After a 5-1 road trip, the Flyers return home to face the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night. (Photo Courtesy of ESPN.com)
Another road game and another third-period comeback marked the end of a successful trip for the Philadelphia Flyers. Six games, a possible 12 points, and the Flyers come home with 10 points and a 5-1 record. Not bad for a team that last played at home on Dec. 23.
The Flyers are finally back at Wells Fargo Center as they host the Montreal Canadiens.
The return to Philadelphia also marks the second return of former Flyer Danny Briere. Briere has seven goals and six assists with the Canadiens this season.
Montreal will be without one of its top scorers as Alex Galchenyuk, who scored the lone Montreal goal in the last meeting between the two teams, was placed on injured reserve earlier this week.
Defenseman P.K. Subban leads the team in points with 33, including a team-leading 26 assists. Max Patioretty leads the team in goals with 19.
Tomas Plekanec, Brian Gionta and Brendan Gallagher also serves as top scorers on a team that averages 2.5 goals per game.
In goal, look for Peter Budaj, the Canadiens backup. Budaj is 5-3-1-1 with a 2.05 GAA this season.
The Flyers will counter with Steve Mason in goal after a night off. Mason is 17-10-4-1 with a 2.39 GAA.
Many Flyers are currently riding point streaks. Three Flyers extended their point streaks with goals in Tuesday night's 3-2 overtime win against the Devils. Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn have two-game point streaks courtesy of goals in back-to-back games. Scott Hartnell, who also scored on Tuesday, is on an eight-game point streak. During the streak, Hartnell has four goals and five assists.
Wayne Simmonds is also on a four-game point streak, with five points in that time.
A win on Wednesday would also be the 10th straight at home for the Flyers. The last time the Flyers had a streak of that length on home ice, it was during the 2003-04 season.
Game Notes
- Power Play: Flyers (17th, 29th at home), Canadiens (9th, 9th on road)
- Penalty Kill: Flyers (8th, T-7th at home), Canadiens (T-3rd, 1st on road)
- The Flyers faced the Canadiens in the second game of the season on Oct. 5, losing 4-1, but rebounded with a 2-1 win on Dec. 12. Claude Giroux and Michael Raffl scored in the win and Steve Mason made 20 saves, allowing the only goal with 57 seconds left.
- Milestone Watch: Steve Downie is one assist away from 100 in his career. Vincent Lecavalier is two assists from 500 for his career.
Flyers scratches: Matt Read, Erik Gustafsson, Hal Gill, Jay Rosehill
Flyers Projected Lineup
Line 1: Michael Raffl-Claude Giroux-Jake Voracek
Line 2: Scott Hartnell-Brayden Schenn-Wayne Simmonds
Line 3: Steve Downie-Sean Couturier-Vincent Lecavalier
Line 4: Chris VandeVelde-Adam Hall-Zac Rinaldo
D-Pair 1: Kimmo Timonen-Braydon Coburn
D-Pair 2: Nick Grossmann-Mark Streit
D-Pair 3: Luke Schenn-Andrej Meszaros
Goalie: Steve Mason
Where to Watch
TV: CSN
Radio: 93.3 WMMR
Kevin Durso is the lead beat writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
