PREVIEW 7:45 AM EDT
In the middle portion of their final three-game-in-four-day stretch of the 2011-12 regular season, the Philadelphia Flyers (45-24-8) return home to take on the Ottawa Senators (39-28-10) in a 1 p.m. matinee at the Wells Fargo Center. The game will be broadcast locally on CSN Philly, across the U.S. on NHL Network and across Canada on CBC.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the teams. The Flyers have won two of the first three meetings. The Flyers blew out the Sens, 7-2, in Ottawa back on Oct. 18. On the weekend of Jan. 17-18, the teams played a home-and-home set. The Flyers prevailed at the Wells Fargo Center in overtime, courtesy of Danny Briere's hat trick. The following day, the Flyers led at one point but the Senators prevailed by a 6-4 count.
The Senators season has been a tale of three distinctly different phases. The club struggled horribly early. In the middle portion, the Senators were one of the hottest teams in the NHL, and actually mounted a push to overtake the Flyers in the standings. More recently, the club has been inconsistent, and sports a 5-3-2 record over its last 10 games.
However, Ottawa has won its last two games coming into today. Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson has caught fire in the last week. The Swede has back-to-back 2-goal games, and has 6 points in his last two matches coming into today.
The Flyers are coming off an all-too-easy 7-1 blowout win of the Maple Leafs on Thursday. The line of Briere centering Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds did much of the damage, while Jaromir Jagr racked up three assists in the game and Jakub Voracek, Matt Read and Eric Wellwood each scored a goal apiece. Sergei Bobrovsky was scarcely tested in the lopsided contest.
Ilya Bryzgalov (chip fracture of the right foot) practiced yesterday but is unlikely to play this weekend. That means Bobrovsky will continue to see action until the starter is feeling more comfortable with the injury. Kimmo Timonen (lower back) also practiced yesterday but remains day-to-day. For Ottawa, goalie Ben Bishop (lower body) and forwards Jesse Winchester (concussion) and Peter Regin (shoulder surgery) are out.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Schenn - Briere - Simmonds
Talbot - Couturier - Voracek
Wellwood - Read - Rinaldo
Carle - Bourdon
Grossmann - Coburn
Gustafsson - Kubina
Bobrovsky
[Bacashihua]
SENATORS
Greening - Spezza - Michalek
Foligno - Turris - Alfredsson
Klinkhammer - O'Brien - Neil
Daugavins - Smith - Condra
Kuba - Karlsson
Cowan - Gonchar
Phillips - Carkner
Anderson
[Auld]
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