @ FLA

November 19, 2019, 8:29 AM ET [267 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
GAME 21: FLYERS @ PANTHERS

Starting a two-game southern road trip, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (10-6-4) are in Sunrise on Tuesday to take on Joel Quenneville's Florida Panthers (10-5-5). Game time at the BB&T Center 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 Flyers Radio 24/7.

This is the first of three meetings this season between the teams, and the first of two in Florida. The clubs will rematch in a quasi home-and-home set on Feb. 10 in Philadelphia and Feb. 13 in Sunrise; Philly will have a game in-between against the New York Islanders while the Panthers visit the Devils before returning home to host the Flyers. Last season, the Flyers went 1-2-0 against the Panthers.

FLYERS OUTLOOK

The Flyers have two days to physically recover from a stretch of nine games in 16 nights, as well as mentally recover from having blown a 3-0 third period lead at home against the Islanders on Saturday and settling for one point from a 4-3 (2-0) shootout loss.

There is Frost in the forecast for tonight's game. The Flyers recalled 2017 first-round pick Morgan Frost, arguably their top offensive prospect, on Monday from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He will center a line with Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny, although Giroux will take the faceoffs for the trio. Frost took a couple of reps on Giroux's power play unit, rotating with Jakub Voracek but Voracek took the majority.

In order to create a roster space for Frost, the Flyers sent rookie winger Carsen Twarynski (a healthy scratch on Saturday) the Phantoms on Monday; the second time this season that Twarynski has been loaned back to the AHL farm team.

Vigneault has grouped three struggling offensively struggling veteran forwards on the same line, saying he needs them to collectively work out of their issues together: Kevin Hayes will center James van Riemsdyk and Voracek.

Defenseman Matt Niskanen got a bit banged up during last week's busy slate of games. The veteran was a game-time decision against the Islanders on Saturday, electing to play. He took a maintenance day on Monday after the teamwide off-day the previous day. Niskanen is expected to be available to play in Florida. If not, both Phil Myers (a healthy scratch on Saturday) and Robert Hägg will be in the lineup. If Niskanen plays, Myers may still return. If so, Hägg will return to the scratch list after one game back in the lineup.

Saturday's game marked the unofficial one-quarter mark of the 82-game regular season for the Flyers. Konecny still leads the team in scoring with 19 points (8g, 11a) but will be looking to end a three-game stretch without a point. He is followed by Oskar Lindblom (9g, 7a), Sean Couturier (6g, 9a), Claude Giroux (5g, 8a), defenseman Ivan Provorov (4g, 9a), Voracek (4g, 9a) and van Riemsdyk (4g, 5a).

Carter Hart started the season with three good-to-excellent performances in goal, struggled in each of his next three starts, and has been good-to-excellent since. Overall, he is 6-4-2 with a 2.50 GAA, .902 SV% (pulled way down by the rough stretch where he wasn't seeing much volume of shots but allowing 3-to-4 and got pulled twice) and one shutout. Brian Elliott has made eight starts and two relief appearances in going 4-2-2 with a 2.87 GAA and .910 save percentage.

Entering Tuesday, the Flyers have averaged 2.90 goals per game with allowing 2.80 per game. The power play comes in at 20.8 percent and the penalty kill at 84.2 percent but has yielded a goal in each of the last two games. The team has won faceoffs at a 53.6 percent clip.

PANTHERS OUTLOOK

The Panthers have played 12 of their first 20 games on the road. Starting with last Thursday's game against Winnipeg (a 4-3 loss) and Saturday's game against the New York Rangers (4-3 win), the Panthers are currently in a stretch of having 14 of 16 games on home ice. Thus far, Quenneville's club is 4-2-2 at the BB&T Center this season.

Many of Florida's games this season so far have been a little more high-scoring, on both sides, than one might suspect. On the positive side, the team already has eight players with double-digit points and a half-dozen with six or more goals. On the downside, the team has done few favors for veteran goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (7-4-4, 3.53 GAA, .882 SV%, 1 SO) or for backup netminder Sam Montembeault (3-1-1, 2.96 GAA, .903 SV%).

Jonathan Huberdeau has had a monster first quarter-season showing, with 27 points (9g,18a) through 20 games. He is followed by two-way center Aleksander Barkov (6g, 19a) and Evgenii Dadonov (10g, a) and veteran offensive defenseman Keith Yandle (2g, 16a). Veteran winger Mike Hoffman has eight goals among his 15 points, and Brett Connolly seven tallies among 13 points.

On Monday, the Panthers recalled third-year pro forward Dominic Toninato from the AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds. To date, he has played 15 games in the AHL this season and three with the Panthers. Florida defenseman Mackenzie Weeger, who suffered facial injuries when he got struck by a puck in the Panthers' 5-4 shootout loss in Washington on Nov. 7, remains doubtful.

Entering Saturday's game, the Panthers have averaged 3.55 goals per game but also allowed 3.55 per game. The Florida power play comes in scorching hot at 27.0 percent and the power play is also solid at 82.7 percent. The Cats have won 49.5 percent of their faceoffs.

STARTING LINEUPS

FLYERS

28 Claude Giroux - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Sean Couturier - 49 Joel Farabee
25 James van Riemsdyk - 13 Kevin Hayes - 93 Jakub Voracek
10 Andy Andreoff - 12 Michael Raffl - 18 Tyler Pitlick

9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 5 Phil Myers

79 Carter Hart
[37 Brian Elliott]

Power Play 1: Giroux, JVR, Konecny, Provorov, Voracek
Power Play 2: Couturier, Lindblom, Farabee, Gostisbehere, Niskanen

Scratches: 44 Chris Stewart (healthy), 8 Robert Hägg (healthy), 55 Sam Morin (torn ACL).

Injured reserve: 21 Scott Laughton (broken right index finger)

Injured non-roster: 19 Nolan Patrick (migraines)


PANTHERS

11 Jonathan Huberdeau - 16 Aleksander Barkov - 63 Evgenii Dadonov
9 Brian Boyle - 21 Vincent Trocheck - 10 Brett Connolly
77 Frank Vatrano - 62 Denis Malgin - 68 Mike Hoffman
14 Dominic Toninato - 55 Noel Acciari - 7 Colton Sceviour​

3 Keith Yandle - 5 Aaron Ekblad
19 Mike Matheson - 6 Anton Strålman
13 Mark Pysyk - 2 Josh Brown​

72 Sergei Bobrovsky
[33 Sam Montembeault​]

Power Play 1: Hoffman, Barkov, Dadonov, Huberdeau, Yandle
Power Play 2: Malgin, Trocheck, Connolly, Vatrano, Ekblad

Scratches: 73 Dryden Hunt (healthy), 8 Jayce Hawryluk (doubtful, upper body), 52 Mackenzie Weeger (facial injury, doubtful).
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