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Flyers Gameday: 4/8/17 vs. CBJ |
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PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. BLUE JACKETS
In the penultimate game of the 2016-17 season, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (38-33-9) play host to John Tortorella's Columbus Blue Jackets (49-23-8). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 12:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia.
This is the fourth and final meeting between the teams this season. The Flyers need a win to avoid being swept in the season series. The Flyers lost 2-1 in overtime at Nationwide Arena on Jan. 8, 5-3 at the Wells Fargo Center on March 13 and then dominated much of a March 25 matinee in Columbus but were victimized by a scintillating goaltending performance by Sergei Bobrovsky in a 1-0 win for the Blue Jackets. Alexander Wennberg's deflection goal stood as the lone tally.
The Flyers have had a lot of trouble beating Columbus in recent years. Philly is just 1-4-5 against the Blue Jackets over the last 10 meetings and 2-8-5 over the last 15.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers finished the road portion of their schedule with a terrible 14-21-4 record. On the flip side, they are 24-11-4 at home. If they win both remaining games at home, they will have posted their best home record in any season since 2000-01. Hakstol said on Friday that attaining that mark "isn't on my radar screen at all" with the team doomed to miss the playoffs.
Short of that, however, there's really no goal left to play for as a team this season. There's no honor in possibly becoming just the third team in NHL history to miss the playoffs in the same season as posting 56 points at home. On the other hand, only six teams in the NHL this season have won 26 or more games at home this season. The San Jose Sharks will be the seventh if they beat the visiting Calgary Flames tonight.
If Philly were to win its final two home games, it would at least put them well within the top one-third of the league in one important and positive category. Flyers captain Claude Giroux said on Wednesday that, while improving significantly on the road next season is a must, the team also needs to take some pride in its strong home record and owes it to the fans to go all out for the best possible record (26-11-4) they can still get.
Steve Mason will get the start in goal on Saturday. Anthony Stolarz was returned to the Phantoms temporarily on Friday, playing valiantly in a losing 3-0 cause (the final one was an empty netter) against the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins. With Michal Neuvirth (upper body injury, recent upper respiratory illness) being held out of the remaining games, Stolarz will be recalled to back up Mason on Saturday.
Hakstol said that he does not anticipate Mason playing both games this weekend but was not ready to absolutely commit to it yet. Nevertheless, Stolarz is the more likely starter against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday. If Saturday is Mason's final game as a Flyer, it will come against the team with whom he won the first 96 of his career 199 wins in the NHL.
Jordan Weal (illness) and Brandon Manning (upper body) will both return to the lineup are missing Tuesday's game in Newark.
The recently seldom-used Roman Lyubimov will be in Saturday's lineup as well. Mike Vecchione was in Chicago last night for the Hobey Baker Award announcement but, unfortunately, University of Denver defenseman Will Butcher beat him out for college hockey's most prestigious individual honor.
For the last two days at practice, Travis Konecny and Nick Cousins rotated on the top line with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. One will dress for Saturday's game, the other will be a healthy scratch. Cousins said on Friday that he anticipates getting into at least one of the final two games this weekend.
Veteran defenseman Nick Schultz, who may retire after this season unless he finds a suitable NHL playing opportunity (among other considerations, one for which he would not have to immediately uproot his family again), will play his 1,068th career NHL regular season game. Long-term, the highly respected Schultz may be interested in coaching or other opportunities that would allow him to still work within the game.
Radko Gudas (upper body injury, skated on Friday), Matt Read (arm), Raffl (lower-body injury), and Neuvirth remain out for the duration of the season.
Blue Jackets Outlook
Columbus is locked into third place in the Metropolitan Division, and will play the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs with Pittsburgh having home-ice advantage. With two games left, the Blue Jackets are five points behind Pittsburgh and six points ahead of the upper-wildcard seeded New York Rangers.
Having lost four games in a row in regulation and going 3-5-2 in the last 10, Columbus has at least some incentive to try to enter the postseason on a winning note.
The Jackets enter this game coming off a 5-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. Joonas Korpisalo took the loss in goal, which means that ex-Flyer and likely Vezina Trophy finalist Bobrovsky is the likely starter in Philadelphia. Brandon Saad (two goals), Nick Foligno and Boone Jenner scored in a losing cause against Winnipeg. Oliver Björkstrand chipped in a pair of assists.
The Blue Jackets have recalled 20-year-old Swedish defenseman Gabriel Carlsson to make his NHL debut. After completing his SHL season with Linköping -- ending in the playoff quarterfinals with a loss in six games to Brynäs IF Gävle, featuring top Flyers left wing prospect Oskar Lindblom as well as goalie Felix Sandström (who did not start a first-round game but has played in all three games in the second round) -- Carlsson got his feet wet in North America with three AHL games before his call up to the big club.
Rookie defenseman standout Zach Werenski suffered an upper-body injury (suspected to be a shoulder issue) last weekend. Although officially day-to-day, it seems more likely that he will be held out until the playoffs. Fellow defenseman Ryan Murray (broken hand) may not be ready for the start of the postseason.
Following this game, the Blue Jackets will conclude their regular season schedule with a road game in Toronto on Sunday evening.
Projected lineups (Subject to change)
FLYERS
11 Travis Konecny - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Jordan Weal - 51 Valterri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds
22 Dale Weise - 14 Sean Couturier - 10 Brayden Schenn
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 13 Roman Lyubimov
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
15 Michael Del Zotto - 55 Nick Schultz
23 Brandon Manning - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
35 Steve Mason
[41 Anthony Stolarz]
Scratches: Nick Cousins (healthy), Matt Read (upper body), Michael Raffl (IR, lower body), Nick Cousins (day-to-day, upper body), Michal Neuvirth (upper body), Radko Gudas (upper body).
BLUE JACKETS
71 Nick Foligno - 17 Brandon Dubinsky - 13 Cam Atkinson
20 Brandon Saad - 10 Alexander Wennberg - 89 Sam Gagner
43 Scott Hartnell - 38 Boone Jenner - 28 Oliver Björkstrand
11 Matt Calvert - 25 William Karlsson - 34 Josh Anderson
65 Markus Nutivaara - 3 Seth Jones
7 Jack Johnson - 58 David Savard
53 Gabriel Carlsson - 26 Kyle Quincey
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
[70 Joonas Korpisalo]
Scratches: Lauri Korpikoski (healthy), Scott Harrington (healthy), Ryan Murray (hand), Zach Werenski (day-to-day, suspected shoulder injury), Lukas Sedlac (upper body), David Clarkson (LTIR).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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