Flyers-Sabres: Game 42 Preview

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Buffalo Sabres	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	41	14	37	51	Evander Kane	41	16	19	35
Jake Voracek	41	8	41	49	Jack Eichel	41	15	20	35
Sean Couturier	41	21	19	40	Ryan O'Reilly	40	9	16	25
Shayne Gostisbehere	38	8	23	31	Jason Pominville	41	8	11	19
Wayne Simmonds	41	14	11	25	Kyle Okposo	39	6	13	19

 

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	15 Jack Eichel
Last 5 Games: 1 G, 8 A, 9 P, E	Last 5 Games: 2 G, 1 A, 3 P, -3

 

Claude Giroux has had three multi-point games in his last four games, and the nine points in his last five games have allowed him to quietly move through the ranks to be among the NHL's top scorers. With the exception of Tuesday's game against the Penguins, Giroux has points in nine of the last 10 games, including five multi-point games. In particular, he is racking up the assists, picking up 16 since Dec. 16. 

 

Jack Eichel, the highly-touted second overall pick comes back in the Philadelphia. Eichel has been held without a point in his last three games, but can quickly become a force at any time. It seems that lately when he is scoring, it comes in bunches. He had two goals against New Jersey on Dec. 29, two goals against the Flyers — albeit empty-net goals — on Dec. 22, and a hat trick on Dec. 15 against Carolina.

 

Goalie Matchup
30 Michal Neuvirth	40 Robin Lehner
2-5-1, 2.67 GAA, .915 SV%	9-15-6, 2.90 GAA, .911 SV%

It is finally time for Michal Neuvirth to get a start. Aside from coming in to face Pittsburgh in relief of Brian Elliott in the third period on Tuesday, Neuvirth has been working his way back from injury and on the bench waiting for a game. For the first time in 16 games, Elliott gets a game off and Neuvirth gets a chance.

Robin Lehner's last start is one he would like to forget. He allowed six goals on 17 shots in two periods against Minnesota before being pulled from the game. Otherwise, Lehner has actually been pretty solid, even if the results have not gone his way. He made 39 saves in the Winter Classic in a 3-2 overtime loss, and at least 30 saves in each of his four games before Thursday's rough start against Minnesota, including a 33-save game in a win over the Flyers on Dec. 22.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Taylor Leier, Dale Weise, Travis Sanheim

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
12 Michael Raffl	51 Valtteri Filppula	93 Jake Voracek
40 Jordan Weal	19 Nolan Patrick	17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Jori Lehtera	21 Scott Laughton	56 Tyrell Goulbourne
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
8 Robert Hagg	47 Andrew MacDonald
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
30 Michal Neuvirth

Lineup Notes

The Flyers will go with the same lineup as on Saturday afternoon.

Sabres Projected Lineup

Scratches: Jordan Nolan, Victor Antipin, Justin Falk

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
9 Evander Kane	15 Jack Eichel	23 Sam Reinhart
28 Zemgus Girgensons	90 Ryan O'Reilly	21 Kyle Okposo
20 Scott Wilson	71 Evan Rodrigues	29 Jason Pominville
22 Johan Larsson	10 Jacob Josefson	67 Benoit Pouliot
Defense
6 Marco Scandella	55 Rasmus Ristolainen
4 Josh Gorges	47 Zach Bogosian
19 Jake McCabe	82 Nathan Beaulieu
Goalie
40 Robin Lehner

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (13th, T-17th at home), Sabres (30th, 28th on road)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (29th, 30th at home), Blues (22nd, 28th on road) 
• Recent History vs. Sabres
  • Dec. 14, 2017 – Flyers 2, Sabres 1 (at PHI)
  • Dec. 22, 2017 – Sabres 4, Flyers 2 (at BUF)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Sabres
  • Claude Giroux – 32 GP, 5 G, 24 A, 29 P
  • Jake Voracek – 25 GP, 3 G, 14 A, 17 P
  • Valtteri Filppula – 26 GP, 5 G, 12 A, 17 P
  • Michal Neuvirth – 8 GP, 4-2-0, 3.27 GAA
• Milestone Watch
  • Andrew MacDonald will be playing in his 500th NHL game today.

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