Flyers-Avalanche: Game 78 Preview

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Colorado Avalanche	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	77	26	66	92	Nathan MacKinnon	68	38	54	92
Jake Voracek	77	19	61	80	Mikko Rantanen	75	27	53	80
Sean Couturier	77	31	40	71	Gabriel Landeskog	72	24	33	57
Shayne Gostisbehere	73	13	46	59	Tyson Barrie	62	12	40	52
Wayne Simmonds	70	23	22	45	Alexander Kerfoot	73	17	22	39

 

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	29 Nathan MacKinnon
Last 5 Games: 0 G, 9 A, 9 P, E	Last 5 Games: 2 G, 4 A, 6 P, +4

 

Claude Giroux nears a new career high in points after picking up nine assists in the last five games, which should put him in the conversation for the Hart Trophy. Giroux has gone six games without a goal and sits just two shy of his career high in that category. Giroux has been held without a point just three times in the last 24 games.

 

The Avalanche have their own Hart Trophy candidate in Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon has slowed in the goal scoring department of late with going without a goal in his last four games after scoring six in his previous four games, but his 92 points rank among the league leaders. 

 

Goalie Matchup
30 Michal Neuvirth	1 Semyon Varlamov
8-7-3, 2.61 GAA, .915 SV%	23-16-6, 2.74 GAA, .918 SV%

The Flyers hoped to have Michal Neuvirth back in the lineup for one of the games on the back-to-back. Prior to Tuesday's game, Ron Hextall said Neuvirth was near ready to play. The Flyers have activated Neuvirth off of injured reserve and sent Alex Lyon back to the Phantoms, so the signs are there for Neuvirth to return. For now, expect the Flyers to go back to Neuvirth in his return from injury, but don't be surprised if plans change and Petr Mrazek gets the game.

Semyon Varlamov has had a successful March with wins in five of his last eight starts. In each of the wins, Varlamov has allowed one goal. Varlamov made 33 saves in a win over the Flyers on Nov. 4.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Brian Elliott, Johnny Oduya, Michael Raffl

Scratches: Dale Weise, Taylor Leier, Robert Hagg

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
54 Oskar Lindblom	19 Nolan Patrick	93 Jake Voracek
40 Jordan Weal	51 Valtteri Filppula	17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Jori Lehtera	21 Scott Laughton	24 Matt Read
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
6 Travis Sanheim	47 Andrew MacDonald
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
30 Michal Neuvirth

Lineup Notes

With the exception of Neuvirth's possible return, the Flyers will use the same lineup as in Tuesday's game in Dallas.

Avalanche Projected Lineup

Injuries: Mark Barberio, Colin Wilson

Scratches: Sven Andrighetto, Vladislav Kamenev, Duncan Siemens, David Warsofsky

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
92 Gabriel Landeskog	29 Nathan MacKinnon	96 Mikko Rantanen
17 Tyson Jost	37 J.T. Compher	13 Alexander Kerfoot
83 Matthew Nieto	34 Carl Soderberg	14 Blake Comeau
57 Gabriel Bourque	47 Dominic Toninato	7 Mark Alt
Defense
16 Nikita Zadorov	4 Tyson Barrie
12 Patrik Nemeth	6 Erik Johnson
54 Anton Lindholm	49 Samuel Girard
Goalie
1 Semyon Varlamov

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (17th, 5th on road), Avalanche (15th, 12th at home)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-28th, 22nd on road), Avalanche (3rd, 1st at home) 
• Recent History vs. Avalanche
  • Nov. 4, 2017 – Avalanche 5, Flyers 4 (F/SO) (at PHI)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Avalanche
  • Claude Giroux – 11 GP, 7 G, 4 A, 11 P
  • Jake Voracek – 22 GP, 6 G, 11 A, 17 P
  • Travis Konecny – 2 GP, 0 G, 2 A, 2 P
  • Michal Neuvirth – 5 GP, 0-4-1, 3.56 GAA
• Milestone Watch
  • Jake Voracek needs one assist to reach 300 as a Flyer and six assists to reach 400 in his career.

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