Flyers-Capitals: Game 73 Preview

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Washington Capitals	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	72	26	57	83	Alex Ovechkin	71	42	34	76
Jake Voracek	72	17	59	76	Evgeny Kuznetsov	71	21	50	71
Sean Couturier	72	29	37	66	John Carlson	71	13	44	57
Shayne Gostisbehere	68	11	41	52	Nicklas Backstrom	70	19	37	56
Wayne Simmonds	65	21	20	41	T.J. Oshie	65	15	24	39

 

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	8 Alex Ovechkin
Last 5 Games: 3 G, 1 A, 4 P, E	Last 5 Games: 2 G, 2 A, 4 P, +1

 

Claude Giroux continues to close in on career-highs in goals and points. His eight-game points streak was snapped on Saturday, but an opportunity to start a new one comes on Sunday against Washington, a team he has had success against in the past.

 

A lot of the Capitals offense runs through Alex Ovechkin anyway, but with Evgeny Kuznetsov out with injury for Sunday, Ovechkin's going to be the top target for the Capitals. For the Flyers defense and penalty kill, keeping an eye on Ovechkin for the duration of the game is going to be critical. Ovechkin leads the league with 42 goals.

 

Goalie Matchup
34 Petr Mrazek	31 Philip Grubauer
12-12-4, 2.97 GAA, .903 SV%	11-8-3, 2.26 GAA, .925 SV%

After getting a win over Winnipeg last Saturday, the struggles continued for Petr Mrazek in a 3-2 loss to Vegas on Monday. Mrazek allowed four goals on 10 shots in the Flyers loss to Columbus before giving way to Alex Lyon. Mrazek is still expected to be back between the pipes on Sunday in the back-end of a back-to-back, but with the way Lyon has helped lift the Flyers twice in the last two games, a solid start is needed from Mrazek.

It will be Philip Grubauer in goal again for the Capitals. Grubauer has been the team's primary starter of late with Braden Holtby going through some struggles. Grubauer allowed eight goals to the Flyers in the home opener in October, but has put together a very solid season as Holtby's backup.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Brian Elliott, Michal Neuvirth, Johnny Oduya

Scratches: Jori Lehtera, Dale Weise, Taylor Leier, Brandon Manning

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
54 Oskar Lindblom	19 Nolan Patrick	93 Jake Voracek
12 Michael Raffl	51 Valtteri Filppula	17 Wayne Simmonds
40 Jordan Weal	21 Scott Laughton	24 Matt Read
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
6 Travis Sanheim	47 Andrew MacDonald
8 Robert Hagg	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
34 Petr Mrazek

Lineup Notes

The Flyers will return Travis Konecny to the top line and Michael Raffl to the third line. Robert Hagg comes back into the lineup from injury and Brandon Manning will be a healthy scratch. The rest of the lineup remains the same as Saturday.

Capitals Projected Lineup

Injuries: Evgeny Kuznetsov, Brooks Orpik

Scratches: Brett Connolly

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
8 Alex Ovechkin	72 Travis Boyd	43 Tom Wilson
65 Andre Burakovsky	19 Nicklas Backstrom	77 T.J. Oshie
13 Jakub Vrana	20 Lars Eller	39 Alex Chiasson
18 Chandler Stephenson	83 Jay Beagle	25 Devante Smith-Pelly
Defense
9 Dmitry Orlov	2 Matt Niskanen
29 Christian Djoos	74 John Carlson
6 Michael Kempny	28 Jakub Jerabek
Goalie
31 Philip Grubauer

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (18th, 22nd at home), Capitals (5th, 16th on road)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-28th, 30th at home), Capitals (20th, T-18th on road) 
• Recent History vs. Capitals
  • Oct. 14, 2017 – Flyers 8, Capitals 2 (at PHI)
  • Jan. 21, 2018 – Flyers 2, Capitals 1 (OT) (at WSH)
  • Jan. 31, 2018 – Capitals 5, Flyers 3 (at WSH)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Capitals
  • Claude Giroux – 36 GP, 18 G, 18 A, 36 P
  • Jake Voracek – 32 GP, 12 G, 12 A, 24 P
  • Nolan Patrick – 3 GP, 1 G, 1 A, 2 P
  • Petr Mrazek – 7 GP, 2-3-0, 2.43 GAA
• Milestone Watch
  • Sean Couturier needs one goal to reach 100 for his career.
  • Jake Voracek needs two assists to reach 300 as a Flyer.
  • Claude Giroux needs two points to pass Eric Lindros for 5th all-time in Flyers history.

Where to Watch
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic