GAME 74 PREVIEW: FLYERS @ RED WINGS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (37-25-11) are in the Motor City on Tuesday take on Jeff Blashill's Detroit Red Wings (26-35-11) at Little Caesar's Arena. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSNP.
This is the third and final meeting of the season between the teams and the second in Detroit. The Flyers are 2-0-0 in the season series so far but both games have been tough.
On Dec. 20 in Philadelphia, the Flyers recovered from a pair of one-goal deficits to get the game to the third period tied at 3-3. Robert Hägg's first NHL goal knotted the game toward the latter stages of the second period, before Sean Couturier put the Flyers ahead to stay early in the third period. Brian Elliott (25 saves) earned the win and the team in front of him limited the Wings to just four shots in the final stanza.
On Jan. 18 in Detroit, the Flyers enjoyed a dominant second period (18-7 shot advantage, goals by Andrew MacDonald and Jakub Voracek to take a 2-1 lead) but Detroit was significantly the better team in the first or third periods. There were junctures of the third period in which the Flyers seemed to be in jeopardy of losing in regulation after Detroit re-tied the game. However, the Flyers prevailed in the first shift of OT.
The game had a bizarre finish on a play that nearly was offside before Travis Konecny scored the game winner. Detroit forward Dylan Larkin lost the puck to Couturier and then Konecny very narrowly avoiding touching the puck while offside. With Larkin momentarily distracted by arguing with the linesman for an offside, the now-onside Konecny skated into the top of the right circle and beat then-Detroit goalie Petr Mrazek over the glove to seal a 3-2 overtime win for the Flyers.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers enter this game in virtually the same situation they faced entering a weekend back-to-back set in Raleigh on Saturday and at home on Sunday against the Washington Capitals. Philly is in third place in the Metropolitan Division, tied in points with the Columbus Blue Jackets but ahead by the narrowest of tiebreaking margins (35-34 ROW advantage).
However, after stepping up in the third period to earn a comeback 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes and then outplaying the Capitals for much of the game in a 6-3 victory the next evening, the Flyers were able to put their 1-6-1 start to the month of March -- and their stretch of having scored no more than two goals in seven of their previous nine games -- into the rearview mirror. Unfortunately, the stretch of seeing winnable points slip away three times in third periods still has the Flyers in a playoff dogfight rather than the cusp of first place with some breathing room from the chase of their pursuers.
Nevertheless, the Flyers remain fully in control of their own fate in terms of staying ahead of Columbus and New Jersey (three points behind Philly with one game in hand but a 35-32 ROW disadvantage). As long as the Flyers keep winning and maintaining at least a 1 ROW edge, there is nothing the Blue Jackets and Devils can do but keep up the pressure.
In Sunday's game against Washington, the Flyers put forth a solid 60-minute performance despite being on the second half of a back-to-back (with only a 22-hour turnaround) and the final game of a 3-in-4 while the Caps had been idle the previous night. It was a gutsy and determined effort by the entire Flyers team to play as well as they did.
Scoring his first NHL in his 14th game with the Flyers, rookie left winger Oskar Lindblom made the Capitals pay for a turnover and put Philly ahead to stay at 18:19 of the second period. The Flyers also got goals from Shayne Gostisbehere (12th) and Ivan Provorov (12th) in the middle frame. Wayne Simmonds (22nd and 23rd) scored twice in the third period before Jakub Voracek (18th) iced the win with an empty-netter in the final minute.
Claude Giroux (58th assist), Voracek (60th), Radko Gudas (10th and 11th), Sean Couturier (39th and 39th) and Robert Hägg (6th) collected assists. Meanwhile Travis Konecny (two shots, 15 shifts, three blocks) came up with two painful but clutch blocked shots in the third period and later fought Washington's T.J. Oshie.
Bouncing back from a rough outing (four goals on 10 shots) against Columbus, Mrazek played a strong game in goal for the Flyers apart from an ultimately meaningless late goal for Washington. He came up with clutch stops several times in making 25 saves on 28 shots. Now, Mrazek will go back to Detroit and get the start against his former team.
The Flyers lost two-way winger Michael Raffl to an upper-body injury in the second period of Sunday's game. He will be out for approximately two weeks per Flyers general manager Ron Hextall. The team did not practice on Monday. It seems likely that Jori Lehterä, a lineup regular in recent months until being scratched the last two games, will slot back into the rotation. It is also possible that frequent healthy scratch Taylor Leier could re-enter the lineup at least to play against Detroit.
RED WINGS OUTLOOK
After a string of 10 straight games against teams either in playoff position (seven opponents) or on sitting on the bubble of playoff contention (Florida and two games against fringe contender Carolina), the Flyers will finally encounter a March game against a team near the bottom of the standings.
The Red Wings are in next-to-last place in the Eastern Conference and winless in their last 10 games (0-9-1) with each of the last six coming in regulation. For a host of reasons, the Flyers do not want to become the team against whom the Wings break their freefall. While this is a game the Flyers might be able to win despite an uneven effort -- as was the case the last times the clubs met -- it is important for Philly to treat this game with the same sort of focused urgency they brought to Sunday's victory over Washington.
On Sunday, the Western Conference upper wildcard seeded Colorado Avalanche laid a 5-1 beating on the Red Wings. The Flyers need to similarly pounce on a demoralized team that is playing out the string (and for jobs) and wishes the season would mercifully end now.
Larkin leads the Red Wings in overall scoring with 50 points (nine goals, 41 assists) through 72 games. Aging veteran Henrik Zetterberg (10 goals, 37 assists) is three points behind him. Gustav Nyquist (34 points) needs one goal to reach 20 on the season. Anthony Mantha's 23 goals lead the low-scoring team.
Veteran goalie Jimmy Howard has appeared in 53 games (50 starts), posting a record of 18-25-8 with a 2.87 goals against average and .908 save percentage. Recalled following Mrazek's trade to the Flyers, hulking (6-foot-6) goalie Jared Coreau has made four starts in March. He is 0-3-0 with a 4.48 GAA and .856 save percentage.
Mrazek has met one of the two conditions for a 2018 draft pick from the Flyers to be upgraded from a fourth-round to third-round pick. He obtained his fifth Flyers victory on Sunday. The team still needs to clinch a playoff spot before the pick is upgraded. The pick could be further upgraded to the second round selection if Philly were to advance all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals (8 playoff wins) and Mrazek were to win six postseason games.
Team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)
Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.96 (14th), Red Wings 2.50 (28th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.86 (14th), Red Wings 3.10 (T-23rd)
Power play efficiency: Flyers 19.8% (19th), Red Wings 17.7% (23rd)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 75.6% (27th), Red Wings 78.2 (22nd)
Shorthanded goals scored: Flyers 3 (T-26th), Red Wings 7 (T-9th)
Shorthanded goals against: Flyers 9 (T-27th), Red Wings 5 (T-10th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 53.5% (2nd), Red Wings 48.6% (24th)
5-on-5 GF/GA: Flyers 135 (T-21st)/128 (10th), Red Wings 123 (27th)/148 (T-23rd)
PROJECTED LINEUPS (will be updated)
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
54 Oskar Lindblom - 19 Nolan Patrick - 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Jordan Weal - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Jori Lehterä - 21 Scott Laughton - 24 Matt Read
9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
47 Andrew MacDonald - 6 Travis Sanheim
8 Robert Hägg - 3 Radko Gudas
34 Petr Mrazek
[39 Alex Lyon]
Scratches: 20 Taylor Leier (healthy), 22 Dale Weise (healthy), 23 Brandon Manning (healthy), 29 Johnny Oduya (healthy), 12 Michael Raffl (upper body), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, core muscle surgery), 30 Michal Neuvirth (lower body).
RED WINGS
59 Tyler Bertuzzi - 40 Henrik Zetterberg - 14 Gustav Nyquist
39 Anthony Mantha - 71 Dylan Larkin - 43 Darren Helm
8 Justin Abdelkader - 51 Frans Nielsen - 72 Andreas Athanasiou
77 Evgeny Svechnikov - 41 Luke Glendening - 42 Martin Frk
52 Jonathan Ericsson - 83 Trevor Daley
65 Dan DeKeyser - 25 Mike Green
55 Niklas Kronwall - 3 Nick Jensen
35 Jimmy Howard
[31 Jared Coreau]
Scratches 17 David Booth (healthy), 28 Luke Witkowski (healthy), 61 Xavier Ouellet (healthy).
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PROSPECT UPDATES
* The playoffs begin later this week in the Ontario, Western and Quebec Major Junior leagues. Over on the Flyers' official website, I wrote an in-depth roundup of how all Flyers prospects in the CHL leagues fared this season, preview their teams' first-round playoff matchups and discuss their outlooks for beyond this season. For more,
click here.
* AHL: The Phantoms are coming off a great weekend of hockey, taking 5 of six points from one of those dreaded 3-in-3 weekends that are commonplace in the American Hockey League. The weekend was highlighted by back-to-back home shutout wins over Providence on Saturday (3-0, 33 saves by Dustin Tokarski) and Springfield on Sunday (3-0, 23 saves by John Muse).
With a sparking 42-16-8 record, the Phantoms sit 12 points above the second-place Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins (37-19-6) in the Atlantic Division standings. Although the Pens still have four games in hand, the first-place race is all but decided.
In the race for the top record in the AHL and home ice advantage throughout the playoffs, the Phantoms are two points up on the Toronto Marlies (44-17-2) but trail in the points percentage category (.714 to .697). The Marlies hold three games in hand on the Phantoms.
All Eastern Conference teams will ultimately play 76 games, as will every team in the Western Conference's Central Division. However, because six of the eight teams in the Pacific Division play only 68 games rather than 76, the AHL uses points percentage rather than points to determine its overall standings. In terms of overall points percentage, the Central Division leading Manitoba Moose (.656) are third behind the Marlies and Phantoms. The Pacific Division pacing Tuscon Roadrunners (.640) have the sixth-highest points percentage in the AHL.
* For the second time in the last month, Phantoms forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel has been suspended two games by the American Hockey League for a checking-to-the-head incident. This one stemmed from an unpenalized elbow to the head of Providence forward Adam Payerl at
8:53 of the second period in Saturday's game.
Aube-Kubel, who has scored 18 goals (all at even strength) and 42 points in 64 games this season, has had a breakthrough second pro year after a rough rookie campaign. The slick-skating forward plays with some feistiness to his game, which is a good thing, but the high hits need to stop. The Phantoms need him on the ice, not serving repeat-offender suspensions. This last incident may have been let slide -- no penalty, no apparent injury -- if he hadn't recently been dinged for a previous two-gamer. He's in the crosshairs now.
Overall, Aube-Kubel has improved by leaps and bounds in the consistency of his attention to detail in his all around game. He still irregularly falls back into things that got him in coach Scott Gordon's doghouse as a rookie, but Aube-Kubel has come a very long way from where he was as a rookie struggling to make the transition from junior hockey to the type of structure that is demanded in the pros.
* NCAA: The regional semifinals are set for the road to the Frozen Four. Four Flyers prospects are still playing. Terrance Amorosa's Clarkson (23-10-6) team will take on Providence (23-11-4) on Friday in the Eastern Regional semis in Bridgeport. Cooper Marody and Brendan Warren's Michigan (20-14-3) will go up against Northeastern (23-9-5) in the NE Regional semis in Worcester on Saturday. At the PPL Center in Allentown on Saturday, Tanner Laczynski and his Ohio State (24-9-5) team will take on Princeton (19-12-4).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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