Flyers

Flyers-Wild: Game 32 Preview

Kevin Durso Sports Editor

Published14 Dec 2019

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By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

This game night takes on a different meaning. The Flyers are in the midst of a three-game road trip that continues on Saturday and will wrap up this weekend. But as the news was revealed of Oskar Lindblom's diagnosis with Ewing's sarcoma on Friday, it was something much bigger than anything that could happen on the ice.

With Lindblom certainly on their minds, the Flyers will get back on the ice for the first time since a 3-1 loss in Colorado, looking to get back to the win column. They take on the Minnesota Wild, a team that has been very good on home ice to the tune of an 8-1-3 record this season.

Game time is at 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Minnesota Wild	GP	G	A	P
Travis Konecny	30	11	17	28	Jason Zucker	32	12	11	23
Sean Couturier	31	8	15	23	Eric Staal	32	9	14	23
Jake Voracek	31	6	16	22	Zach Parise	32	12	6	18
Claude Giroux	31	10	12	22	Mats Zuccarello	28	7	11	18
Ivan Provorov	31	7	12	19	Ryan Suter	32	3	15	18

Player to Watch
13 Kevin Hayes	16 Jason Zucker
Last 5 Games: 1 G, 2 A, 3 P, -1	Last 5 Games: 3 G, 3 A, 6 P, +3

Last game was a struggle for Kevin Hayes and his line. They collectively struggled to generate chances and had difficulty on defense, where they have usually been reliable this season. Hayes was a minus-3 in the game. A bounce-back game could be in order for Hayes, who has gone four games without a goal.

Jason Zucker is tied for the lead in goals and points on the Wild and has always been a thorn in the side for the Flyers. In his career, Zucker has five goals in nine games against the Orange and Black. With three multi-point games in his last five, he's helping to drive the Minnesota offense.

Projected Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	32 Alex Stalock
20 GP, 10-6-3, 2.43 GAA, .908 SV%	17 GP, 8-4-2, 2.91 GAA, .906 SV%

The Flyers did not have a morning skate and have not announced a goalie for tonight, but the two netminders on the team will split action this weekend. It appears that Carter Hart will get the start in Minnesota on Saturday night. Hart was on the losing end of the 3-1 decision to Colorado, stopping 24 of 27 shots faced. The loss to Colorado snapped a personal four-game winning streak for Hart.

Alex Stalock has been leaned on lately with Devan Dubnyk battling an injury. He won three games in a row to close out November and start December, but did suffer the loss to Carolina in his last start last Saturday, allowing five goals on 39 shots.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Oskar Lindblom, Travis Konecny, Michael Raffl, Nolan Patrick

Scratches: Robert Hagg

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
21 Scott Laughton	13 Kevin Hayes	49 Joel Farabee
25 James van Riemsdyk	48 Morgan Frost	18 Tyler Pitlick
72 David Kase	24 Mikhail Vorobyev	44 Chris Stewart
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim	61 Justin Braun
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	5 Phil Myers
Goalie
79 Carter Hart	37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

Phil Myers is expected to be back in the lineup, which would likely bring Robert Hagg back out of the lineup. The forward group remains the same from the last game on Wednesday.

Wild Projected Lineup

Injuries: Devan Dubnyk, Jared Spurgeon, Mikko Koivu, Greg Pateryn

Scratches: Nick Seeler

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
16 Jason Zucker	12 Eric Staal	36 Mats Zuccarello
11 Zach Parise	6 Ryan Donato	22 Kevin Fiala
18 Jordan Greenway	14 Joel Eriksson Ek	19 Luke Kunin
17 Marcus Foligno	49 Victor Rask	38 Ryan Hartman
Defense
20 Ryan Suter	24 Mathew Dumba
21 Carson Soucy	25 Jonas Brodin
77 Brad Hunt	61 Brennan Menell
Goalie
32 Alex Stalock	31 Kaapo Kahkonen

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (19th), Wild (17th)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (5th), Wild (23rd)
Recent History vs. Wild
- Jan. 14, 2019 – Flyers 7, Wild 4 (at PHI)
- Feb. 12, 2019 – Flyers 5, Wild 4 (at MIN)
Flyers Leaders vs. Wild
- Jake Voracek – 23 GP, 3 G, 16 A, 19 P
- Travis Sanheim – 4 GP, 0 G, 3 A, 3 P
- Claude Giroux – 15 GP, 4 G, 6 A, 10 P
- Carter Hart – 1 GP, 1-0-0, 4.00 GAA, .895 SV%