UPDATE 1:15 PM
Sergei Bobrovsky will start in goal today for the Flyers.
PREVIEW 8:30 AM EST
In this year's installment of their annual Black Friday matinee at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers (12-6-3) will take on the Montreal Canadiens (10-9-3). The game starts at 3 PM EST and will be broadcast locally on CSN Philly.
The game is second of four meetings between the teams this season. On Oct. 26, the Flyers visited Montreal to take on a struggling Habs team. Philly got off to a strong start in the first period, grabbing a 1-0 lead on a Jaromir Jagr tally. But the Flyers got burned late in the first period, and the Habs took over the game in the second and third periods. Ilya Bryzgalov was tagged with the loss in the 5-1 defeat.
Over their past three games, the Flyers have taken on the bottom three teams in the Eastern Conference. They were beaten in regulation by the Winnipeg Jets (road) and Carolina Hurricanes (home) before taking advantage of subpar goaltending by the New York Islanders' Rick DiPietro to come back from a 3-1 deficit and prevail in overtime, 4-3, on Long Island on Wednesday.
Danny Briere spurred the comeback with a game-tying goal in the third period and the game-winner in the third. Andrej Meszaros and Scott Hartnell provided the other tallies for the Flyers.
The Habs enter this game with a 5-4-1 record over their last 10 games. On Wednesday. Montreal downed Carolina via shootout, 4-3. Overall, the Habs have been in a win-one, lose-one pattern spanning their last 7 games.
Peter Laviolette did not name a starting goalie for today. Sergei Bobrovsky was outstanding in relief of Bryzgalov after the first period of Wednesday's game, but has struggled in his last three starts. Bryzgalov had been a hot streak until mediocre outings against both Carolina and the Islanders. Carey Price will be in goal for Montreal.
The Canadiens have been one of the NHL's best penalty killing teams so far this season. Their 89.9 percent success rate on the PK ranks third in the league. After slumping for much of November on the power play, the Flyers have had some success in recent games, and brought their season percentage up to 18.6 percent (12th in the NHL).
On the flip side, while Philly's PK had been on a roll, the team has struggled in that department of late. They've yielded at least one opposition PPG in each of the last four games, and have dropped to 83.3 percent (13th in the NHL) on the season. The Habs' power play has been nothing special most of the season and comes into the game at an unimpressive 14.1 percent (23rd in the NHL).
On the injury front, Jaromir Jagr is out for a minimum of two games after re-aggravating a groin injury in the second period of Wednesday's game. Chris Pronger (virus) is listed as questionable for today's game but is not expected to play.
For Montreal, Scott Gomez (lower-body injury) is questionable, as are Jaroslav Spacek (upper body) and Andreas Engqvist (lower body). Andrei Kostitsyn (lower body) has been on IR, but resumed practicing earlier this week.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Voracek/others
JVR - Briere - Simmonds
Read - Talbot - Voracek/Nodl
Zolnierczyk - Couturier - Rinaldo
Timonen - Coburn
Carle - Bourdon
Lilja - Meszaros
Bryzgalov/Bobrovsky
Canadiens
Cammalleri - Plekanec - Gionta
Pacioretty - Desharnais - Cole
Moen - Eller - Palushaj
Weber - Nokelainen - Darche
Gorges - Subban
Gill - Weber
Diaz - Emelin
Price
[Budaj]
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