Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Flyers Gameday: 1/3/19 vs CAR; WJC Semis Set

January 3, 2019, 12:25 AM ET [635 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game 40 Preview: FLYERS vs. HURRICANES

Interim head coach Scott Gordon's Philadelphia Flyers (15-19-5) are home on Thursday to host Rod Brind'Amour's Carolina Hurricanes (16-17-5). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET.

The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast can be found on 97.5 FM The Fanatic with an online simulcast at FlyersRadio247.com.

This is the second of four meetings this season between the Metropolitan Division teams, and the first of two in Philadelphia. The teams will rematch on March 30 in Raleigh and April 6 (final day of the regular season) back in Philly.

Somewhat unusually, Thursday's game is a true home-and-home for the Hurricanes, who beat the Flyers, 3-1, in Raleigh on Monday night but not for the Flyers. In the New Year's Eve game in Carolina, a relatively sleepy first period from both teams resulted in a lot of perimeter play and a 1-0 Flyers deficit at the first intermission.

The wheels fell off for the Flyers at the drop of the puck for the second period, and the deficit quickly grew to 3-0. A goalie change from Hart (3 GA on 10 shots) to Michal Neuvirth (23 saves on 23 shots) helped keep Carolina at bay the rest of the game. Nevertheless, the Flyers drew no closer than 3-1 after a sharp angle goal by Jakub Voracek (10th) early in the third period.

Philly was outshot by a 25-12 margin over the final 40 minutes of play. According to the official scorers, the Flyers were guilty of 46 turnovers (29 giveaways charged to Flyers, 17 takeaways credited to Carolina) to 18 by Carolina (13 Canes giveaways, 5 Flyers takeaways).

Flyers Outlook

Three of the next four games for Philadelphia are on home ice. The team will hit the statistical midpoint of the season after Saturday afternoon's game against the Calgary Flames.

Tuesday's 4-0 loss in Nashville marked the 13th time this season that the Flyers have scored either zero or one goal in a game (five shutout losses plus eight games in which Philly was held to a single goal). On the flip side, the Flyers have scored five or more goals 13 times this season.

Thirteen times this season, the Flyers have lost by three or more goals (seven times by four or more goals). Excluding the Flyers' five overtime losses, the Flyers have also lost five one-goal games in regulation.

After starting the season 5-for-20 on the power play, the team has gone 9-for-93 (9.7 percent) since Oct. 13. The Flyers have allowed four shorthanded goals in that span; six overall.

Oddly enough, the team's most (rightfully) maligned weakness, the penalty kill, is one of the few things that has trended positively overall. Through the first 21 games, the Flyers penalty kill was an astoundingly atrocious 68.5 percent. Since that time, with a few hiccups against the league's most elite power plays, the Flyers' PK has fared much better. The team now stands at 75.2 percent through 39 games.

According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Flyers ranked tied for the 3rd leaguewide in fewest scoring chances allowed this season, and second in fewest high-danger scoring chances against. However, what those stats obscure is that when the Flyers have breakdowns, they too-often tend to be of the total meltdown variety in their puck management, gaps in covering rushes and coverage in front of the net. On the whole, the goalies have not pulled their weight, either. The Flyers rank 29th in scoring chance save percentage. Meanwhile, on the offensive side of the puck, Flyers attackers rank 21st in converting scoring chances into goals.

For those who take solace from shot attempt differential stats, the Flyers as a team rank 9th in Corsi and 10th in Fenwick. For those who care about faceoff percentages, the Flyers by far lead the NHL at a team 56.3 percent (Anaheim is 2nd at 52.6 percent).

Here is what actually matters: The Flyers rank 23rd in the NHL in average goals per game (2.79) and 29th in team goals against average (3.59). The power play sits dead last in the league. The PK was so far underwater until late November that it's still only 29th overall despite it's strong overall work in the last seven weeks. They rank tied for 14th with 80 goals scored at 5-on-5 but tied for 5th-worst with 87 goals allowed at full strength.

Add the bottom-line totals up, and it is little wonder why the Flyers are 12 points below the wildcard cutoff and 14 points out of third place in the Metro Division with two games to go before they hit the midpoint.

The Flyers tweaked line combinations again in the Nashville game. They also changed the positional alignment of the first power play unit. The team did not practice on Wednesday, and will have a morning skate (10:30 a.m.) at the Skate Zone in Voorhees on Thursday.

Hurricanes Outlook

Carolina threw a lot of structure at the Flyers in Monday's game, and Philly struggled to work pucks below and between the dots. Offensively, the goal-starved team was opportunistic against Philly but scoring is often a night-to-night struggle. Lucas Wallmark (3rd), Jordan Martinook (9th), and Andrei Svechnkov (11th) scored in the New Year's Eve game. Curtis McIlhinney stopped 21 of 22 shots.


Carolina last played on Saturday, suffering a 2-0 road shutout loss to Mackenzie Blackwood (37 saves) and the New Jersey Devils. Curtis McElhinney stopped 28 of 29 shots in a losing cause. A Pavel Zacha shorthanded goal in the final minute of the second period stood up the rest of the way. Andy Greene tacked on an empty-netter for insurance with 33 seconds left in the game with the Canes skating 5-on-4. The Hurricanes went 0-for-5 on the power play with the crushing shorthanded goal allowed.

Through 38 games, Sebastian Aho leads the Hurricanes with 39 points (15 goals, 24 assists). He is followed by Teuvo Teräväinen (eight goals, 21 assists, 29 points), Justin Williams (seven goals, 13 assists, 20 points), Svechnikov (11 goals, eight assists, 19 points) and Micheal Ferland (11 goals, six assists, 16 points).

Ex-Flyers goalie Petr Mrazek has started 16 games, posting a 6-8-2 record, 2.59 GAA. .901 save percentage and one shutout. McElhinney has played in 14 games with an 8-5-1 record, 2.22 GAA and .924 save percentage.

Veteran shutdown center Jordan Staal officially remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury sustained on Dec. 22.

Entering Thursday's game, the Hurricanes have averaged 2.45 goals per game (29th) and carry a team 2.82 GAA (9th). The power play enters at 14.4 percent (28th) and the PK comes in at 81.2 percent (11th).

Projected Lines (Subject to change)

FLYERS

28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 23 Oskar Lindblom
12 Michael Raffl- 19 Nolan Patrick - 93 Jakub Voracek
25 James van Riemsdyk - 40 Jordan Weal - 17 Wayne Simmonds
22 Dale Weise -21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny

9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 3 Radko Gudas
8 Robert Hägg - 26 Christian Folin

30 Michal Neuvirth
[79 Carter Hart]

Scratches: 15 Jori Lehterä (healthy), 44 Phil Varone (healthy), 47 Andrew MacDonald (injury), 41 Anthony Stolarz (IR, lower body), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, lower body), 10 Corban Knight (IR, collarbone), 5 Sam Morin (ACL surgery).

HURRICANES

23 Brock McGinn - 20 Sebastian Aho- 86 Teuvo Teräväinen
48 Jordan Martinook - 71 Lucas Wallmark - 14 Justin Williams
37 Andrei Svechnikov - 49 Victor Rask - 79 Micheal Ferland
13 Warren Foegele - 64 Clark Bishop - 8 Saku Mäenalanen

74 Jaccob Slavin - 22 Brett Pesce
44 Calvin de Haan - 27 Justin Faulk
57 Trevor van Riemsdyk - 19 Dougie Hamilton​

35 Curtis McElhinney
34 Petr Mrazek ​

Scratches: 11 Jordan Staal (upper body, day-to-day), 4 Haydn Fleury (day-to-day, Dec. 13 concussion).

***********

IN A NIGHT OF UPSETS, WJC SEMIFINALS SET

Two upsets -- one moderate, one major -- in the medal round quarterfinals of the 2018-19 World Junior Championships have created one unexpected semifinal matchup (Finland vs. Switzerland) and one expected matchup (undefeated Russia vs. undefeated-in-regulation Team USA).

Switzerland 2 - Sweden 0: Flyers goaltending prospect Samuel Ersson, who was selected as his team's best player in the tournament, did his part to prevent an upset but he got no offensive support despite a late desperation push by the Swedes. Ersson stopped 33 of 35 shots. The first Swiss goal was scored from the middle slot using a defender as a screen. The second was a scramble around the net in which Ersson made three saves before getting beaten on a fourth attempt. He finished the tourney with a 2.24 GAA and .922 save percentage to go along with a 3-1-0 record. Teammate Adam Ginning, scratched last game due to illness, returned to the lineup to skate 9:05 of ice time (18 shifts) with an early game tripping penalty.

Finland 2 - Canada 1 (OT): The Finns hung tough and benefited from some late-game puck luck -- plus an OT penalty shot save -- to stun the Canadians after Team Canada appeared to be on the brink of victory. Flyers prospect Morgan Frost made a nice pass at center ice to start the sequence that resulted in Canada's only goal. Frost, who finishes the tournament presently tied for the scoring lead with eight points (four goals, four assists) in five games and tied for the tournament's best plus-minus at plus-eight with linemate Barrett Hayton, did not receive a shift in OT.

USA 3 - Czech Republic 1: Flyers prospect Noah Cates took Player of the Game honors in the quarterfinals, scoring a shifty goal to open the scoring, getting two subsequent golden scoring opportunities and playing a strong overall game. He became the fourth Flyers prospect to win a Player of the Game award in the tourney, joining teammate Joel Farabee, Canada's Frost and Sweden's Ersson. In the quarterfinals, Farabee had two shots on goal and was plus-one in 17:28 of ice time. Fellow Flyers 2018 first-round pick Jay O'Brien dressed as a 13th forward but did not skate a single shift. Defenseman Jack St. Ivany saw some power play time among his seven shifts at 8:48 of ice time.

Russia 8 - Slovakia 3: Slovakia had an early point blank chance before giving up quick back-to-back goals. From there, the Russians pulled away and never looked back after carrying a 4-0 lead to the first intermission. The Slovaks scored a couple of late goals. The Russians challenged the meaningless goal for a very marginal offside claim, and lost the challenge. Then the Slovaks scored on the ensuing power play. It was all academic by that point, anyway.
Join the Discussion: » 635 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Bill Meltzer
» Flyers Gameday: 3/28/24 @ MTL
» Wrap: Flyers Lose 6-5 OT Game to Rangers
» Flyers Gameday: 3/26/24 @ NYR
» Quick Hits: Flyers-FLA Wrap, Flyers Daily, Phantoms, Bigger than Hockey
» Flyers Gameday: 3/24/2024 vs. FLA; Phantoms Update