UPDATE 6:30 PM EST
Sean Couturier will miss tonight's game with the flu. Tom Sestito is in the lineup. Jody Shelley is not.
Tonight's forward lines per CSN Philly:
Briere-Giroux-Simmonds
Read-Schenn-Voracek
McGinn-Talbot-Knuble
Sestito-Fedotenko-Rinaldo
UPDATE 1:15 PM EST
The NHL has announced that Mikhail Grabovski will not be suspended as a result of the alleged biting incident in Saturday's game. I have added him into the Maple Leafs lineup, along with a note about Jody Shelley.
UPDATE 1:00 PM EST
The Flyers did not take line rushes at this morning's skate in Toronto but it appears that Jody Shelley will be in the lineup tonight. No word on which player would sit out tonight.
PREVIEW 7:00 AM EST
Looking to get a grueling six-game road trip off to a positive start, the Philadelphia Flyers (5-6-1) head to Canada for three of their four games. It all starts tonight, as they clash with the Toronto Maple Leafs (7-5-0). The game starts at 7 p.m. EST and will be televised locally on Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia.
This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season. Last year, the Flyers swept the four-game season series by a combined score of 16-6. It was an eventful season series that included Chris Pronger's eye injury/ocular concussion, a 0-0 tie decided by a dazzling skills competition goal by Claude Giroux, a post All-Star game fight between Scott Hartnell and Dion Phaneuf immediately after Hartnell scored a goal, and a 7-1 Philly rout in the final meeting of the season.
Tonight's game marks the first time the Flyers and Maple Leafs have played each other since completing a trade last summer that send 2007 second overall draft choice James van Riemsdyk to Toronto in exchange for 2008 fifth overall pick Luke Schenn. The two players have done well in their respective roles for their new clubs.
Schenn has played very solid defensive hockey for the Flyers in nine of the team's first 12 games. He's had a couple of games where he's been a dominant shutdown force, including Saturday's game against Carolina. In that tilt, Schenn racked up 8 hits (a couple of which were monstrous body checks), 6 blocked shots and zero turnovers in 24:50 of ice time. He even rushed the puck to safety a couple of times in that game.
In the meantime, a now-healthy van Riemsdyk has been on an offensive roll for the Maple Leafs. He enters tonight's game leading the team in goals (seven) and is one point behind Phil Kessel's 10 points for the overall team scoring lead. When JVR is playing well, he uses his size to set up his finesse game. After the first couple games this season, he's been getting to the scoring areas, and has been cashing in on his chances.
The Flyers enter tonight's game on the heels of a four-game homestand in which the club took seven of a possible eight points. However, the club is still trying to claw its way to the .500 mark on the season after getting off to an 0-3-0 and 3-6-0 start to the abbreviated regular season.
Toronto comes into the game riding a three-game winning streak. The Leafs smoked the Montreal Canadiens, 6-0, in a Hockey Night in Canada clash on Saturday. The team is likely to find out today that forward Mikhail Grabovski (3 goals, 5 points) has been suspended as a result of a biting incident in the game against the Habs.
Both the Flyers and Maple Leafs entered the season with concerns about their starting goaltending. But Ilya Bryzgalov (2.21 GAA, .921 save percentage) has been Philadelphia's best player in most of his 11 starts to date, and James Reimer (2.30 GAA, .929 save percentage) has at least temporarily quelled talk of the Leafs needing an upgrade in goal.
The Flyers need for Claude Giroux's line to start producing goals regularly again. In Saturday's game, the supporting cast supplied the offense before Danny Briere notched the game-winner in overtime. Giroux is fourth on the team with seven points (three goals, four assists), and has been held without a point in three of the last five games.
On Saturday, Brayden Schenn's line with Jakub Voracek broke loose after knocking on the door several times in the previous match against Florida. The younger Schenn brother notched a goal and two assists against the Canes, while Voracek tallied a goal and an assist. In the meantime, second-liner Matt Read scored a goal for the second straight game. Read enters tonight leading the Flyers in both goals (five) and points (nine).
The Flyers have struggled on the road thus far in the 2013, posting a 1-5-0 record to date. They've struggled to score, especially on the power play (4 for 32). They've had trouble staying out of the penalty box in road games, and have been burned on seven of 29 opposition power plays. All of those trends need to reverse in a hurry if the Flyers are to successfully navigate their most arduous road trip of the season.
On the injury front, the Flyers remain without Scott Hartnell (foot) and Andrej Meszaros (shoulder). The Maple Leafs are without former Flyers winger Joffrey Lupul (broken forearm), defenseman Carl Gunnarsson (hip) and checking line forward Mike Brown (UBI).
PROJECTED LINEUPS -- Subject to change
FLYERS
17 Wayne Simmonds - 28 Claude Giroux - 48 Danny Briere
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 9 Mike Knuble
15 Tye McGinn - 10 Brayden Schenn - 93 Jakub Voracek
26 Ruslan Fedotenko - 25 Max Talbot - 36 Zac Rinaldo / 45 Jody Shelley
44 Kimmo Timonen - 22 Luke Schenn
5 Braydon Coburn - 27 Bruno Gervais
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 3 Kurtis Foster
30 Ilya Bryzgalov
[33 Brian Boucher]
NOTE: Shelley appears to be in the starting lineup tonight per the Flyers' beat writers in Toronto, although the team did not take line rushes this morning. No word as of yet on which above listed player will be scratched.
MAPLE LEAFS
21 James van Riemsdyk - 42 Tyler Bozak - 81 Phil Kessel
11 Jay McClement - 84 Mikhail Grabovski - 41 Nikolai Kulemin
39 Matt Frattin - 43 Nazem Kadri - 16 Clarke MacArthur
28 Colton Orr - 47 Leo Komorov - 28 Frazer McLaren
3 Dion Phaneuf - 53 Mike Kostka
55 Korbinian Holzer - 24 John-Michael Liles
45 Mark Fraser - 4 Cody Franson
34 James Reimer
[30 Ben Scrivens]
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