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Flyers Gameday: 10/9/10 @ Blues |
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UPDATE 7:20 PM ET
I'm 0-for-2 in guessing the starting goalie for the Flyers in the regular season. Brian Boucher will be in net tonight.
The rest of the lineup will be identical to the opener in Pittsburgh, meaning that Oskars Bartulis is in, while Matt Walker is a healthy scratch.
PREVIEW 10:30 AM ET
The Flyers took a successful first step into the 2010-11 regular season with a 3-2 victory in Pittsburgh on Thursday night. Before returning to Philadelphia for the home opener on Monday, the club will head to St. Louis for tonight's tilt against the Blues.
Philly has seen a lot of new Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak over the last season. They solved him in the Eastern Conference Finals this past spring, but they were also victimized by him during the stretch drive last season, as he authored arguably the single best regular season game by an opposing goaltender against the team last season.
Last season, St. Louis closed the season with a rush but were unable to make it into the playoffs. I expect them to be a playoff club this season, despite the losses of veteran leaders Keith Tkachuk and Paul Kariya. There is a lot of young talent on the Blues, and they are one of the best skating teams in the NHL. The Flyers are going to have to ready to match the tempo tonight.
For the Flyers, it looks as if rookie Sergei Bobrovsky will get another start in goal over veteran Brian Boucher. Chris Pronger (knee) is unlikely to play against his former team, but may be ready for the home opener on Monday. The team as a whole played well for the majority of Thursday's game, but they will need better games from the top line and Nikolay Zherdev. Claude Giroux (deeply bruised ankle) will play.
Possible lineups (speculative and subject to change)
FLYERS
Carcillo - Richards - Carter
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
JVR - Giroux - Zherdev
Shelley - Betts - Powe
Coburn - Timonen
Carle - Meszaros
Bartulis/Walker - O'Donnell
Bobrovsky
[Boucher]
BLUES
Perron - Backes - Boyes
McDonald - Berglund - Oshie
Steen - McClement - Crombeen
Winchester- D'Agostini - Janssen
Johnson - Polak
Jackman - Brewer
Pietrangelo- Strachan
Halak
[Conklin]
*****
Today on Versus.com's Daily Drop, I discuss last night's scary incident in Atlanta that saw Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec collapse to the ice and temporarily lose consciousness.