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Flyers Gameday: 1/16/19 vs. BOS

January 16, 2019, 8:04 AM ET [543 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game 47 Preview: FLYERS vs. BRUINS

Interim head coach Scott Gordon's Philadelphia Flyers (17-23-6) are home on Wednesday to take on Bruce Cassidy's Boston Bruins (26-15-5). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:30 p.m. ET.

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

This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season, and the lone game in Philadelphia. The season series concludes at TD Garden in Boston on Jan. 31.

On Oct. 25, the Bruins shut out the Flyers, 3-0, despite the Boston blueline being riddled with injuries. The night was a tale of two different hockey games, and a microcosm of many of the Flyers' losses this season.

The first 30 minutes or so were evenly played until an Andrew MacDonald turnover ended up in the net courtesy of ageless Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara at 13:00 of the second period. Thereafter, Boston dominated.

Philly took a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty, and Boston turned it into a Jake DeBrusk goal to make it 2-0. The Flyers were bottled up in the third period, and their frustrations deepened when they had 3:55 of continuous power play time (including an overlapping five seconds of 5-on-3 time) and came away with nothing over than Jakub Voracek hitting the crossbar.

The latter part of the third period saw frustration take over for the Flyers and they took a series of increasingly mindless penalties. Needing to pull goaltender Brian Elliott to make it a 5-on-5, the Flyers yielded a long-distance Chara empty-netter that officially counted as Boston's second power play of the game.

Boston went 2-for-5 on the power play. The Flyers went 0-for-3.

In a losing cause, veteran goalie Brian Elliott gave the Flyers a good overall game in goal, stopping 22 of 24 shots, including a point-blank chance by the deadly David Pastrnak early in the second period. Bruins counterpart Jaroslav Halak was simply better, compiling a 26-save shutout.

Flyers Outlook

The Flyers are 2-7-2 in their 11 games since the leaguewide Christmas break. The two wins, both at home, have come over the team's last three games. Wednesday night's game is the Flyers last home game before their bye week and the NHL All-Star break.

On Monday at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers earned a 7-4 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

James van Riemsdyk, who has scored goals in three straight games, tallied a hat trick for the Flyers on deflections off his stick (power play) and skate plus an empty-net tally. He now has 11 goals on the season. Nolan Patrick ended a 24-game goal drought with two goals (6th and 7th) and two assists for a four-point game. Wayne Simmonds tallied his 14th and 15th goals of the season. Scott Laughton had three assists while team captain Claude Giroux had two.

The Flyers debuted a new-look power play on Monday, featuring five forwards on the first unit including Giroux moving from his accustomed left half-boards spot over to the right side. Gordon said on Tuesday that the righthanded-shooting Giroux was receptive to the idea of everyone, including him, being on their natural side.

Carter Hart earned the win in goal, stopping 34 of 38 shots. He settled in nicely over the latter 30 minutes of the game.

The Flyers placed veteran winger Dale Weise on waivers on Tuesday. If he clears, he will be eligible to be assigned on Wednesday to the American Hockey League's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Philly's feast-or-famine offense had been more famine than feast of late until the seven-goal outburst against Minnesota. For the season, the Flyers rank 25th in the NHL offensively with a 2.78 goals per game average. Philadelphia's team 3.58 GAA ranks 28th. The power play ranks 30th at 13.0 percent (seven shorthanded goals allowed). The penalty kill ranks 28th at 76.2 percent (three shorthanded goals scored).

Bruins Outlook

The Bruins are in third place in the Atlantic Division, tied in points with the Montreal Canadiens (57) but ahead of the Habs in the standings by virtue of having playing two fewer games than Montreal and also holding a ROW tiebreaker advantage (25-24). The Bruins have points in seven of their last 10 games (6-3-1). Boston brings a 10-9-4 road record into this game.

Wednesday's game marks the start a road-home-home set of three games in four nights and the front end of a back-to-back before the Bruins host the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

Boston last played on Monday, hosting Montreal. A Paul Byron shorthanded goal late in the second period sent Boston to the locker room with a 2-1 deficit. The Habs weren't quite able to close it out in the third period, as the Bruins rescued a point with a David Krecji power play goal with Tuukka Rask (19 saves on 22 shots) pulled for a 6-on-4 attack in the final minute of regulation. Montreal, outshot 43-22 for the game, nevertheless won the game as Jeff Petry scored on the opening shift of the 3-on-3 overtime. Brad Marchand's first period tally (17th) was Boston's only goal until the late Krejci power play marker (10th) that forced OT.

DeBrusk is questionable for Wednesday's game with a lower-body injury. Boston recalled Peter Cehlarik from the AHL's Providence Bruins on Tuesday and he skated in DeBrusk's place at practice. Chris Wagner is questionable due to illness and is a game-day decision.

The Bruins rank tied for 18th in the NHL offensively with a 2.87 goals per game average. The team's 2.59 goals against average ranks third, behind only the New York Islanders and Nashville Predators. Boston relies heavily on its power play (27.9 percent, 2nd-ranked in the NHL) for much of its scoring. At five-on-five, the Bruins have only scored 77 goals (ranked 28th) but have allowed just 71 (the fewest in the NHL). The Bruins' penalty kill (80.9 percent, tied for 12th) also ranks in the top half of the league.

Projected Lines (Subject to change)

FLYERS

25 James van Riemsdyk - 28 Claude Giroux - 11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
21 Scott Laughton - 19 Nolan Patrick -17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Jori Lehterä - 44 Phil Varone - 12 Michael Raffl

9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim
53 Shayne Gostisbehere -47 Andrew MacDonald
8 Robert Hägg - 3 Radko Gudas

79 Carter Hart
[56 Mike McKenna]

Scratches: 26 Christian Folin (healthy), 22 Dale Weise (on waivers, may be assigned to AHL), 41 Anthony Stolarz (IR, lower body), 30 Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, lower body), 10 Corban Knight (IR, collarbone), 5 Sam Morin (ACL surgery).

BRUINS

63 Brad Marchand - 37 Patrice Bergeron - 88 David Pastrnak
22 Peter Cehlarik - 46 David Krejci - 42 David Backes
43 Danton Heinen - 23 Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson - 17 Ryan Donato
52 Sean Kuraly - 55 Noel Acciari- 14 Chris Wagner​

33 Zdeno Chara - 73 Charlie McAvoy
47 Torey Krug - 25 Brandon Carlo
48 Matt Grzelcyk - 86 Kevan Miller​

40 Tuukka Rask / 41 Jaroslav Halak​

Scratches: 42 David Backes (healthy), 27 John Moore (healthy), 44 Steve Kampfer (healthy).
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