UPDATE 10 AM EST

Brian Boucher will be getting his second straight start in goal tonight.



PREVIEW 6:30 AM EST

Coming off a less-than-artistic but ultimately satisfying victory in Washington on Saturday, the Flyers (13-6-2) return home to the Wells Fargo Center tonight for a rematch with the Montreal Canadiens (13-6-1). Last Tuesday at the Bell Centre, the Northeast Division leading Habs handed the Atlantic Division leading Flyers a 3-0 loss, courtesy of two powerplay goals and a 41-save performance by Carey Price.

Over the last three games, the Flyers' biggest problem area has been special teams. Order of business number one will be to clean up the penalty kill, which has dropped to 82.4% on the season after giving up multiple goals in each of the last three games. My theory is that, in a couple games leading up to the loss in Montreal, the club got a little out of hand looking to dart into passing lanes for SHG attempts and then got a little too conservative in the third period against the powerhouse Capitals. On the whole, the Habs have not been much of a powerplay threat this year, connecting at a 16% rate.

Philly also needs to pick up the pace again on the powerplay. The club snapped an 0-for-15 skid on Saturday but they have not looked good on the man advantage in any of the last three games. For the season, Philly is at 18.6% on the powerplay. Montreal has killed penalties at a stellar 90.5% rate.

Mike Richards has been the hottest offensive player for the Flyers over the last three weeks. The team captain has tallied 8 goals and 17 points in his last 13 games. He's risen to 10th in the NHL scoring race with 23 points. Meanwhile, Claude Giroux continues to deliver at clutch times and Andreas Nodl is finally playing with some offensive confidence. One player who needs to get going again is Ville Leino, who is pointless in his last four games (although he was initially credited with two secondary assists in the 8-7 loss against Tampa, but the scoring was subsequently changed).

Unless the score gets out of hand tonight, I don't expect much carryover from the chippiness of last Tuesday or the war of words between Richards and P.K. Subban. The two points are more important to both clubs.

Projected lineups (subject to change)

FLYERS

JVR - Richards - Nodl
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
Powe - Giroux - Carter
Shelley - Betts - Zherdev

Pronger - Carle
Coburn - Timonen
Meszaros - O'Donnell

Bobrovsky
[Boucher]


CANADIENS

Cammalleri - Gomez - Moen
Kostitsyn - Plekanec - Gionta
Pouliot - Halpern - Lapierre
Weber - Eller - Pyatt

Hamrlik - Spacek
Gill - Gorges
Picard - Subban

Price
[Auld]

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