PREVIEW 6:30 AM
Winners of three in a row and nine of their last 10, the Flyers (12-4-2) haven't just been beating opponents lately, they've been thrashing other clubs. But tonight the Flyers face a tough test, traveling to Montreal to take on the Canadiens (11-5-1) in a rematch of last season's Eastern Conference Final matchup. Not only have the Habs been playing strong hockey in their own right (7-3-0) of late, they are also the more rested club.
Tonight's game marks the end of a stretch of three games in four nights -- and four games in six nights -- for Philly. Fortunately for the team, they have outscored opponents by a combined 18-4 over the last three games. As a result, Peter Laviolette has been able to spread around the ice time pretty evenly among all four lines and all three defense pairs. That could benefit the club in reducing the fatigue effect for tonight.
Montreal comes into the game riding a three-game winning streak. Most recently, the Canadiens crushed the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night in a 7-2 victory at the Bell Centre, two nights after the Flyers laid a whipping on the same team in Raleigh. Leading Montreal scorer Tomas Plekanec had a goal and three assists for the Habs in the Carolina game. But the Habs suffered a costly loss in that game, losing key defenseman Andrei Markov to a knee injury.
Defensively, the Flyers and Canadiens have played on par with each other this season. Philly is allowing just 2.11 goals per game and the Habs are right there with them at 2.12. Offensively, Philly has been far superior, however, scoring 3.5 goals per game to Montreal's 2.71.
The Flyers, who tallied both on the powerplay and shorthanded against last, have connected at a 21.8% clip on the man advantage and killed 86.9% of their own penalties. But even-strength play could wind up being the deciding factor in tonight's tilt. The Habs have excelled on the PK, killing 88.9% of their penalties while converting a pedestrian 14.5% of their powerplays.
Following his custom, Peter Laviolette has not yet named a starting goalie for this game. However, I'd be surprised if he does not continue riding the hot hand of Sergei Bobrovsky regardless of the fact that he has played every minute of the club's recent surge. Carey Price (2.18 GAA, .923 save percentage) has started 16 of 17 for the Habs this season and will go again tonight.
The Flyers will be without Dan Carcillo (suspected MCL sprain) for about the next two weeks. Andreas Nodl (bruised ankle) will attempt to give it a go tonight. The team will not be calling up a player for the trip to Montreal, so if Nodl is a last-minute scratch, the team will either have to dress converted forward Oskars Bartulis as a fourth-line winger or play a man short. James van Riemsdyk, who had an adequate first game back after being a healthy scratch in the four previous games, will have an opportunity to prove he deserves to stay in the lineup.
The team is unlikely to skate today in Montreal because of having to fly out from Philly after last night's game, so the starting line combos may not be known until game time. Because Nodl may still be less than 100%, I would suspect he'd start the game on the 4th line.
Tonight's game marks the first of four regular season meetings between the teams. Last season, prior to the Flyers' five-game win in the Conference Finals, the clubs evenly split the season series. The Habs won the first and last games of the season series, with Philly sweeping a home-and-home just prior to the Olympic break.
For my take on the Flyers' 5-1 victory over the Senators last night and the club's outlook through its current dominant stretch of hockey, see today's
Daily Drop at Versus.com. The column should be online by 9 AM EST.
Projected lineups (subject to change)
FLYERS
JVR - Richards - Zherdev
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
Powe - Giroux - Carter
Shelley - Betts - Nodl
Pronger - Carle
Coburn - Timonen
Meszaros - O'Donnell
Bobrovsky
[Boucher]
CANADIENS
Cammalleri - Plekanec - Gionta
Kostitsyn - Gomez - Lapierre
Pouliot - Halpern - Darche
Pyatt - Eller - Moen
Hamrlik - Spacek
Gill - Gorges
Subban - Picard
Price
[Auld]
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