PREVIEW 6:30 AM EST
In the third game of their six-game road trip and the first match of another three-in-four, the Philadelphia Flyers (6-7-1) will take on a familiar nemesis. Dating back to the playoffs last spring and the first meeting of the lockout-shortened 2013 season, the New Jersey Devils (8-2-3) have won five games in a row against Philadelphia. Tonight's game from the Prudential Center in Newark starts at 7 p.m. and will be televised locally on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the second of five meetings between the teams this season, and the second of three in New Jersey. On Jan. 22, the Devils blanked the Flyers, 3-0.
In that game, despite playing a decent opening period, the Flyers trailed by a pair of goals at the first intermission. Travis Zajac and David Clarkson (power play goal) opened the scoring. Ilya Kovalchuk put a stranglehold on the match after he received a penalty shot on a shorthanded breakaway, converting the attempt against Ilya Bryzgalov. The Flyers' compete level and composure dropped off a cliff thereafter.
The Flyers enter tonight's game coming off a gritty 3-2 win in Winnipeg on Tuesday. The Devils swept a home-and-home set with the Penguins last weekend but then sustained a 4-2 regulation loss on Tuesday to a Carolina Hurricanes club that Philadelphia had just beaten twice within a week.
Of late, the Flyers have been getting strong play from the line anchored by Brayden Schenn and Jakub Voracek, and the line accounted for two the team's three goals against the Jets. Linemate Tye McGinn scored the game-winning goal and also won a fight in defense of Voracek. Philadelphia's other goal was a power play marker scored by Kimmo Timonen. The team also received an excellent goaltending performance from Bryzgalov.
The Flyers are still looking to get their top line going. Team captain Claude Giroux has been held pointless in six of the last nine games, is five games removed from his most recent goal and has only one goal and six points in the last 12 games. With Scott Hartnell (foot) out of the lineup, Giroux has had a revolving door of linemates on both of his wings.
The most recent incarnation of Giroux's line has featured Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds. Both wingers played a strong game in Winnipeg, but they could not cash in on any scoring chances in that game.
Hartnell could return to the lineup next Wednesday in Pittsburgh for the final game of the road trip. Defenseman Andrej Meszaros (shoulder) is also making progress toward a return in the relatively near future. Sean Couturier (flu) is likely to return to the lineup tonight after missing the last two games. He centered the fourth line at practice yesterday.
New Jersey is without former Flyers forward Dainius Zubrus (broken wrist). He was placed on IR this week. Zubrus has typically done well against his former team, and his size and strength have presented matchup problems for Philly in recent years. New Jersey reacquired veteran forward Alexei Ponikarovsky from Winnipeg earlier this week.
Veteran Patrik Elias (15 points in 13 games) has been a Flyer-killer his entire career. The 36-year-old Czech forward has compiled 33 goals and 75 points in 77 career regular season games against Philadelphia.
Apart from Elias and the ever-deadly Kovalchuk (five goals, 11 points), the fulcrum of the Devils attack this season has been late-blooming power forward David Clarkson (nine goals). As with Elias, both of those players have done their fair share of damage to the Flyers over the years.
Above all, New Jersey will always be noted for its identity as a club that plays smothering team defense. The team's blueline personnel is not especially especially impressive on paper but they fit in Pete DeBoer's system well and the forwards routinely provide puck support.
Although ageless future Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur (2.36 GAA, .908 SV%) is no
longer a perennial Vezina Trophy candidate and looks slow and vulnerable at times, he still makes the big saves when his club needs them. The other half of the NHL's oldest goaltending tandem, Johan Hedberg (0.63 GAA, .973 GAA), has been outstanding in his three games to date this season.
As a result of leaving his feet to deliver a check to New Jersey defenseman Anton Volchenkov in the first meeting of the season, Brayden Schenn drew a one-game suspension from the NHL. It was kind of an odd suspension as neither the Devils nor Volchenkov himself were especially angered by the play (which did not result in a penalty). There is unlikely to be a direct carryover from that particular play to tonight's game, but it's still likely that Volchenkov, an aggressive hitter in his own right, will engage in trench warefare with Schenn and other Flyers.
After tonight's game, the Flyers immediately head to the airport to continue their road trip. The club will take on the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow night.
PROJECTED LINEUPS -- Subject to change
FLYERS
24 Matt Read - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Tye McGinn - 10 Brayden Schenn - 93 Jakub Voracek
26 Ruslan Fedotenko - 48 Danny Briere - 9 Mike Knuble
25 Max Talbot - 14 Sean Couturier - 36 Zac Rinaldo
44 Kimmo Timonen - 22 Luke Schenn
5 Braydon Coburn - 27 Bruno Gervais
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 3 Kurtis Foster
30 Ilya Bryzgalov
[33 Brian Boucher]
DEVILS
15 Stefan Matteau - 19 Travis Zajac- 17 Ilya Kovalchuk
26 Patrik Elias - 14 Adam Henrique - 23 David Clarkson
20 Ryan Carter - 11 Stephen Gionta - 18 Steve Bernier
12 Alexei Ponikarovsky - 16 Jacob Josefson - 9 Bobby Butler
24 Bryce Salvador - 29 Mark Fayne
2 Marek Zidlicky - 28 Anton Volchenkov
6 Andy Greene - 5 Adam Larsson
30 Martin Brodeur
[1 Johan Hedberg]
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