PREVIEW 8:15 AM EDT
Coming off a costly 4-2 win at home over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Flyers (5-2-1) head to Montreal tonight for a meeting with the struggling Canadiens (1-5-2). The Habs enter the match still looking for their first home win. The game starts at 7:30 PM and will be broadcast locally on Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia and throughout Canada on TSN.
This is the first of four games between the teams this season. Last year, Philly won three of the four games after Carey Price shut them out on 41 shots and Brian Gionta posted a goal and an assist in a 3-0 Habs win in Montreal.
Ilya Bryzgalov is likely to return to the net for Philadelphia tonight after giving way to Sergei Bobrovsky for Tuesdays game. Bryz played well in his first few starts this season but has given up 9 goals in his last two outings. Price, meanwhile, is off to a rough start (3.13 GAA, .878 save percentage) in his own right.
Jaromir Jagr no longer has to wonder when he will tally his first goal as a Flyer. He scored a pair of breakaway goals and added a helper in the Toronto game. Meanwhile, Scott Hartnell is also coming off a two-goal game for Philly; his first two markers of the season.
The Flyers will be without Chris Pronger for several weeks. The former Norris Trophy-winning defenseman suffered a frightening eye injury on Monday night. At minimum, it will be 2-3 weeks before he is cleared to practice. For Montreal, forward Scott Gomez and defenseman Jaroslav Spacek are also currently sidelined with upper-body injuries. Andrei Markov (knee) is on injured reserve, as is Ryan White (sports hernia).
The Habs are coming off a 2-1 loss to Florida. The club fired 41 shots on rookie goalie Jacob Markström, but could only manage a first-period power play goal by Erik Cole. To date, Max Pacioretty leads the Canadiens in overall scoring (2 goals, 4 assists, 6 points) while Travis Moen is the leading goal-getter with 4. Tomas Plekanec, who has 19 points in 24 career games against the Flyers, is off to relatively slow start this year (2 goals, 5 points). P.K. Subban has also had his share of difficulties in the early going (2 assists, minus-6).
Philadelphia enters tonight's game as the second highest-scoring team in the NHL, averaging 3.4 goals per game. The Habs are tied for 18th at 2.2 goals per game. Much of the differential can be attributed to the team's respective power plays. The Flyers are clicking at a robust 27.5 percent (4th best in the NHL) while Montreal has the second worst power play in the league so far, going just 3-for-32 (9.4 percent) and allowing one shorthanded goal for good measure.
The Flyers penalty kill comes into tonight ranked 17th at 82.9 percent success. The raw percentage is adequate but the club has been hurt by the fact that it enters tonight's game having been shorthanded 40 times. Only Dallas, Ottawa and Tampa Bay have had to kill more penalties. The Habs (35 times shorthanded) also rank in the bottom one-third of the NHL in terms of staying out of the penalty box, and are 20th overall in penalty killing success, with an even 80 percent.
Tonight's game marks a meeting between two clubs that have not fared very well in the faceoff circle. As a team, Montreal ranks 21st (48.5 percent) while Philadelphia ranks a dismal 28th (47.4 perecent) of the league's 30 clubs.
Philly has been scored up first in each of the last two games after being the first club to tally in five of its first six games. When leading after the first (4-0-0) or second (5-0-0) period, the Flyers are undefeated to date. However, they have lost both games that they trailed at the end of first/second periods. Befitting the Canadiens' poor start, the team has only exited a period with a lead once so far this season, accounting for their lone win.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Schenn - Briere - Simmonds
JVR - Read - Voracek
Shelley/Nodl - Couturier - Talbot
Timonen - Meszaros
Coburn - Walker
Carle - Lilja
Bryzgalov
[Bobrovsky]
CANADIENS
Cammalleri - Plekanec - Gionta
Palushaj - Desharnais - Cole
Moen - Eller - Kostitsyn
Darche - Nokelainen - Blunden
Gorges - Subban
Diaz - Gill
Emelin - Weber
Price
[Budaj]
*****
This week's installment of NHL.com's
Across the Pond takes a look at former Sharks and Islanders forward Mike Iggulden, who is leading Sweden's Elitserien in scoring to date.
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