Flyers-Sabres: Game 35 Preview

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Buffalo Sabres	GP	G	A	P
Travis Konecny	31	11	18	29	Jack Eichel	35	24	26	50
Sean Couturier	34	9	17	26	Victor Olofsson	35	14	18	32
Claude Giroux	34	11	13	24	Sam Reinhart	35	12	16	28
Jake Voracek	34	7	16	23	Rasmus Dahlin	27	2	18	20
Ivan Provorov	34	7	14	21	Jeff Skinner	35	11	7	18

 

Player to Watch
11 Travis Konecny	9 Jack Eichel
Last 5 Games: 3 G, 2 A, 5 P, +4	Last 5 Games: 6 G, 3 A, 9 P, +4

 

Travis Konecny made his return on Tuesday after missing three games, and while he may not have had the benefit of going through a full practice with the team, he certainly looked like himself. Dating back to before the injury, Konecny has three goals and five points in the last five games and he looks to play a big part in keeping the Flyers rolling.

 

Jack Eichel is on quite the hot streak. The Buffalo captain is currently on a 17-game points streak, posting 16 goals and 15 assists for 31 points in that time. In eight games in the month of December, Eichel has eight goals and 15 points and in the last four games has scored six goals and picked up eight points. At this rate, good luck keeping him off the scoresheet.

 

Projected Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	40 Carter Hutton
23 GP, 11-7-3, 2.40 GAA, .912 SV%	15 GP, 6-5-4, 3.05 GAA, .901 SV%

Carter Hart had his strongest game of the season on Tuesday, making 40 saves on 41 shots against the Ducks. Hart will get another start on Thursday night against Buffalo.

Carter Hutton started off the season with great numbers, but has since lost his spot as the top netminder. Hutton will get the start on Thursday though, for one to give Linus Ullmark a break after five straight starts. Hutton also has strong career numbers against the Flyers with a 4-1-0 record with a 2.36 GAA.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Scott Laughton (groin, day-to-day), Michael Raffl (broken finger, out 4 weeks from Dec. 3), Nolan Patrick (migrane disorder, out indefinitely), Oskar Lindblom (Ewing's sarcoma, out for season)

Scratches: Robert Hagg (healthy), Chris Stewart (healthy), Joel Farabee (suspension)

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk	13 Kevin Hayes	62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
72 David Kase	48 Morgan Frost	93 Jake Voracek
10 Andy Andreoff	24 Mikhail Vorobyev	18 Tyler Pitlick
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim	61 Justin Braun
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	5 Phil Myers
Goalie
79 Carter Hart	37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

Tyler Pitlick returns to the lineup, moving back onto the fourth line. Chris Stewart will come out of the lineup. Phil Myers also returns to the lineup with Robert Hagg coming out. The rest of the lineup remains the same as Tuesday.

Sabres Projected Lineup

Injuries: Matt Hunwick, Tage Thompson, Vladimir Sobotka

Scratches: Zach Bogosian, Henri Jokiharju

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
68 Victor Olofsson	9 Jack Eichel	23 Sam Reinhart
13 Jimmy Vesey	90 Marcus Johansson	74 Rasmus Asplund
53 Jeff Skinner	71 Evan Rodrigues	43 Conor Sheary
28 Zemgus Girgensons	22 Johan Larsson	21 Kyle Okposo
Defense
19 Jake McCabe	55 Rasmus Ristolainen
6 Marco Scandella	26 Rasmus Dahlin
33 Colin Miller	62 Brandon Montour
Goalie
40 Carter Hutton	35 Linus Ullmark

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (19th), Sabres (15th)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (8th), Sabres (28th)
• Recent History vs. Sabres
  • Nov. 21, 2018 – Sabres 5, Flyers 2 (at BUF)
  • Dec. 8, 2018 – Flyers 6, Sabres 2 (at BUF)
  • Feb. 26, 2019 – Flyers 5, Sabres 2 (at PHI)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Sabres
  • Claude Giroux – 36 GP, 8 G, 29 A, 37 P
  • Jake Voracek – 29 GP, 4 G, 17 A, 21 P
  • Travis Konecny – 9 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 6 P
  • James van Riemsdyk – 35 GP, 15 G, 7 A, 22 P
  • Sean Couturier – 21 GP, 4 G, 9 A, 13 P
• Milestone Watch
  • Shayne Gostisbehere needs two points to reach 200 for his career.

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