Flyers-Red Wings: Game 68 Preview

 

 

 

 

The Philadelphia Flyers (32-23-12) begin the most important week of the 2015-16 season tonight when they welcome Henrik Zetterberg and the Detroit Red Wings (34-24-11) to the Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers enter tonight just three points back of Detroit for the final playoff spot with two games in hand. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30.

 

This is the second of three meetings with Detroit this season. The Flyers won a hard fought 2-1 shoot out victory back on January 17th in Detroit. Claude Giroux scored the lone goal for the Flyers in regulation. Michal Neuvirth made 29 saves to pick up the victory. The teams will wrap up their season series in Detroit on April 6th.  

 

 

Player to Watch
17 Wayne Simmonds	71 Dylan Larkin
Last 5 Games: 1G, 3A, 4Pts, +1	Last 5 Games: 1G, 0A, 1Pts, -1

 

Wayne Simmonds continues to lead the Flyers in goal scoring. His 24 goals are one better than line mate Brayden Schenn. More importantly, Simmonds has picked up his assist total of late. The top line will benefit from not having to go against  Niklas Kronwall who is out with a knee injury.

 

Despite scoring just one goal over the past five games, Dylan Larkin continues to lead the Red Wings in goal scoring. The rookie winger also has tons of speed.  It will be interesting to see if Shayne Gostisbehere is called on to defend him throughout the night. Gostisbehere is the only Flyers defenseman who can come close to matching Larkin's wheels. 

 

Goalie Matchup
35 Steve Mason	34 Petr Mrazek
16-15-8, 2.60 GAA, .915 SV%	16-14-6, 2.17 GAA, .925 SV%

Steve Mason looks to get the start tonight for Philadelphia. The Florida excluded, Mason has been very since being called upon following the Team's 4-0 loss to Edmonton a little more than a week and a half ago. He is 3-0-1 in that stretch including a shutout of Columbus two Saturdays ago.

Petr Mrazek  has established himself as the Red Wings number one goal tender.  Since his arrival last season, Mrazek has been nothing short of sensational in taking over for Jimmy Howard. Mrazek appears to be the long term solution for Detroit and is more than capable of stealing games.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Jakub Voracek, R.J. Umberger, Evgeny Medvedev, Jordan Weal, Micheal Del Zotto

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
10 Brayden Schenn	28 Claude Giroux	17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl	14 Sean Couturier	89 Sam Gagner
76 Chris VandeVelde	78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	25 Ryan White
21 Scott Laughton	52 Nick Cousins	24 Matt Read
Defense
47 Andrew MacDonald	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
32 Mark Streit	55 Nick Schultz
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
35 Steve Mason

Andrew MacDonald looks to return to the lineup in place of Evgeny Medvedev. The forward lines should remain the same as the last few games. 

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (13th, 23rd at home), Red Wings(24th, 14th on road) 
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (22nd, 21st at home), Red Wings (20th, 25th on road)
• The Flyers are 61-49-21 all time against the Red Wings including a 40-13-11 record at home.
• The Flyers have won 10 straight home games against Detroit. The Red Wings last win in Philadelphia was all the way back in 1997.

Where to Watch
TV: CSN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic

Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074.