UPDATE 6:15 PM EST
Sounds like Kimmo Timonen is going to play tonight. Gustafsson will also play so Kurtis Foster would be the odd man out.
UPDATE 4:30 PM EST
The Flyers have recalled Erik Gustafsson. Veteran Andreas Lilja has been sent down to Adirondack. Kimmo Timonen reportedly made the trip to Montreal, but there is no update as of yet on his status. Brian Boucher will start in goal for Philly tonight.
UPDATE 10:30 AM EST
Carey Price is out tonight due to a bout with stomach flu. Backup Peter Budaj will play the entire game. Lineups are updated below.
Not unexpectedly, the Flyers will not hold a morning skate today.
PREVIEW 7:30 AM EST
There is no time for the Philadelphia Flyers (6-8-1) to dwell on last night's collapse in Newark that saw the team blow a 3-1 lead and lose 5-3 in regulation. Tonight, the Flyers return to Canada for the fourth game of their six-game road trip. The opponent will be a Montreal Canadiens (8-4-1) club that has won its last two games and which had last night off after nipping Florida 1-0 on Thursday.
Tonight's game starts at 7 p.m. EST. It is a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, which will be televised throughout Canada on the CBC and throughout the U.S. on NHL Network. Locally, it will be broadcast on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season. Last year, the Flyers won three of four from Montreal.
The first game, Philly's lone loss, saw the Flyers hold the Habs to three shots in the first 19 minutes of the period. The Montreal crowd turned on the home team, until a final-minute power play gave the Canadiens sudden life. Yanick Weber score in the final three seconds of the opening period to tie the game at 1-1 before the first intermission. The Canadiens went on to dominate the rest of the game and won 5-1.
Last night's game in Newark was somewhat like that loss in Montreal. The Flyers held a 3-1 lead at the first intermission, courtesy of bang-bang-bang goals by Wayne Simmonds (power play), Mike Knuble and Matt Read scored in a span of 2:36. But then the Flyers yielded a goal in the opening minute of the second period and they deflated against the New Jersey Devils team that has indisputably gotten into their heads over the last year.
The Flyers held the Devils to just 19 shots for the game last night but were still guilty of loose defensive coverages at key junctures. They committed the cardinal sin of yielding goals in the first minute of both the opening and second periods. Meanwhile, after the early explosion, the Philadelphia attack went AWOL and barely tested a shaky-looking Martin Brodeur again.
Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov wasn't awful. None of the New Jersey goals could be accurately described as soft. But Bryzgalov was also far from stellar on a night where the team could have left with one or two points if he had his A game. Bryzgalov went down too early and looked vulnerable high to the blocker/stick side, which happens sometimes on nights where he's not completely locked in. Goaltending didn't cost the Flyers the game last night, but also did nothing to help the team win, either.
Including last night, the Flyers have played four games in which they've been tied after two periods. All four games have resulted in regulation losses. Philly has also played a pair of games where they led after two periods and ended up having to go overtime (losing via skills competition to Florida and beating Carolina in OT).
Consistently getting outplayed in crunch time is flat out unacceptable. When you add that to getting scored on multiple times at the starts of periods, well, you have Flyers a team that already faces an uphill climb just to make the playoffs this season.
Compounding the Flyers' woes last night was a lower-body injury to four-time All Star defenseman Kimmo Timonen that forced him to leave in the second period. The team would only classify it for now as a day-to-day injury but the 38-year-old will be re-evaluated today. The team, which has an 11:30 a.m. skate at the Bell Centre today (which may or may not actually take place), will issue an update later today.
As of now, Andreas Lilja would be in the lineup for Philadelphia tonight, along with Bruno Gervais and Kurtis Foster. However, it is possible the team could make a callup (most likely Erik Gustafsson) rather than dress all three of the aforementioned veterans.
Claude Giroux had a pair of assists in last night's game. However, he was far from the best player on the ice, especially when the game was still winnable for the Flyers. The game in New Jersey was the type in which a team's top weapon absolutely must step up with the game on the line. Ilya Kovalchuk (three primary assists) did just that for the Devils.
Elsewhere on the injury front, Scott Hartnell (foot) and Andrej Meszaros (shoulder) are inching toward much-needed returns to the Flyers' lineup. However, neither player is ready to play yet. Hartnell could play as soon as Wednesday in Pittsburgh. Enforcer Jody Shelley needs hip surgery and backup goaltender Michael Leighton (finger) is only on IR.
Montreal has won a pair of games since getting humiliated by the Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday.
On Tuesday, the Habs rescued a shootout win over Tampa after blowing a 3-0 lead they took into the third period. Goals by Brian Gionta, P.K. Subban (his third since finally joining the team after reaching contract terms with Montreal) and Travis Moen built the lead the team was unable to protect.
The night still ended well for the Canadiens. David Desharnais scored in the shootout's second round and Carey Price stopped Victor Hedman (who had tallied a pair of third period goals), Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos in succession to take a second point from a game they should have won in regulation.
Two nights later, the Canadiens and Florida played to a scoreless deadlock at the end of regulation. Carey Price made 26 regulation saves and did not have to make any stops in overtime, as the Habs' Rene Bourque tallied to win the game 1-0. Highly touted rookie forward Alex Galchenyuk set up the winning goal.
After tonight's game, the Flyers have tomorrow off. They have a Presidents Day matinee in Long Island on Monday.
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 - 29 Erik Gustafsson
33 Brian Boucher
[30 Ilya Bryzgalov]
CANADIENS
27 Rene Bourque - 14 Tomas Plekanec - 21 Brian Gionta
67 Max Pacioretty - 27 Alex Galchenyuk - 73 Brendan Gallagher
8 Brandon Prust - 51 David Desharnais - 72 Erik Cole
32 Travis Moen - 81 Lars Eller - 20 Colby Armstrong
79 Andrei Markov - 74 Alexei Emelin
55 Francis Bouillon - 76 P.K. Subban
26 Josh Gorges - 61 Raphael Diaz
30 Peter Budaj
[65 Robert Mayer]
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