FLYERS-CAPITALS GAME PREVIEW (3:15 AM EST)
In the return match of a home-and-home set, Craig Berube's Philadelphia Flyers (14-15-4) will play host to Adam Oates' Washington Capitals (18-12-3) on Tuesday evening. Game time is 7:30 p.m. EST. The match will be televised locally on CSN Philly, nationally in the U.S. on NBC Sports Network and nationally in Canada on TSN
This is the third of five meetings between the Metropolitan Division teams this season, and the second of three in Washington. After tonight, the Flyers and Capitals will not see each other again until after the Olympic break.
On Nov. 1, the Capitals visited the Wells Fargo Center. Playing without Alexander Ovechkin, Washington laid a 7-0 whipping on the Flyers. This past Sunday, the Flyers built a 4-1 lead only to see the Capitals come back in the final 10 minutes of regulation to force overtime. Washington prevailed, 5-4, via shootout.
After today's game, the Flyers will play a home-and-home with the Columbus Blue Jackets before the Christmas break.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Losses do not much more disheartening than the one Philadelphia suffered in Sunday's late-game collapse. Not only did the Flyers have to settle for one point when they should have had a stranglehold on two points, they also ended up losing ground in the standings to a Washington team they're chasing in the standings.
The Flyers will try to redeem themselves tonight. They are 2-3-2 thus far in December.
One positive for the team of late has been the play of rookie Michael Raffl since being moved to the top line with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. Raffl has six points in the last four games, including the first two goals of his NHL career and a three-assist performance in DC on Sunday.
Giroux bring a three-game point streak into tonight's game. He has goals in each of the last two games -- bringing his total to seven in 33 games -- and five points in the last three.
Voracek has a four-game point streak. He's scored goals in three of the last four and assisted on both Flyers goal in last Thursday's 2-1 win over Montreal.
Philly went 0-for-4 on the power play in Washington. Coming into tonight, the Flyers are ranked 17th in the NHL at 17.1 percent efficiency on the man advantage. On Wells Fargo Center ice, however, the Flyers are just 6-for-62 (9.7 percent) this season. That ranks 27th in the League at home.
The Flyers enter tonight's game ranked 14th in the League on the penalty kill at 83.3 percent efficiency. Having played 138 times this season, Philly is the second most-penalized team in the NHL to Ottawa and have the circuit's third worst power play minutes vs. penalty killing minutes (minus 21:50) ratio.
In Sunday's game, the Flyers found themselves shorthanded five times against the Capitals' power play (24.4 percent overall, 29.2 percent at home), which is ranked 2nd overall in the NHL. Philly managed to kill off four of the disadvantages. Although the Caps have not been quite as good on the man advantage on the road (18.2 percent), Philly would be wise not to overtax its penalty killers against Alex Ovechkin and company.
Flyers goaltender Steve Mason has played into some tough luck of late. He's played a bit better than his recent stat lines but the bottom line is that after his long streak of not allowing more than three goals in a game since being acquired from Columbus, he's allowed four goals in three of his last four starts.
During Philly's recent six-game road trip, Ray Emery allowed two goals in a hard-luck 2-0 loss in Minnesota and then got shredded by his former team, Chicago, in a 7-2 loss last Wednesday night.
In Sunday's game, Sean Couturier scored a third-period goal on a bank shot from near the corner. He caught Washington goaltender Phillip Grubauer napping a bit with sloppy positioning. Couturier has scored two similar goals in his career; an almost identical one against Tampa's Anders Lindbäck last season and one from just behind the goal line on the left side walls against Ottawa earlier this season.
On the injury front, Lecavalier (non-displaced fracture in his lower back) remains out of the Flyers lineup.
CAPITALS OUTLOOK
The Capitals have points in five straight games (4-0-1) and are 4-1-1 in December. They deserve credit for pulling off the late three-goal comeback on Sunday, which was capped by Ovechkin scoring his 27th goal of the season.
In 30 career regular season games against the Flyers, Ovechkin has racked up an astounding 26 goals. Of those, seven have come on the power play and four have been game winners. Overall, the reigning Hart Trophy winner has 41 career points against Philly.
Teammate Nicklas Bäckström, who had a pair of assists in Sunday's game before scoring the winning goal in the shootout, is another Flyer-killer. In 23 career regular season tilts with Philly, he has compiled 11 goals (four on the power play), 26 assists, 37 points and a plus-13 rating.
As mentioned above, the Capitals rank second in the NHL in power play efficiency, clicking at a fearsome 24.4 percent rate for the season. On the penalty kill, the Caps rank 12th in the NHL. The team has killed 83.5 percent of its manpower disadvantages to date but rank 6th on the road at an impressive 87.7 percent. Washington (121 times shorthanded) is the sixth most penalized team in the League and rank 22nd in PP/PK time ratio (minus 14:47).
Second line center Mikhail Grabovski sat out Sunday's game with the flu. Defenseman John Erskine returned to the lineup after a lengthy knee injury-related stint on IR.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 92 Jakub Voracek
19 Scott Hartnell - 10 Brayden Schenn - 17 Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 9 Steve Downie
76 Chris VandeVelde - 18 Adam Hall - 36 Zac Rinaldo
44 Kimmo Timonen - 5 Braydon Coburn
8 Nicklas Grossmann - 32 Mark Streit
26 Erik Gustafsson - 22 Luke Schenn
35 Steve Mason / 29 Ray Emery
Potential Scratches: Jay Rosehill (healthy), Vincent Lecavalier (back injury), Andrej Meszaros (healthy), Hal Gill (healthy), Chris Pronger (LTIR, post-concussion syndrome).
CAPITALS
90 Marcus Johansson - 19 Nicklas Bäckström - 8 Alex Ovechkin
16 Eric Fehr - 84 Mikhail Grabovski - 20 Troy Brouwer
25 Jason Chimera - 10 Martin Erat - 42 Joel Ward
24 Aaron Volpatti - 83 Jay Beagle - 43 Tom Wilson
27 Karl Alzner - 52 Mike Green
81 Dmitri Orlov - 74 John Carlson
4 John Erskine - 61 Steven Oleksy
70 Braden Holtby/ 31 Philipp Grubauer
Possible scratches: Nate Schmidt (healthy), Alexander Urbom (healthy), Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body), Brooks Laich (IR, groin), Jack Hillen (IR, fractured tibia).
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