PREVIEW 7:00 AM EDT
Coming off a huge win in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, the Flyers (46-20-10) return home to square off for the third time this month and fourth and final time this season with Craig Ramsay's Atlanta Thrashers (32-32-12). Although the Flyers have historically dominated Atlanta and are 26 points ahead of them this season, the Thrashers have won six of the last seven games between the teams and both games this month.
On March 12, the Flyers blew a 3-0 lead in the third period and wasted a Ville Leino hat trick in a 5-4 overtime loss at the Wells Fargo Center. Five days later, Brian Boucher had a shaky performance but the team battled back from three one-goal deficits, including a game-tying goal by Danny Briere with just 88 seconds left in regulation. After a scoreless OT, neither Mike Richards nor Briere could score in the shooutout. Atlanta prevailed after both Rob Schremp and Blake Wheeler (who had lost control of the puck but was still somehow able to put the puck in from a severe angle) scored against Boucher.
With a win tonight, the Flyers can reduce their magic number to clinch the Atlantic Division to 4 points (a combination of Flyers points gained and anything less than two points gained by the Pittsburgh Penguins). Pittsburgh is also in action tonight, playing on the road against Tampa Bay, their likely first-round playoff opponent. A Flyers' win tonight would also reduce their Eastern Conference magic number against Washington to 5 points. The Capitals host the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight.
Meanwhile, the Thrashers (76 points) can mathematically keep their extremely faint hopes in the Eastern Conference playoff race alive with a win tonight and help on the out-of-town scoreboard from the Islanders (against the Rangers) and Boston (against Toronto). Realistically, the Thrashers are out of the race for the last spot. With six games left to play, they trail the Rangers by nine points and would also have to leapfrog the Maple Leafs (80 points) and Carolina Hurricanes (84 points). They do, however, still lead the New Jersey Devils by virtue of both clubs going 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.
Leino is coming off a two-goal, three point game against the Penguins. He and Briere share the team scoring lead in the season series against Atlanta with three goals and five points apiece. If both Leino and James van Riemsdyk can manage one more regular-season goal apiece over the Flyers' remaining six games, Philly will have eight 20-goal scorers (including Kris Versteeg, who scored 14 of his 20 goals with Toronto this season) in the lineup.
More important, the Flyers as a team need to follow up their gritty performance in Pittsburgh with a three-period effort that shows the killer instinct they lacked for two months. The club succeeded against the Pens by keeping things simple and going to the net, as exampled by Scott Hartnell's game-changing power play goal and Leino's two dirty-but-good tallies in the third period.
Kimmo Timonen (aggravated hip flexor) is expected to be in the lineup tonight for the Flyers. Chris Pronger (right hand surgery) is getting closer to being ready to return but is still unavailable. Fourth line winger Jody Shelley (fractured orbital bone) will remain unavailable for several weeks to come. For Atlanta, forwards Jim Slater (concussion) and Patrice Cormier (upper body) and former Flyers' defenseman Freddy Meyer (head) are out for the remainder of the season.
After tonight's game, the Flyers are right back in action tomorrow night in New Jersey. It would behoove Philly to put themselves in a position tonight where Peter Laviolette can roll all four lines and all three defense pairings.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
JVR - Richards - Versteeg
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
Nodl - Giroux - Carter
Carcillo - Betts - Powe
Coburn - Timonen
Carle - Meszaros
O'Donnell - Boynton
Bobrovsky/Boucher
THRASHERS
Ladd - Little - Wheeler
Kane - Schremp - Antropov
Boulton - Burmistrov - Thorburn
Maxwell - Stapleton - Dvorak
Byfuglien - Hainsey
Bogosian - Enstrom
Stuart - Oduya
Pavelec/Mason
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Tonight is Bill Barber Banner Night at the Wells Fargo Center. For a career retrospective on Barber (which I wrote over a decade ago, prior to Barber's stint as Flyers head coach and the passing of his wife, Jenny), click
here.
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Today's
Daily Drop at Versus.com looks at Buffalo Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth's shutout of the New York Rangers last night under some mighty challenging conditions.
The talented Enroth is a player that I'd like to see succeed in the NHL. His father was a former youth hockey teammate and longtime friend of Pelle Lindbergh, and Pelle is one of Enroth's hockey heroes (although he was born after Lindbergh died).
In addition, undersized goalies are an endangered species in today's game. It would be nice to see Enroth get a shot at some team's starting job, and he has nothing left to prove at the AHL level. He'll probably have to be dealt elsewhere from Buffalo to get his chance. But for however long Ryan Miller is out of action, Enroth will get a chance to prove his mettle in a series of big games. He passed his first test last night with flying colors.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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