UPDATE 12:30 PM EDT
The Flyers announced today that Kimmo Timonen will miss the final three games of the season with a foot compression fracture. He faces about a month of recovery time. It is likely that Timonen has been playing with the injury for awhile and the pain finally got to be too much to tolerate. With the team out of the playoffs, there's no need to push it.
The club has recalled veteran Andreas Lilja to fill the roster spot.
PREVIEW 8:00 AM EDT
With three games overall and two home matches remaining before they take an early summer vacation, the Philadelphia Flyers (20-22-3) host the Northeast Division leading Boston Bruins (27-12-5) at the Wells Fargo Center. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. and will broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network.
This is the third and final meeting between the teams this season, and the second in Philadelphia. On March 9 in Boston, the Flyers feebly went down to a 3-0 shutout loss. Several weeks later in Philly, on March 30, the Flyers returned the favor with a 3-1 win. Mike Knuble (power play), Matt Read, and Ruslan Fedotenko (empty net goal) provided the offense. Ilya Bryzgalov was stellar in net, making 33 saves for the victory.
Apart from stumbling in a home shutout loss to New Jersey, the Flyers have played winning hockey over the last week. They have won three of their last four, and are coming off a 5-3 pounding of the Carolina Hurricanes that was not nearly as close in tone as the score would suggest. Unfortunately for the Flyers, the recent wins over Montreal, the Rangers, and the Canes are a case of too little, too late.
Even-strength play has been the bane of the Flyers' existence this season, both on the offensive and defensive sides of the puck. In the Carolina game, however, the Flyers exploded for five even-strength goals on a night where they were unable to bag a goal on the man advantage. Wayne Simmonds tallied a hat trick and one assist. Read had a goal and two assists. Jakub Voracek scored on a first-period break to clinch the first 20-goal season of his career.
The Flyers' combined special teams numbers actually rank them 1st in the entire NHL this season. The power play ranks third overall at 22.1 percent efficiency (tops in the league at home with a 28.8 percent success rate). The penalty kill ranks sixth overall at 85.1 percent efficiency (including an 87.4 percent efficiency rate at home).
Something else that's odd about this shortened season for a Philly team that has realistically been out of playoff contention for weeks and is already mathematically eliminated: They will not get swept in their season series with any team this year. The Flyers have managed at least one win this season against every other team in the East. There have been full 82 game seasons in which they've posted 100-plus point campaigns where the Flyers have not won against every in-Conference opponent at least once.
Boston has played inconsistent hockey of late, going 5-4-1 over its last 10 games. They lost four in a row until shutting out Florida, 3-0, on Sunday. Things had gotten so out of sorts for the Bruins for awhile that struggling forward Milan Lucic (six goals and 24 points on the season) was a healthy scratch for one game.
Tonight's game marks the return of Jaromir Jagr to Philadelphia for the first time since departing as a free agent after a successful season as a Flyer last year. In nine games with the Bruins since coming over via trade with the Dallas Stars, the future Hall of Famer has produced eight points (two goals, six assists). Overall this season, Jagr has 16 goals and 34 points in 43 games.
Despite the Bruins' recent four-game losing streak, they have at least temporarily overtaken the Montreal Canadiens for the Northeast Division lead and the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have 59 points and 27 wins, but Boston holds one game in hand over the Habs. Including tonight's game, the Bruins have four games left to play. The Canadiens, who are on the road tonight to take on the Devils, have three remaining games.
On the injury front, Philadelphia is without defensemen Nicklas Grossmann (concussion), Braydon Coburn (separated shoulder), Andrej Meszaros (torn rotator cuff) and Bruno Gervais (abdominal muscle tear) the rest of the season. Defenseman Kent Huskins (concussion) has resumed skating but will not play tonight but could be available for the final two games of the season. Up front, the Flyers are without Max Talbot (broken leg) and Zac Rinaldo (high ankle sprain) for the rest of the year.
Boston is missing top line winger Nathan Horton (wrist), who did not travel with the team to Philadelphia. Defenseman Adam McQuaid (lower body) is listed as questionable.
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 - 37 Jay Rosehill
29 Erik Gustafsson - 22 Luke Schenn
38 Oliver Lauridsen - 32 Brandon Manning
6 Andreas Lilja or 34 Matt Konan - 3 Kurtis Foster
30 Ilya Bryzgalov
[35 Steve Mason]
BRUINS
63 Brad Marchand - 37 Patrice Bergeron - 19 Tyler Seguin
17 Milan Lucic - 46 David Krejci - 49 Rich Peverley
34 Carl Söderberg - 23 Chris Kelly - 68 Jaromir Jagr
28 Daniel Paille - 11 Greg Campbell - 22 Shaw Thornton
33 Zdeno Chara - 27 Dougie Hamilton
6 Wade Redden - 44 Dennis Seidenberg
21 Andrew Ference - 55 Johnny Boychuk
40 Tuukka Rask
[35 Anton Khudobin]
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