PREVIEW: FLYERS @ SENATORS

Looking for their third straight win, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (9-10-5) open their December schedule on the road as they pay another visit to take on Dave Cameron's Ottawa Senators (12-6-5). Game time at the Canadian Tire Centre is 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on TCN Philadelphia.

This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season and the second and final meeting in Ottawa. On Nov. 21, the Flyers got blanked by the Sens, 4-0. The season series concludes on April 2 in Philadelphia.

The Flyers last played on Saturday, visiting the New York Rangers. After this game, the Flyers have two nights off before playing a back-to-back set against the New Jersey Devils in Newark on Friday and the Columbus Blue Jackets in Philadelphia the next night.

Ottawa wrapped up a three-game road trip on Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes. This game marks the start of a three-game homestand for the Senators. The Chicago Blackhawks will come to town on Thursday, followed by the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Flyers Outlook

The Flyers have won back-to-back games and three of their last four. A major part of the reason for the recent improvement: both ends of special teams have started to come around of late.

Entering this game, the team has killed off 19 straight penalties, raising its season success ratio to 80.7 percent (15th overall in the NHL) after dropping as low as 76.2 percent in early November. Despite an unsuccesful 5-on-3 power play in the Rangers game, the power play has also been much more successful of late, currently sitting at 16.4 percent (tied for 24th) after being at 14.3 percent (26th in the NHL) heading into the Nov. 16th game against Los Angeles.

On Saturday, the Flyers broke a 10-game regular season losing streak at Madison Square Garden with a 3-0 shutout victory over the New York Rangers. Wayne Simmonds scored breakaway and empty net goals for the Flyers, bookending an assist on an early third-period insurance goal by Sean Couturier. Steve Mason turned back all 24 shots fired on his net, including all 10 he faced in a difficult first period for the Flyers.

Defenseman Nick Schultz left Saturday's game late in the first period with an upper-body injury. He is officially day-to-day but practiced on Monday. Schultz is questionable for Tuesday's game in Ottawa. If he plays, all forward lines and defense pairs that started the last two games will remain intact. If not, Brandon Manning will re-enter the lineup, paired with Shayne Gostisbehere while Evgeny Medvedev will be paired with Luke Schenn.

Philly still has an extensive injury list apart from Schultz. Sam Gagner (laceration near his left eye) is expected to miss about one week from the Nov. 23 game against Carolina. However, he did not practice on Monday. The Flyers also remain without Ryan White (suspected right shoulder injury) for a two-to-four-week period dated back to when he got injured in the third period of the Nov. 14 game in Carolina. White practiced on Monday, along with R.J. Umberger (foot). Neither player is ready to return yet but both are getting closer.

Defenseman Mark Streit is on long-term injured reserve for surgery to repair a displaced pubic plate. Streit is expected to miss approximately six weeks from Nov. 17.

Senators Outlook

The Flyers played a solid first period against Ottawa on Nov. 21 but goals in the final minute of the first period and the opening 90 seconds of the middle frame put Ottawa in control and the Senators went to cruise to a 4-0 shutout.

Mika Zibanejad, Mike Hoffman, Milan Michalek and Kyle Turris scored for the Senators in the first game against the Flyers. Craig Anderson, coming off a 25-save shutout of the Columbus Blue Jackets in his previous start, turned back all 36 Philadelphia shots he faced. The Senators also blocked 29 shot attempts and won 60 percent of the faceoffs.

Early in the first period of the game against the Flyers, Ottawa forward Alex Chiasson shoved Philadelphia forward Scott Laughton from behind into the boards, which forced Laughton to leave the game. In response, Gagner defended Laughton by immediately fighting Chiasson. Laughton did not miss any additional games.

The win over the Flyers was the second in a string of four consecutive victories for the Senators. The run was broken on Saturday, as the Sens wrapped up a three-game road trip with a 4-3 regulation loss to Arizona after earning 7-4 and 5-3 wins respectively against the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche.

In the game against the Coyotes, the Senators spent much of the night playing catchup from deficits of 1-0, 3-1 and 4-2. Ottawa was not able to find an equalizer in the end. Hoffman scored his ninth and 10th goals of the season for the Sens, while Mark Stone tallied his fifth goal of the season and Erik Karlsson collected his 20th and 21st assists. Anderson stopped 15 of 19 shots in the loss, while Anders Lindbäck saved 35 of 38 for Arizona.

The Senators have the same list of injured players they took into the previous meeting with the Flyers: defenseman Patrick Wiercioch (upper body), goalie Andrew Hammond (head) and forward Clarke MacArthur (concussion) all remain unavailable.

Veteran defenseman Chris Phillips, who has been a member of the Senators since he was the first overall selection of the 1996 NHL Draft, was limited to just 36 games last season and underwent offseason back surgery. Over the summer, the 37-year-old sustained a cracked vertebra during his rehabilition. He did not participate in training camp and has not played all season.

Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking)

Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 1.83 (30th), Senators 3.17 (5th)
Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.67 (T-18th), Senators 2.83 (22nd)
5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 27/35, Senators 48/39
Power play efficiency: Flyers 16.4% (T-24th), Senators 21.4% (6th)
Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.7% (15th), Senators 78.8% (19th)
Shots per game: Flyers 30.5 (9th), Senators 28.7 (22nd)
Shots against per game: Flyers 32.8 (29th), Senators 34.1 (30th)
Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.4% (T-12th), Senators 50.9% (8th)


Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)

Flyers

12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 10 Brayden Schenn
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 93 Jakub Voracek
21 Scott Laughton - 52 Nick Cousins - 36 Colin McDonald

15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas
55 Nick Schultz or 82 Evgeny Medvedev - 22 Luke Schenn
82 Evgeny Medvedev or 23 Brandon Manning - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere

35 Steve Mason
[30 Michal Neuvirth]

Scratches: One of Nick Schultz (upper body) or Brandon Manning (healthy), Vincent Lecavalier (healthy), R.J. Umberger (foot), Mark Streit (LTIR, displaced pubic plate), Ryan White (IR, shoulder), Sam Gagner (lacerations near left eye).

Senators

68 Mike Hoffman - 7 Kyle Turris - 6 Bobby Ryan
27 Curtis Lazar - 93 Mika Zibanejad - 61 Mark Stone
9 Milan Michalek - 44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau - 90 Alex Chiasson
10 Shane Prince - 15 Zack Smith - 25 Chris Neil

3 Marc Methot - 65 Erik Karlsson
2 Jared Cowen - 5 Cody Ceci
74 Mark Borowiecki - 45 Chris Wideman

41 Craig Anderson
[32 Chris Driedger]

Scratches: Colin Greening (healthy), Michael Kostka (healthy), Patrick Wiercioch (day-to-day, upper body), Andrew Hammond (IR, head), Clarke MacArthur (IR, concussion), Chris Phillips (IR, back).

Join the Discussion: » 773 Comments » Post New Comment

» Lightning Strike Takes Down Jets

» Practice Day, Ersson, Jay Greenberg, A Personal Note

» Flyers Gameday: Game 12 vs. BOS

» Wrap: Brink Lifts Flyers over Blues, 2-1

» Game 11 Preview: Flyers vs. STL