GAME 7: FLYERS @ DEVILS
In the third game of a four-game road trip, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (3-2-1) are in Newark on Tuesday for the first of back-to-back games against Lindy Ruff's New Jersey Devils (3-1-1) at the Prudential Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the first of eight meetings between the teams this season. After a rematch in Newark on Thursday, the teams will play each other again on Feb. 11 and 13 at the Wells Fargo Center, March 23 at the Wells Fargo Center again, April 20 and then April 29 in Newark before wrapping up at the Wells Fargo Center on May 1.
On an all-time basis, Philadelphia owns a record of 89-98-12 record plus 15 ties (pre-2005) in regular season games against the Devils. For a history of the rivalry, from the New Jersey franchise's early years as the Kansas City Scouts and Colorado Rockies through their years in the Meadowlands and Newark,
click here.
Flyers Outlook
On the heels of 5-4 (shootout) and 6-1 losses in Boston, the Flyers returned to practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees
on Monday.
Shayne Gostisbehere, now fully recovered after a battle with COVID-19, is expected to be in the Flyers' lineup on Tuesday for the first time this season. Nolan Patrick took a maintenance day on Monday (Andy Andreoff stood in during reps).
Flyers captain Claude Giroux will set a franchise record on Tuesday when he plays in his 611th game at team captain; surpassing the combined two-tenure stints Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke had as Flyers captain from 1973 to 1979 and the 1983-84 season.
Devils Outlook
Tuesday's marks the start of a slate of seven games in 12 days for the Devils. The team is coming off a 2-0 home shutout win over the New York Islanders on Sunday. Late first period goals by Jack Hughes (power play, 3rd) and Pavel Zacha (1st) provided all the goal support that Scott Wedgewood (28 saves) would need on the night. The Devils went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill, including a vital kill in the latter portion of the third period. Wedgewood made 12 saves in the third period, while the Devils generated 24 on Ilya Sorokin for the game.
At practice on Monday, the Devils featured the same line combinations as they had in the last game against the Islanders. Young standout goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, veteran defenseman Sami Vatanen and forward Jesper Bratt are unavailable due to being in the NHL's COVID-19 quarantine protocol. Additionally, Nico Hischier (leg) is not quite ready to play.
Rookie defenseman Ty Smith has recorded six points (1g, 5a) through his first five games in the NHL. He has posted at least one point in every game to date.
Projected lineups (Subject to change)
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk - 13 Kevin Hayes - 93 Jakub Voracek
28 Claude Giroux - 19 Nolan Patrick - 11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom - 21 Scott Laughton - 86 Joel Farabee
12 Michael Raffl - 82 Connor Bunnaman - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
6 Travis Sanheim - 3 Mark Friedman
8 Robert Hägg - 61 Justin Braun
37 Brian Elliott
[79 Carter Hart]
PP1: Giroux, Hayes, Voracek, JVR, Provorov
PP2: Lindblom,Patrick, Konecny, Sanheim, Gostisbehere
Scratches: 56 Erik Gustafsson (healthy), 14 Sean Couturier (costochondral separation), Phil Myers (rib fracture, week-to-week), 48 Morgan Frost (IR, dislocated shoulder), 55 Samuel Morin (healthy).
DEVILS
17 Yegor Sharangovich - 86 Jack Hughes - 21 Kyle Palmieri
44 Miles Wood - 19 Travis Zajac - 59 Janne Kuokkanen
97 Nikita Gusev - 37 Pavel Zacha - 39 Nick Merkley
11 Andreas Johnsson - 20 Michael McLeod - 14 Nathan Bastian
22 Ryan Murray - 76 P.K. Subban
70 Dmitry Kulikov - 28 Damon Severson
24 Ty Smith - 7 Matt Tennyson
41 Scott Wedgewood
[1 Eric Comrie]
PP1: Sharagovich, Hughes, Wood, Palmieri, Subban
PP2: Johnsson, Zacha, Gusev, Smith, Severson
Scratches: 5 Connor Carrick (healthy), Will Butcher (healthy), 13 Nico Hischier (leg), 29 Mackenzie Blackwood (COVID-19 protocol), 45 Sami Vatanen (COVID-19 protocol), 63 Jesper Bratt (COVID-19 protocol).
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