Flyers-Flames: Game 20 Preview

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Calgary Flames	GP	G	A	P
Jake Voracek	19	5	18	23	Johnny Gaudreau	18	8	18	26
Claude Giroux	19	9	12	21	Sean Monahan	18	8	8	16
Sean Couturier	19	11	10	21	Matthew Tkachuk	18	4	9	13
Shayne Gostisbehere	16	1	14	15	T.J. Brodie	18	2	10	12
Wayne Simmonds	19	6	6	12	Micheal Ferland	17	8	3	11

 

Player to Watch
93 Jake Voracek	13 Johnny Gaudreau
Last 5 Games: 3 G, 4 A, 7 P, +4	Last 5 Games: 5 G, 5 A, 10 P, +2

 

In the middle of a stretch where scoring has been hard to come by, Jake Voracek has been doing a lot of it. Three of Voracek's five goals this season have come in the last five games and he has seven points in that time, impressive when you consider two of the games were shutout losses for the Flyers.

 

The South Jersey product known as "Johnny Hockey" comes in ranked third in the NHL in points with 26. Johnny Gaudreau has also been on quite the hot streak of late, with goals in four straight games and five goals and five assists in his last five games.

 

Goalie Matchup
37 Brian Elliott	41 Mike Smith
6-5-2, 2.53 GAA, .912 SV%	9-6-0, 2.63 GAA, .921 SV%

The Flyers will continue riding the hot hand of Brian Elliott. Elliott was sharp again in Thursday's game in Winnipeg, allowing two goals, bringing his overall total to seven goals allowed in five starts this month. He also gets to face Calgary, the team he played for last season.

Mike Smith returns to the net for the Flames. Smith started for the Flames on Monday, but exited after the first period with an upper-body injury. He missed Wednesday's blowout loss to the Red Wings. It's been a solid stretch for Smith, who had won five of his last seven starts entering Monday's game. Calgary did win on Monday after Smith exited in a 2-2 game after 20 minutes as well.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Andrew MacDonald (lower-body), Jordan Weal (upper-body)

Scratches: Radko Gudas, Matt Read

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
12 Michael Raffl	51 Valtteri Filppula	11 Travis Konecny
22 Dale Weise	19 Nolan Patrick	17 Wayne Simmonds
20 Taylor Leier	21 Scott Laughton	15 Jori Lehtera
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	8 Robert Hagg
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	23 Brandon Manning
6 Travis Sanheim	39 Mark Alt
Goalie
37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

While waiting for his phone hearing on Sunday, Radko Gudas cannot play, so he's out of the lineup and Mark Alt is in the lineup with Andrew MacDonald still a little ways off from returning.

A late scratch is forward Jordan Weal, who will miss the game with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. Jori Lehtera takes his spot in the lineup, but goes to the fourth line. Michael Raffl will play on the second line in Weal's spot.

Flames Projected Lineup

Scratches: Matthew Tkachuk, Freddie Hamilton, Matt Stajan, Matt Bartkowski

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
13 Johnny Gaudreau	23 Sean Monahan	79 Micheal Ferland
83 Sam Bennett	11 Mikael Backlund	67 Michael Frolik
10 Kris Versteeg	77 Mark Jankowski	68 Jaromir Jagr
Tanner Glass	20 Curtis Lazar	36 Troy Brouwer
Defense
5 Mark Giordano	27 Dougie Hamilton
7 T.J. Brodie	24 Travis Hamonic
61 Brett Kulak	26 Michael Stone
Goalie
41 Mike Smith

Game Notes

• *Power Play: Flyers (18th, T-19th at home), Flames (T-19th, T-25th on road)
• *Penalty Kill: Flyers (17th, 14th at home), Flames (31st, 25th on road) 
• Recent History vs. Flames
  • Nov. 27, 2016 – Flyers 5, Flames 3
  • Feb. 15, 2017 – Flames 3, Flyers 1
• *Flyers Leaders vs. Flames
  • Claude Giroux – 12 GP, 2 G, 10 A, 12 P
  • Jake Voracek – 20 GP, 5 G, 10 A, 15 P
  • Brian Elliott – 12 GP, 8-3-0, 1.69 GAA
• *Milestone Watch
  • Claude Giroux needs four points to reach 600 for his career and six points to pass Rod Brind'Amour for 8th on the Flyers all-time list.

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