Game 34 Preview: Flyers host St. Louis in final home game of 2015

Photo courtesy of Kate Frese

The Philadelphia Flyers (14-12-7) welcome former head coach Ken Hitchcock and the St. Louis Blues (20-10-4) to the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night.  This is the second of two meetings between the two clubs this season. Game time is 7:00.

The Flyers defeated the Blues in St. Louis on December 10th by a 4-2 score. In that game, the Flyers fell behind 1-0 before jumping to a 3-1 lead after two periods. The Blues scored an early third period goal before Philadelphia iced it with empty netter.

 Michael Raffl, Matt Read, Claude Giroux and Ryan White scored for the Flyers while Michal Neuvirth made 35 saves for the win. It was the first win for Philadelphia in St. Louis since 2005.

 

Player to Watch
53 S. Gostisbehere	91 V. Tarasenko
Last 5 Games: 2G, 2A, 4P, +1	Last  Games: 5G, 4A, 9P, +1

 

Shayne Gostisbehere continued his excellent play the other night adding an assist on Jakub Voracek's goal in the third period against Columbus. The rookie blue liner has showed great poise with the puck in both the offensive and defensive zones. Tonight's match up will be a tough one for the player affectionately known as "The Ghost". St. Louis is a big team that can also skate. They pressure defensemen  in all three zones. 

 

Vladimir Tarasenko is a bonafide star. He is second in the NHL in goals, one behind Jamie Benn, and has scored in each of the last five games. Since being held off the score sheet on December 10th against Philadelphia, Tarasenko has nine points. His 36 points are good for a tie for fifth in league scoring. Tarasenko is a threat to score every time he touches the puck no matter what zone he is in. 

 

Goalie Matchup
35 Steve Mason	34 Jake Allen
6-8-5, 2.71 GAA, .914 SV%	15-7-2, 2.06 GAA, .927 SV%

Steve Mason has started each of the last two games for the Flyers after sitting out three straight. Since his return last week against Vancouver, Mason has been spectacular. He posted a 36 save shutout over the Canucks and backed that up with a 35 save performance in the team's shootout loss to Columbus on Saturday. The Flyers goaltender will need to be sharp once again against a tough St. Louis team.

Jake Allen has had an incredible first third of the season between the pipes for the Blues. He is in the top ten in wins, save percentage, goals against average and shutouts. 

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Mark Streit, Sam Gagner, Vincent Lecavalier, Brandon Manning

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
12 Michael Raffl	28 Claude Giroux	10 Brayden Schenn
93 Jake Voracek	14 Sean Couturier	17 Wayne Simmonds
76 Chris VandeVelde	78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	25 Ryan White
24 Matt Read	21 Scott Laughton	20 R.J. Umberger
Defense
15 Michael Del Zotto	3 Radko Gudas
82 Evgeny Medvedev	55 Nick Schultz
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	22 Luke Schenn
Goalie
35 Steve Mason

The Flyers will ice with the same lineup as Saturday.

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (26th, 28th at home), Blues (7th, 1st on road) 
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (18th, 18th at home), Blues  (1st, 2nd on road)
• The Flyers are 6-2-2 in their last ten games overall and have climbed into fifth place in the Metropolitan Division
• Philadelphia is 86-43-17 all time against the Blues including a 49-13-10 mark at home

Where to Watch
TV: CSN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic

Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074