PREVIEW 7:05 AM EDT
With eight games left in a massively disappointing season and little left to play for this year, the Philadelphia Flyers (17-20-3) are on the road this afternoon to take on the Buffalo Sabres (16-19-6). The game starts at 3 p.m. and will be televised locally on CSN Philadelphia and
streamed on NBC Sports LiveExtra.
This is the third and final meeting of the regular season between the teams. On the second day of the lockout-shortened season, the Sabres rode a three-goal outburst in the third period to a 5-2 win. On March 10 in Philadelphia, power play goals by Simon Gagne and Claude Giroux and a shorthanded tally by Max Talbot built a 3-1 lead. The Flyers hung on in the third period for a 3-2 victory.
The Flyers have lost three games in a row heading into today, putting an end to any talk about making a late run at a playoff spot. Buffalo, which has lost back-to-back games and is one point ahead of Philly in the standings with one more game played to date, is in a similar spot.
Former Sabres forward Danny Briere is expected to make his return to the Flyers' lineup today after missing 10 games with a concussion. The Flyers will be without Talbot (broken leg), Braydon Coburn (separated shoulder) and Andrej Meszaros (torn rotator cuff) for the rest of the season, could be without Nicklas Grossmann (concussion, balance issues) the remainder of the way, and are without Zac Rinaldo (high ankle sprain) indefinitely.
The Sabres will be without Tyler Myers (broken leg) for the remainder of the season, while former Flyers forward Ville Leino remains out indefinitely with an upper body injury. Defenseman Alexander Sulzer has been on injured reserve since late February after undergoing ACL surgery.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
12 Simon Gagne - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
19 Scott Hartnell - 10 Brayden Schenn - 48 Danny Briere
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
26 Ruslan Fedotenko - 18 Adam Hall - 9 Mike Knuble
44 Kimmo Timonen - 27 Bruno Gervais
38 Oliver Lauridsen - 22 Luke Schenn
23 Kent Huskins - 29 Erik Gustafsson
30 Ilya Bryzgalov / 35 Steve Mason
SABRES
Thomas Vanek - Cody Hodgson - Marcus Foligno
Luke Adam - Tyler Ennis - Drew Stafford
Steve Ott - Kevin Porter - Brian Flynn
Nathan Gerbe - Jochen Hecht - Patrick Kaleta
Christian Ehrhoff - ???
Mike Weber - Mark Pysyk
Andrej Sekera - Adam Pardy
Ryan Miller
[Jhonas Enroth]
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