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Flyers Gameday: 2/17/15 vs. CBJ |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS @ BLUE JACKETS
Returning home to start a four-game homestand, Craig Berube's Philadelphia Flyers (24-22-10) play host to Todd Richards' Columbus Blue Jackets (24-27-3) on Tuesday night. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will be televised locally on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the fifth and final meeting of the regular season between the teams, the third game in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 1-1-2 in the first four games against Columbus, with a pair of overtime losses. On Friday night, the Blue Jackets came back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to win in overtime, 4-3.
The Flyers were last in action on Sunday night in Buffalo. Philly will host the Sabres on Thursday night. The Blue Jackets had a road game in Long Island on Saturday. After this game, the Blue Jackets will head to western Pennsylvania to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers have posted at least one point in nine straight games (6-0-3) and are six points behind the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference wildcard playoff chase. The team went 2-0-2 on its four-game road trip.
Philly enters this game coming off a 2-1 road win in Buffalo. Goals by Matt Read and Michael Raffl were just enough to win. Winning goaltender Ray Emery stopped 21 of 22 shots. Buffalo's lone goal was scored on a two-minute 5-on-3 power play in the second period.
Taking a wider-range view of the Flyers, the team has fared OK since its 2-8-3 pratfall following a five-night schedule break in November that dropped the team's season record to 9-13-5 through 27 games. In the 29 games that have been played since then, the Flyers are 15-9-5.
A lot of Flyers recent wins have been uneven efforts. However, scoring first and getting good goaltending can go a long way. Those have been two common characteristics of the Flyers' run. Philly has been a good home team for the majority of the season. The club brings a 15-7-4 home record into this game.
Goaltender Steve Mason (arthroscopic surgery on his right knee) is slated to return to the ice soon and may be ready to play by the end of next week. The team has recalled Rob Zepp, who came back from a right ankle injury the previous Saturday to start all three (and win two) Lehigh Valley Phantoms games over the weekend. The team has returned rookie goaltender Anthony Stolarz to Lehigh Valley.
In Sunday's game in Buffalo, Braydon Coburn made his return to the lineup from a left foot injury that sidelined him for a month. He was benched for most of the third period due to subpar play. Andrew MacDonald, a healthy scratch in Buffalo, is available. The defensive rotation for the rematch with Columbus will be clearer after the morning skate.
Zac Rinaldo has finished his eight-game NHL suspension and is eligible to return to the lineup. With the team going well of late, however, he may be a healthy scratch.
Blue Jackets outlook
Columbus is 3-3-0 thus far in the month of February and the NHL All-Star Game host club has gone 4-5-0 since the All-Star break. Friday night's OT win against the Flyers marked the first game this season the Blue Jackets won when trailing after two periods. They had been 0-20-0 in such situations.
On Saturday night, the Blue Jackets sustained a 6-3 road loss at the hands of the New York Islanders. The game was tied at 3-3 after the second period -- Brandon Dubinsky, Cam Atkinson and Nick Foligno scored for the visiting side -- before the Islanders pulled away with three unanswered even-strength goals in the first 11:15 of the third period.
Anton Forsberg was peppered with 46 shots by the Islanders, stopping 40. Curtis McElhinney, who earned the win against Philadelphia last Friday, is likely to return to the net for Tuesday's tilt.
The Blue Jackets have been the NHL's most injury-decimated team the entire season and there is little relief in immediate sight. The team recalled Marko Dano from the AHL yesterday.
Dalton Prout is out with an upper-body injury. Former Vezina Trophy winning goaltender and ex-Flyers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky (33 GPI, 16-15-2, 2.85 GAA, .913 SV%, 1 SO) is on injured reserve with a groin pull but could return at the end of February. Also on IR are Boone Jenner (stress fracture in his back), Ryan Murray (left high ankle sprain), Brian Gibbons (knee) and Jeremy Morin (irregular heartbeat). Power forward Nathan Horton has missed the entire season with a degenerative condition in his back.
Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.66 (20th), Blue Jackets 2.56 (23rd)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.79 (23rd), Blue Jackets 3.13 (26th)
Even strength Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 1.03 (17th), Blue Jackets 0.75 (26th)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 23.5% (3rd), Blue Jackets 22.1% (6th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 75.7% (28th), Blue Jackets 80.4% (20th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 51.2% (11th), Blue Jackets 48.2% (22nd)
Projected lineups (Subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
10 Brayden Schenn - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
25 Ryan White - 12 Michael Raffl - 18 R.J. Umberger
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 40 Vincent Lecavalier
55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit
15 Michael Del Zotto - 22 Luke Schenn
8 Nickla Grossmann - 5 Braydon Coburn
29 Ray Emery
[72 Rob Zepp]
Scratches: Carlo Colaiacovo (healthy), Andrew MacDonald (healthy), Zac Rinaldo (healthy), Kimmo Timonen (LTIR, blood clots), Steve Mason (right knee).
BLUE JACKETS
43 Scott Hartnell - 19 Ryan Johansen - 71 Nick Foligno
11 Matt Calvert - 17 Brandon Dubinsky - 13 Cam Atkinson
42 Artem Anisimov - 41 Alexander Wennberg - 10 Jack Skille
26 Corey Tropp - 55 Mark Letestu - 40 Jared Boll
7 Jack Johnson 58 David Savard
4 Kevin Connauton 21 James Wisniewski
3 Jordan Leopold 29 Cody Goloubef
30 Curtis McElhinney
[31 Anton Forsberg]
Scratches: Marko Dano (healthy), Fedor Tyutin (healthy), Dalton Prout (upper body), Sergei Bobrovsky (IR, groin), Boone Jenner (IR, back), Ryan Murray (IR, left high ankle sprain), Brian Gibbons (IR, knee), Jeremy Morin (IR, irregular heartbeat), Nathan Horton (IR, back).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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