11:30 AM EST
Mike Knuble will be a healthy scratch tonight for the Flyers. Harry Zolnierczyk is in.
PREVIEW 7 AM EST
Hoping to salvage a second win from a four-game homestand, the Philadelphia Flyers (9-11-1) host the Washington Capitals (7-10-1) at the Wells Fargo Center. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. EST and will be televised on NBCSN.
This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season. On Feb. 1 in Washington, the Flyers fell in regulation, 3-2.
In that game, Philadelphia's Bruno Gervais broke a scoreless deadlock midway through the second period but a late-period puck management mistake by Sean Couturier with a line change going on behind him led to a breakaway goal for Nicklas Bäckström. In the third period, the Flyers killed off a lengthy 5-on-3 disadvantage and then flatlined.
Washington's Troy Brouwer and Wojtek Wolski (breakaway after stripping Luke Schenn of the puck on a neutral zone faceoff) forged a 3-1 lead for the Capitals. Brayden Schenn got one goal back midway through the final period, but the Flyers never came up with a tying goal.
As a result of the loss to Washington, who had been struggling even worse than the Flyers had been entering the game, Philadelphia fell to 2-6-0 on the season. They have been two games above .500 in the span of games since then (7-5-1) but have been unable to put together winning streaks of any substance. On Monday, the Flyers dropped a 4-2 decision to Toronto.
Yesterday, the Flyers traded a conditional 2013 3rd/4th round pick to the Los Angeles Kings to reacquire longtime fan favorite Simon Gagne. The former All-Star forward had dressed in 11 games this season for the Kings, failing to score a goal but registering five assists. With Matt Read (torn muscles near ribcage) out until April, the Flyers needed another two-way winger with speed. Gagne had playoff success in 2010 under Peter Laviolette after a difficult and injury-plagued regular season.
Flyers' right winger Jakub Voracek has been the hottest player in the entire NHL over the last week plus. He has racked up 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in the last six games.
Apart from Read, the Flyers remain without defenseman Andrej Meszaros (shoulder). Rookie winger Tye McGinn suffered a fractured orbital bone in a first-period fight with Toronto's Mike Brown in Monday's game.
The Capitals have gone 5-2-0 after starting out the season 2-8-1. They've won five of their last seven games, including a 3-0 home win over Carolina last night. The Caps got goals from Bäckström, John Erskine and John Carlson. Alexander Ovechkin had an assist in last night's game on the heels of a hat trick and assist in the Caps' win over New Jersey on Saturday.
On the injury front, forwards Brooks Laich (groin) and Marcus Johansson (upper body) and defenseman Jack Hillen and Dmitry Orlov (upper body) are out for tonight's game.
With the Flyers having not played last night, they hope to have the fresher legs as tonight's game progresses. That won't happen automatically, though. Philly needs to press the issue.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
FLYERS
19 Scott Hartnell - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
48 Danny Briere - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Simon Gagne - 14 Sean Couturier - 36 Zac Rinaldo
25 Max Talbot - 26 Ruslan Fedotenko - 37 Harry Zolnierczyk
44 Kimmo Timonen - 22 Luke Schenn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 5 Braydon Coburn
29 - Erik Gustafsson -3 Kurtis Foster
30 Ilya Bryzgalov
[33 Brian Boucher]
CAPITALS
25 Jason Chimera -9 Mike Ribeiro - 8 Alexander Ovechkin
16 Eric Fehr - 19 Nicklas Bäckström - 20 Troy Brouwer
17 Wojtek Wolski - 85 Mathieu Perreault - 42 Joel Ward
26 Matt Hendricks - 83 Jay Beagle - 15 Joey Crabb
27 Karl Alzner - 52 Mike Green
4 John Erskine - 74 John Carlson
3 Tom Poti - 36 Tomas Kundratek
70 Braden Holtby/ 30 Michal Neuvirth
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