PREVIEW 7:00 AM EDT
After building a 3-0 lead in the opening 6:23 of the first period in Buffalo and then holding on to win 3-2, the Flyers (7-4-1) return home to the Wells Fargo Center tonight to take on the New Jersey Devils (4-5-1). The game starts at 7 PM and will be broadcast on CSN Philly and MSG-Plus.
This is the second of six meetings between the Atlantic Division rivals this season. On Oct. 8, Ilya Bryzgalov shut out New Jersey on 20 shots in the Devils' home opener. Claude Giroux opened the scoring with 7:55 remaining in the open period, ripping a shot from the right hash mark past Martin Brodeur. Philly took a 1-0 lead into the third period until Matt Read's first NHL goal and Wayne Simmonds' first goal as a Flyer provided some insurance.
New Jersey comes into this game having lost five of their last six games, including three in a row. Last night, Brodeur returned to the lineup after missing three weeks with a shoulder injury. He was victimized by a hat trick by ex-Flyer Joffrey Lupul, as Toronto skated off with a 5-3 win. The Devils have given up 13 goals in their last 3 games; one more than the Flyers, who yielded 9 to Winnipeg two games ago.
Ex-Flyer Dainius Zubrus (3rd goal of season), Patrik Elias (5th goal) and David Clarkson (3rd goal) provided the scoring for New Jersey last night. Elias, a long-time Flyers nemesis has three goals and six points in the Devils' last five games, and has racked up 70 points (32 goals, 38 assists) in 71 career regular season games against the Flyers.
In the four games since Devils coach Pete DeBoer moved Zach Parise to center three games ago, he has been limited to one unassisted goal. Ilya Kovalchuk registered a secondary assist last night for his first point over that span.
With New Jersey playing on back-to-back nights, it seems likely that veteran backup Johan Hedberg (who was orginally a Flyers draft pick) will get the call tonight. The Flyers have not named a starter. However, given that they are playing back-to-back and are in the middle game of a three-game-in-four-night stretch, it would make sense to give Sergei Bobrovsky the start tonight. Bob needs a chance to get back on the horse after being victimized by several vicious deflections in the first period of that 9-8 game last Thursday.
The Flyers could scarcely have hoped for a better start than they got last night. On a night where the Sabres figured to come out with a lot of energy and emotion, it was Philly that established its forecheck immediately.
A strong shift by Giroux's line was immediately followed by an even better one by Sean Couturier's line, which resulted in the rookie center's third goal of the season. Thirteen seconds later, Couturier's linemate, James van Riemsdyk roofed a perfect shot high to the long side against Ryan Miller.
The Flyers nearly made it 3-0 when Jaromir Jagr took a pass at point blank range near the right post. Miller robbed him. However, at the 6:23 mark of the period, all three members of the Giroux line got onto the score sheet on a line rush goal that saw Hartnell take a lead pass from his center and blast a shot past Miller from the left circle.
That did it for the Sabres' starting netminder, who was replaced by Jhonas Enroth. Philadelphia continued to dominate most of the remainder of the period. In the middle stanza, Max Talbot was denied by the Swedish netminder on a great scoring chance within the first half minute of the period. That was one of the few real offensive highlights for Philly for the remainder of the game, apart from a breakaway for Hartnell at the end of a very long shift that saw the Flyers ice the puck twice with its out-of-gas top line on the ice.
Buffalo controlled most of the last 40 minutes of the match. A steady parade of penalties (Philly killed five penalties in all, including three in the second period), icings and turnovers kept the Flyers hemmed in their end for much of the remainder of the game.
Ilya Bryzgalov (29 saves on 31 shots) was nothing short of sensational in goal. He made a host of clutch saves with traffic in front of him. That included a gave-saving stop on Thomas Vanek late in regulation.
The Russian goalie, who has been victimized this season by an inordinate number of deflections and weird bounces (not to mention Hartnell accidentally sliding into him and taking him out of the play in the lone goal against in the Carolina match), was not beaten by an actual Sabres shot the entire game.
The first Buffalo goal was a weird carom off the end boards that hit the Flyers goalie and bounced into the net. The second one was a broken play deep in the zone, where the puck deflected off Kimmo Timonen's skate and went through the five hole. Bryzgalov can partially be blamed for the latter one because he had his stick up in the air rather than the paddle down along the ice (which would have made the play into a routine stop and cover with no Sabres on the doorstep). All in all, though, Bryz was tremendous.
The Flyers, who have been without Danny Briere (rib injury) for the last two games and Chris Pronger (eye injury) for the last four, struggled on all three of their power plays last night against a Buffalo team that ranks near the top of the NHL in the penalty killing department.
Philly is now 1-for-17 on the man advantage in the four games since Pronger went down against Toronto. They will face another tall order on the power play tonight, against a New Jersey team that has also been quite good (89.8 percent) on the PK so far this season.
On the injury front, Briere skated yesterday and reported feeling much better. He has not ruled out playing tonight, although a return on Saturday may be more likely. The Flyers will still be without Read (upper body injury), Brayden Schenn (LTIR, broken foot) and Pronger (who may be cleared by the end of the week to return to practice).
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
JVR - Couturier - Voracek
Nodl - Talbot - Simmonds
Rinaldo - Holmstrom - Shelley/Zolnierczyk
Timonen - Coburn
Carle - Gustafsson
Lilja - Meszaros
Bobrovsky/Bryzgalov
DEVILS
Parise - Henrique - Kovalchuk
Sykora - Elias - Zubrus
Tedenby - Carter - Clarkson
Janssen - Mills - Palmieri
Tallinder - Larsson
Salvador - Volchenkov
Greene - Fayne
Hedberg
[Brodeur]
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A very special thank you goes out to Danny Briere for taking time out of his day yesterday to join Eklund and me on our first FlyersBuzz podcast of the season.
We hope to be able to do podcasts weekly. If we can line up a sponsor, we will do them several times per week.
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FROM THE 'TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS' FILES
It is my pleasure to welcome back
Philly Phaithful apparel as the sponsor of the Flyers blog during the holiday season. Owner Dan Hershberg is a longtime HB reader, devoted Flyers fans and a friend with whom I've corresponded for years about a host of hockey topics.
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