Flyers-Blue Jackets: Game 64 Preview

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Columbus Blue Jackets	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	63	19	46	65	Artemi Panarin	59	24	45	69
Sean Couturier	61	25	34	59	Matt Duchene	53	28	32	60
Jake Voracek	63	17	37	54	Cam Atkinson	60	35	24	59
Travis Konecny	63	18	20	38	Pierre-Luc Dubois	62	23	30	53
James van Riemsdyk	47	17	14	31	Ryan Dzingel	58	22	23	45

 

Player to Watch
23 Oskar Lindblom	95 Matt Duchene
Last 5 Games: 4 G, 1 A, 5 P, +3	Last 5 Games: 2 G, 4 A, 6 P, -2

 

The Flyers best forward in Tuesday's game was Oskar Lindblom. Not only did Lindblom get the first goal early in the game, but he was always around the puck, active on the forecheck and making plays throughout the game. Lindblom has scored seven of his 12 goals this season in the last 14 games.

 

Since being traded from Ottawa to Columbus, Matt Duchene has one goal and one assist in three games. In February, he was a force in Ottawa. As February concludes, Duchene enters Thursday's game with eight goals and five assists in 12 games.

 

Goalie Matchup
37 Brian Elliott	72 Sergei Bobrovsky
18 GP, 8-7-0, 2.51 GAA, .919 SV%	46 GP, 26-19-1, 2.78 GAA, .907 SV%

Brian Elliott made 34 saves in Tuesday's win, continuing his recent hot stretch since returning from injury. He gets another start on Thursday night, looking to keep the Flyers winning ways going.

A loss on Tuesday was Sergei Bobrovsky's first slip-up in a while. He had back-to-back shutouts over the weekend against Ottawa and San Jose. He has four wins in his last seven games, but three of those wins have been shutouts. He's also had the Flyers number all season with wins in all three meetings.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Carter Hart, Michal Neuvirth

Scratches: Andrew MacDonald, Sam Morin

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	19 Nolan Patrick	11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
25 James van Riemsdyk	21 Scott Laughton	38 Ryan Hartman
12 Michael Raffl	10 Corban Knight	44 Phil Varone
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	6 Travis Sanheim
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	61 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hagg	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

The Flyers will go back to the 12 forward, six defenseman lineup. Andrew MacDonald comes out of the lineup and Phil Varone returns.

Blue Jackets Projected Lineup

Injuries: Ryan Murray

Scratches: Markus Hannikainen, Lukas Sedlak, Alexander Wennberg, Dean Kukan, Keith Kinkaid

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
9 Artemi Panarin	18 Pierre-Luc Dubois	13 Cam Atkinson
19 Ryan Dzingel	95 Matt Duchene	28 Oliver Bjorkstrand
71 Nick Foligno	38 Boone Jenner	77 Josh Anderson
50 Eric Robinson	20 Riley Nash	17 Brandon Dubinsky
Defense
8 Zach Werenski	3 Seth Jones
65 Markus Nutivaara	58 David Savard
4 Scott Harrington	54 Adam McQuaid
Goalie
72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (23rd, 29th on road), Blue Jackets (26th, 27th at home)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (28th, T-25th on road), Blue Jackets (T-3rd, 9th at home) 
• Recent History vs. Blue Jackets
  • Oct 18, 2018 – Blue Jackets 6, Flyers 3 (at CBJ)
  • Dec. 6, 2018 – Blue Jackets 4, Flyers 3 (F/OT) (at PHI)
  • Dec. 22, 2018 – Blue Jackets 4, Flyers 3 (at PHI)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Blue Jackets 
  • Claude Giroux – 28 GP, 9 G, 18 A, 27 P
  • Travis Konecny – 10 GP, 3 G, 6 A, 9 P
  • James van Riemsdyk – 18 GP, 8 G, 6 A, 14 P
  • Brian Elliott – 11 GP, 6-3-2, 2.26 GAA, .916 SV%
• Milestone Watch
  • Radko Gudas needs one point to reach 100 for his career.

Where to Watch
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 93.3 WMMR