Game 75 Preview: Philadelphia Flyers @ St. Louis Blues

Image courtesy of Flyers.NHL.com

Philadelphia Flyers (39-27-8) @ St. Louis Blues (50-17-7), 8:00pm, NBCSN/CSN-Philly/TSN2

The Philadelphia Flyers suffered a difficult loss on Sunday against the team that currently leads the NHL in points, but it won’t get any easier for the Orange and Black as they visit the St. Louis Blues tonight. Second in the league in points, the Blues have won three of their last four and are looking to avenge their loss in March at the Wells Fargo Center. Can the Flyers provide another stellar performance like the one they had on Sunday, but come away with the win tonight?

With playoff chances and points in the standings on the line, this isn’t the point in the season to be looking for moral victories. However, when you pepper a candidate for the Vezina Trophy with 52 shots and push arguably the best team in the league to a five-round shootout grabbing a point in the standings in the process, Philly fans should be happy with the effort their team put forward on Sunday. The point came thanks to a unique play in the final minute that helped Vincent Lecavalier pot his second of the game to tie the tilt at three. No matter how you want to look at it, the fact the Flyers were only the third team to grab a point against a team that is 14-0-1 since March 2nd is pretty satisfying.

As for St. Louis, the Blues beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Minnesota Wild before having their three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday against the Dallas Stars. The three-game run came after the Blues dropped a 4-1 decision to the Flyers on March 22nd. A Blue to watch out for this evening is T.J. Oshie, who was named Third Star of the Week across the entire NHL after he posted a hat trick and another three-point performance in back-to-back games last week. With the Anaheim Ducks just a point behind them for first in the Western Conference, the Blues still have a lot to fight for and they’ll most likely come out firing tonight against a team that beat them just a few weeks ago.

The Orange and Black will attempt to beat the Western Conference’s best team tonight without the services of their best defenseman, as it was announced yesterday that Kimmo Timonen is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The news came a day after the blue liner scored against the Bruins, as Timonen has racked up 13 points since the Olympic break and had back-to-back two-point performances this weekend. In his place will be Erik Gustafsson, who hasn’t played since the Flyers’ first game back from the Olympic break on February 27th against the San Jose Sharks. In most cases, many fans are happy that the 25-year-old Swedish blue liner is in the lineup, but since it comes with the absence of Timonen there isn’t too much to be happy about.

There aren’t many weaknesses in St. Louis’ game, as the club is ranked in the top four in each of the categories of goals per game, goals against per game, power-play percentage, and penalty-kill percentage. Throw in the fact that the Blues are also a much greater puck possession team than the Flyers and tonight may not turn out all that well for the Orange and Black.

Although there aren’t many aspects of the game that the Flyers will hold an advantage over the Blues in tonight, one way Philly can try and grab two points this evening is by attempting to make it a special teams’ affair like it was earlier this season. The game was poorly officiated, but it led to six Blues’ power plays and five Flyers’ power plays. Considering how poor the Flyers’ five-on-five possession numbers are, and how poor it will likely be tonight, it’s almost better for the Flyers to have their penalty kill out on the ice. Obviously, it wouldn’t hurt the Flyers to also have their power play out on the ice as much as possible. With that being said, making a game mostly a special teams’ battle is a lot easier said than done, as the Blues are most likely also aware that if they play a disciplined game they can take advantage of the Flyers at five-on-five. However, if Philly can come out and dictate play early forcing the Blues to take penalties due to being out of position or tired at the end of a long shift, the Orange and Black may be able to jump out to an early lead and force the hosts to play from behind all night long.

In net, the Flyers will be facing Ryan Miller, who stopped just 15 of 18 in St. Louis’ loss to the Flyers in March. In his three starts since his tilt against Philadelphia, Miller is 2-1-0 with a save percentage of .900 over the three-game span and a pair of performances where he posted save percentages below .900. The former Buffalo Sabre isn’t too great against the Flyers in his career, as he is 13-13-2 with a .900 save percentage and a 3.09 GAA in 30 regular season games.

For the Flyers, Ray Emery will be in the blue paint looking for his third win in his last four decisions. Last time he started for Philly, Emery put forth a 38-save effort in a 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings last Monday. Emery is 8-10-1 in 24 games this season, as he has a .901 save percentage and a 2.96 GAA. He is 3-1-0 against the Blues in his career with a .914 save percentage and 2.37 GAA. In his last game against the Blues, as a Chicago Blackhawk, Emery allowed five goals against on 31 shots in a 5-1 loss on March 6th, 2012.

After tonight’s affair against the Blues, the Flyers will play three games in four days, as they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday before taking part in a back-to-back against the Bruins on Saturday and the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.

RECORDS
Philadelphia Flyers
Overall: 39-27-8
Away: 16-14-6
Against the Western Conference: 15-10-2
Against the Central Division: 7-4-2

St. Louis Blues
Overall: 50-17-7
Home: 26-6-4
Against the Eastern Conference: 21-5-2
Against the Metropolitan Division: 10-4-0

PROJECTED LINEUPS
Philadelphia Flyers
Scott Hartnell – Claude Giroux – Jakub Voracek
Tye McGinn – Brayden Schenn – Wayne Simmonds
Matt Read – Sean Couturier – Michael Raffl
Zac Rinaldo – Vincent Lecavalier – Adam Hall

Braydon Coburn – Nicklas Grossmann
Mark Streit- Andrew MacDonald
Erik Gustafsson – Luke Schenn

Ray Emery
Steve Mason

St. Louis Blues
Alex Steen – David Backes – T.J. Oshie
Patrik Berglund – Vladimir Sobotka – Jaden Schwartz
Brenden Morrow – Steve Ott –Derek Roy
Chris Porter – Maxim Lapierre – Ryan Reaves

Alex Pietrangelo – Jay Bouwmeester
Barret Jackman – Roman Polak
Ian Cole – Kevin Shattenkirk

Ryan Miller
Brian Elliott

TEAM LEADERS
Philadelphia Flyers
Goals: Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds, 25
Assists: Claude Giroux, 53
Points: Claude Giroux, 78
Power-Play Points: Claude Giroux, 33
Plus/Minus: Scott Hartnell, plus-11
PIMs: Zac Rinaldo, 137
Average TOI: Braydon Coburn, 22:30
GAA: Steve Mason, 2.53
Save Percentage: Steve Mason, .916

St. Louis Blues
Goals: Alex Steen, 33
Assists: Alex Pietrangelo, 42
Points: Alex Steen and T.J. Oshie, 60
Power-Play Points: Kevin Shattenkirk, 25
Plus/Minus: Jaden Schwartz and Jay Bouwmeester, plus-27
PIMs: Ryan Reaves, 117
Average TOI: Alex Pietrangelo, 25:25
GAA: Brian Elliott, 1.97
Save Percentage: Brian Elliott, .921

INJURIES
Philadelphia Flyers
Steve Downie – Upper-body injury (questionable)
Kimmo Timomen – Upper-body injury (day-to-day)

St. Louis Blues
Vladimir Tarasenko – Right hand surgery (sidelined indefinitely)
Jordan Leopold – Right ankle injury (day-to-day)

FORMER PLAYERS
Former Blues in Philadelphia’s organization
With Philadelphia: Chris Pronger, Ian Laperriere (assistant coach), Joe Mullen (assistant coach)
With the Adirondack Phantoms (AHL): Zack Fitzgerald (third-round pick of Blues in 2003 NHL Entry Draft), Mike Matczak (Kalamazoo Wings)
With the Greenville Road Warriors (ECHL): NONE

Former Flyers in St. Louis’ organization
With St. Louis: Ken Hitchcock (head coach), Corey Hirsch (goaltending coach, Philadelphia Phantoms), Bill Armstrong (director of amateur scouting, former Trenton Titans’ head coach), Rob DiMaio (director of professional scouting), Michel Picard (amateur scout), Rob Ramage (amateur scout),
With the Chicago Wolves (AHL): Shane Harper (Adirondack Phantoms), Wendell Young (Wolves’ GM)
With the Kalamazoo Wings (ECHL): Joel Martin (Trenton Titans), Justin Taylor (Trenton Titans)
With the St. Charles Chill (CHL): Robby Moss (Greenville Road Warriors), Nello Ferrara (Trenton Titans), Anthony Pisano (Trenton Titans)

Follow Craig Forsythe on Twitter at @4sytheNthFlyers