Flyers-Blue Jackets: Game 36 Preview

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Columbus Blue Jackets	GP	G	A	P
Jake Voracek	35	8	36	44	Artemi Panarin	36	8	22	30
Claude Giroux	35	13	28	41	Oliver Bjorkstrand	36	6	16	22
Sean Couturier	35	16	15	31	Josh Anderson	34	13	8	21
Shayne Gostisbehere	32	7	20	27	Seth Jones	36	6	14	20
Wayne Simmonds	35	11	10	21	Zach Werenski	34	10	8	18

 

Player to Watch
93 Jake Voracek	18 Pierre-Luc Dubois
Last 5 Games: 1 G, 6 A, 7 P, +1	Last 5 Games: 3 G, 1 A, 4 P, -1

 

There is a chance this could be a big homecoming for Jake Voracek. Originally drafted by the Blue Jackets, the Flyers leading scorer with 44 points has been red hot lately, setting up chances and goals left and right. With six assists in his last five games, don't be surprised if any scoring chances for the Flyers are set up by Voracek.

 

The Blue Jackets have been without one of their top young players in Zach Werenski, but another budding young star has been on a tear lately. Pierre-Luc Dubois, drafted third overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, has spent the entire season with the Blue Jackets, but only recently been elevated to a top-line center role. He has eight goals and 17 points on the season, but six goals and seven assists have come since Nov. 20.

 

Goalie Matchup
37 Brian Elliott	72 Sergei Bobrovsky
13-8-6, 2.65 GAA, .913 SV%	17-10-2, 2.41 GAA, .920 SV%

It seems likely that the Flyers will turn back to Brian Elliott for the 11th straight game on Saturday. Elliott has been solid during that stretch with wins in seven of 10 games, but it is a question as to whether the workload is catching up to him. Still, after quite the night in Buffalo, the Flyers may need Elliott's more stable presence in goal against Columbus instead of exposing a rookie in his first NHL game to one of the East's better teams.

It should come as no surprise that former Flyer Sergei Bobrovsky is in goal for the Blue Jackets. This season has had its ups and downs for Bobrovsky in terms of results, but his career numbers against his former team are nearly perfect. Bobrovsky has an 8-2-0 record with a 1.89 GAA and two shutouts against the Flyers.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Michal Neuvirth, Brandon Manning

Scratches: Mark Alt, Taylor Leier

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl	51 Valtteri Filppula	93 Jake Voracek
40 Jordan Weal	19 Nolan Patrick	22 Dale Weise
15 Jori Lehtera	21 Scott Laughton	11 Travis Konecny
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	47 Andrew MacDonald
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	8 Robert Hagg
6 Travis Sanheim	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

The Flyers will utilize the same lineup as Friday night in Buffalo. 

Blue Jackets Projected Lineup

Injuries: Zach Werenski, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Murray

Scratches: Tyler Motte, Jordan Schroeder, Cameron Gaunce

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
9 Artemi Panarin	18 Pierre-Luc Dubois	77 Josh Anderson
38 Boone Jenner	71 Nick Foligno	28 Oliver Bjorkstrand
22 Sonny Milano	10 Alexander Wennberg	13 Cam Atkinson
11 Matt Calvert	45 Lukas Sedlak	37 Markus Hannikainen
Defense
65 Markus Nutivaara	3 Seth Jones
7 Jack Johnson	58 David Savard
4 Scott Harrington	53 Gabriel Carlsson
Goalie
72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (T-15th, 6th on road), Blue Jackets (31st, 29th at home)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (29th, 16th on road), Blue Jackets (15th, 4th at home) 
• Recent History vs. Blue Jackets
  • Jan. 8, 2017 – Blue Jackets 2, Flyers 1 (OT) (at CBJ)
  • March 13, 2017 – Blue Jackets 5, Flyers 3 (at PHI)
  • March 25, 2017 – Blue Jackets 1, Flyers 0 (at CBJ)
  • April 8, 2017 – Flyers 4, Blue Jackets 2 (at PHI)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Blue Jackets
  • Jake Voracek – 17 GP, 5 G, 10 A, 15 P
  • Claude Giroux – 21 GP, 6 G, 12 A, 18 P
  • Scott Laughton – 10 GP, 2 G, 5 A, 7 P
  • Brian Elliott – 10 GP, 6-3-1, 2.42 GAA

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