PREVIEW 6:45 AM
Looking for their third straight win, the Philadelphia Flyers (4-6-0) host the Florida Panthers (3-5-1) tonight at the Wells Fargo Center. The game starts at 7 p.m. and will be televised locally on Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia.
This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season. On Jan. 26 in Sunrise, Fla., Philly pummeled the Panthers by a 7-1 count. Matt Read scored a hat trick, while the Flyers got single goals from Wayne Simmonds, Tye McGinn, Ruslan Fedotenko and defenseman Luke Schenn. Ilya Bryzgalov made 27 saves for the victory.
At the time, the defending Southeast Division champion Panthers were missing their entire top line due to injury. Subsequently, the likes of Stephen Weiss and ex-Flyer Kris Versteeg returned to Kevin Dineen's lineup. The Panthers are 2-0-1 in their last three games but are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to Winnipeg.
The Flyers put forth a strong 60-minute effort in Tuesday's 2-1 win over Tampa Bay. Tonight, they need to guard against overconfidence when facing a club whom they blew out in the first game and defeated in three of four meetings last year.
Philly has been missing some key personnel from the lineup -- Scott Hartnell (foot), Wayne Simmonds (concussion) and Andrej Meszaros (shoulder) -- and goals have been hard to come by in most games. The Flyers have scored two or fewer goals in eight of the 10 games this season.
The Flyers' special teams cost the club several games in the first couple weeks of the regular season. They've played better on both the power play and penalty kill the last couple games, but that trend can just as easily take a negative turn again if the club does not stay focused.
On a game-in and game-out basis thus far in the season, Ilya Bryzgalov has been among the Flyers' best players. It would be a boon if he could get a little more goal support to work with, but he's given the team a chance to win even on nights where there have been numerous breakdowns in front of him.
Simmonds has returned to practice. There is at least an outside chance that he will play tonight but it is more likely that the team errs on the side on caution. In that event, barring a setback, he is a good bet to play on Saturday afternoon against Carolina.
The Flyers have reportedly agreed to a one-year contract extension with Kimmo Timonen. Due to the back-diving structure of his soon-to-expire seven-year contract, Timonen's salary will double next season from the prorated $3 million he's making in 2012-13. However, his cap hit will decrease slightly to $6 million.
Although coming off a stellar game against Tampa Bay, the 38-year-old four-time NHL All-Star has appeared at times this season to have lost a step. Even so, he still remains the single most important member of the Philadelphia blueline.
Timonen would have been the top remaining
potential unrestricted free agent defenseman on the market this July, which means his open market value would have been in line with the money he'll get next year from the Flyers. Beyond Timonen, the top available names would be the likes of Sergei Gonchar, Ron Hainsey, Lubomir Visnovsky, Mark Streit, Ryan Whitney and defensive defenseman Robyn Regehr. None of those players have Timonen's two-way ability.
Because Timonen's extension is only for one year, the NHL's over-35 rules will not apply to the new deal. Additionally, his price tag was NOT going to decrease by a penny between now and July (and there's no such thing as a hometown discount anymore in the league, especially after two lockouts).
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
15 Tye McGinn - 28 Claude Giroux - 48 Danny Briere
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 9 Mike Knuble
36 Zac Rinaldo- 10 Brayden Schenn - 93 Jakub Voracek
26 Ruslan Fedotenko - 25 Max Talbot - 32 Tom Sestito
44 Kimmo Timonen - 22 Luke Schenn
5 Braydon Coburn - 27 Bruno Gervais
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 3 Kurtis Foster
30 Ilya Bryzgalov
[49 Michael Leighton]
Panthers
14 Tomas Fleischmann - 9 Stephen Weiss - 32 Kris Versteeg
11 Jonathan Huberdeau - 50 Drew Shore - 88 Peter Mueller
82 Tomas Kopecky - 57 Marcel Goc - 27 Alexei Kovalev
18 Shawn Matthias - 25 Jerred Smithson - 22 George Parros
17 Filip Kuba - 51 Brian Campbell
7 Dmitry Kulikov - 43 Mike Weaver
4 Keaton Ellerby - 23 Tyson Strachan
30 Scott Clemmensen / 60 Jose Theodore
************
READER PREDICTION POLL
**********
Kindle users: Please sign up for Flyers Buzz. For more information
click here.
Click below to follow me on Twitter:
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»