Gameday Preview: Flyers vs. Capitals
In the second game of a three-game round robin for playoff seeding, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (1-0-0 in the round-robin) take on Todd Reirden's Washington Capitals (0-0-1) at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Game time is 4 p.m. ET. The game will be televised locally on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
With the Boston Bruins having lost each of their first two games in regulation, including Sunday's 4-1 loss to Philadelphia, the Flyers need only one point over the final two round-robin games to ensure they move up at least one seed when the Eastern Conference playoffs start. A win over the Capitals would ensure Philadelphia cannot enter the playoffs any lower than as a No. 2 seed.
The Flyers are the designated home team for this game. As such Philadelphia will have the last line change. The Flyers, after getting swept by the Caps in last year's regular season series, went 3-0-1 against Washington
in the regular season series.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers could hardly have hoped for a better beginning to their postseason than their 4-1 win over Boston on Sunday. After a scoreless first period, goals by Michael Raffl (1st), Nate Thompson (1st) and Phil Myers (1st) built a 3-1 edge heading into the third period. Scott Laughton (1st) tacked on additional insurance before Carter Hart (34 saves on 35 shots) slammed the door. The Flyers went 3-for-3 on the PK and 0-for-2 on the power play.
In the absence of Raffl, who suffered a lower-body injury in the third period of Sunday's game, 20-year-old Flyers rookie left winger Joel Farabee will make his NHL postseason debut on Thursday. He will skate on a line with Derek Grant and Nicolas Aube-Kubel.
The day after the Flyers defeated Boston, Vigneault gave a lukewarm assessment of what he's seen from veteran left winger James van Riemsdyk since the team arrived in the Bubble. He reiterated that view on Wednesday morning, several hours before practice. During practice, JVR was taken off Grant's line and shared fourth-line left wing reps with rookie Connor Bunnaman. It is possible that JVR could be a healthy scratch for the Washington game with Bunnaman skating alongside Nate Thompson and Tyler Pitlick.
Capitals Outlook
The Capitals earned one point from a 3-2 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Bubble on Monday. Washington trailed 2-0 in the second period and then struck back for late-period goals by Richard Panik and Evgeny Kuznetsov (power play). T.J. Oshie tallied in the shootout in a losing cause.
Braden Holtby stopped 26 of 28 shots in regulation and overtime for the Caps before yielding to Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov in the shootout.
The Capitals did not face any shorthanded situations in Monday's game, although it was a feisty game with multiple coincidental penalties that offset in terms of manpower. They went 1-for-4 on the power play.
Top pairing defenseman John Carlson (undisclosed injury) practiced on Wednesday. He is a game-day decision. Additionally, third-line center Lars Eller is not with the team, as his family is awaiting the birth of a baby.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (will be updated, subject to change)
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
49 Joel Farabee - 38 Derek Grant - 62 Nic Aube-Kubel
82 Connor Bunnaman - 44 Nate Thompson - 18 Tyler Pitlick
9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim - 5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hägg - 61 Justin Braun
37 Brian Elliott
[79 Carter Hart]
CAPITALS (projection is if Carlson does not play)
8 Alex Ovechkin - 92 Evgeny Kuznetsov - 43 Tom Wilson
13 Jakub Vrana - 19 Nicklas Bäckström - 77 T.J. Oshie
62 Carl Hagelin - 72 Travis Boyd - 17 Ilya Kovalchuk
14 Richard Panik - 26 Nic Dowd - 21 Garnet Hathaway
4 Brenden Dillon - 9 Dmitry Orlov
6 Michal Kempny - 33 Radko Gudas
34 Jonas Siegenthaler - 3 Nick Jensen
70 Braden Holtby
[41 Vitek Vanecek]
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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