PREVIEW 7 AM EST
Playing for the third time in four days and a league-high 20th time in 36 days, the Philadelphia Flyers (8-10-1) host the Winnipeg Jets (7-8-1) in a Saturday matinee at the Wells Fargo Center. The game starts at 1 p.m. EST and will be televised on CSN Philly.
This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season and the lone match in Philadelphia. On Feb 12, the Flyers gritted out a 3-2 win in Winnipeg on the strength of an excellent goaltending performance by Ilya Bryzgalov and goals by Brayden Schenn, Kimmo Timonen and Tye McGinn. Jakub Voracek set up the Schenn and McGinn goals.
Since that time, the Flyers are 2-3-0. They suffered a collapse against the New Jersey Devils, and ugly losses to the Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers. Sandwiched in the middle were a 7-0 shutout win against the New York Islanders and a thrilling 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In Thursday's 5-2 loss to Florida, the Flyers came out attacking but gave up three goals in a two-minute span to fall into a cavernous deficit by the middle of the opening period. Philadelphia never really challenged thereafter. Luke Schenn and Voracek scored third period goals for the Flyers.
Voracek is a strong candidate for NHL Player of the Week honors. He has four goals and eight points in his last three games. For the month of February, the Czech winger has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in 12 games.
Whether it is a slump or an issue of fatigue from starting 17 of 19 games in such a short span, Bryzgalov has not been sharp in three of his last four starts. The NHL's busiest goaltender this season had a 19-save shutout against the Islanders (after two days of rest) but his reactions were off in the games against New Jersey, Pittsburgh and Florida. His season save percentage has fallen to an even 90 percent.
Today marks the third game of a five-game road trip for Winnipeg. The Jets started the trip with wins against Buffalo and Carolina. Dating back to their pre-Winnipeg existence as the Atlanta Thrashers, the Jets have had a lot of success in road games in Philly, winning both games played in Philly in each of the last three seasons (6-0-0).
The Jets have finally gotten defenseman Zach Bogosian back into the lineup after he missed nearly the entire first month of the season with a wrist injury. Unfortunately for the club, they have lost top offensive defenseman Tobias Enström (two goals, 13 points) to a shoulder injury and fellow defenseman Zach Redmond (severed femoral artery) for the remainder of the season as a result of a grizzly injury suffered at practice when teammate Antti Miettinen's skate sliced him through his thigh. Backup goalie Al Montoya is also sidelined.
The Flyers' lineup is also racked with serious injuries. Scott Hartnell is out for another week or so as he returns to practice after suffering a broken bone in his foot in January. Andrej Meszaros is making progress from a shoulder injury but is not ready to return. Most recently, the Flyers lost Matt Read for at least six weeks as a result of torn muscles near his ribcage. Read sustained the injury in Wednesday's game in Pittsburgh.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
FLYERS
5 Tye McGinn - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
48 Danny Briere - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
25 Max Talbot - 14 Sean Couturier - 9 Mike Knuble
12 Harry Zolnierczyk - 26 Ruslan Fedotenko - 36 Zac Rinaldo
44 Kimmo Timonen - 22 Luke Schenn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 5 Braydon Coburn
29 Erik Gustafsson - 27 Bruno Gervais
30 Ilya Bryzgalov
[33 Brian Boucher]
JETS
16 Andrew Ladd - 18 Bryan Little - 26 Blake Wheeler
9 Evander Kane - 8 Alexander Burmistrov - 80 Nikolai Antropov
27 Eric Tangradi - 12-Olli Jokinen - 13 Kyle Wellwood
17 James Wright - 19-Jim Slater - 22 Chris Thorburn
6 Ron Hainsey - 44 Zach Bogosian
24 Grant Clitsome - 33 Dustin Byfuglien
5-Mark Stuart - 4 Paul Postma
31 Ondrej Pavelec
[32 Ed Pasquale]
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