PREVIEW (10:30 AM)
The Flyers (9-4-1) will look to extend their winning streak to five in a row tonight when they take on the Ottawa Senators (8-5-2) at the Wachovia Center. The Sens are coming off a 4-3 shootout victory over Edmonton on Tuesday.
All eyes will be on goaltender Ray Emery as he takes on his former club for the first time. Emery has been playing tremendous hockey of late. He’s been very sharp with his rebound control and hasn’t let in anything soft from bad angles or on shots where he wasn’t squared to the shooter. In so doing, he has raised his save percentage from the ordinary 90% range to 92.2% for the season.
Philly will be getting Daniel Briere (quadriceps/groin) back in the lineup tonight, and rookie James van Riemsdyk (broken pinkie) will give it a go despite admitting to some awkwardness with the adjustment on his grip. If the club lines up as it practiced yesterday, Daniel Laliberte would move to the scratch list because of the numbers game.
The Flyers’ top two defensive pairings log heavy ice time under any circumstances, but will be called upon to play even more minutes tonight – barring a blowout – with Danny Syvret and Oskars Bartulis (making his NHL debut) manning the third pairing.
Something to keep an eye on tonight: The Flyers’ play with the puck when on the power play. Ottawa has scored four shorthanded goals this season and players such as Milan Michalek are tough to stop once they intercept a puck with open ice ahead. The Flyers, who far and away led the NHL in SHGs last year and didn’t allow a shorthander until the final game of the regular season have given up a pair this season without scoring one yet.
Overall, the Flyers still have the top power play in the NHL, connecting at a 26.6% ratio. At home they are 9-for-47 (27.7%). Ottawa ranks 10th on the penalty kill at 82.4% (84% on the road). The Sens power play ranks just 24th at 15.7% (14.3% on the road), while the Flyers have killed penalties at an 85% clip, good for fifth in the NHL. At the Wachovia Center, the Flyers have killed off 88.8% of their disadvantages. It’s also worth mentioning that the Flyers have done a much, much better job in recent weeks at avoiding bad penalties.
FLYERS LINEUP (subject to change)
JVR – Carter – Briere
Hartnell – Richards – Giroux
Carcillo – Betts - Laperriere
Pyorala – Powe - Asham
Carle – Pronger
Coburn – Timonen
Syvret – Bartulis
Emery
[Boucher]
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On Versus.com's
Daily Drop today, I took a look at the New Jersey Devils. Every year, it seems, the preseason buzz is that the Devils are finally poised to fall out of contention in the East. Looks like this won't be the year either.
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This week on Philadelphiaflyers.com, I am taking a look at the Flyers' quest to
improve on faceoffs this season. Last season, the Flyers finished 22nd overall in the 30-team NHL with a 48.3% winning percentage on faceoffs. Through the first 15 games of the 2009-10 regular season, the club has performed at roughly the same level, winning 48.5% of draws.
On NHL.com later this week, the staff and contributing writers will be doing a series of articles playing fantasy GM for the participating teams in the upcoming Olympics. I was assigned Team Belarus. In conjunction with the article, I devoted this week's
Across the Pond to the resignation of former Washington Capitals bench boss Glen Hanlon from the Team Belarus head coaching position.
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I was pleased and honored to be asked to speak at the annual Flyers Fan Club Q&A session at the SkateZone next Tuesday. I look forward to it.
Next Thursday, I will be a guest on Daily News Live on Comcast Sports Net to talk about the Flyers and the Pelle Lindbergh book.
I will be doing book signings for the Pelle book on the following dates:
December 4th 7 PM
Chester County Book Company
975 Paoli Pike
West Chester, PA 19380
610-616-1661
December 12th, 2pm
Barnes and Noble Booksellers
1553 Almonesson Road
Deptford, NJ 08096
856-232-3123
December 13th, 1 PM
Barnes and Noble Booksellers
2300 Chemical Road
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
610-567-2900
December 16th, 7PM
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
150 W. Swedesford Road
Devon, PA
610-695-6612
Devon, PA 19333
You can order
Pelle Lindbergh: Behind the White Mask online at
Barnes & Noble, via
Amazon or through
Middle Atlantic Press.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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