Flyers-Sharks: Game 63 Preview

Kevin Durso

February 25 2020

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

Monday's trade deadline brought two new faces to Philadelphia and both will be in the lineup as the Flyers continue their playoff push.

Derek Grant and Nate Thompson make their Flyers debut as the team goes for a fourth straight win against the San Jose Sharks.

Game time is 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	San Jose Sharks	GP	G	A	P
Sean Couturier	62	19	36	55	Brent Burns	62	12	30	42
Travis Konecny	59	21	33	54	Timo Meier	62	20	21	41
Claude Giroux	62	17	30	47	Erik Karlsson	56	6	34	40
Jake Voracek	62	12	34	46	Evander Kane	56	21	16	37
James van Riemsdyk	62	18	20	38	Tomas Hertl	48	16	20	36

Player to Watch
38 Derek Grant	28 Timo Meier
Last 5 Games: 1 G, 1 A, 2 P, -2	Last 5 Games: 1 G, 2 A, 3 P, -4

Derek Grant comes from Anaheim and jumps right in to center the Flyers third line in his debut. Grant has four goals this month, but just one in the last six games.

Timo Meier enters Tuesday's game with just four goals in his last 14 games, but posted one of his best performances of the season against the Flyers in December, scoring a hat trick.

Projected Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	30 Aaron Dell
37 GP, 19-12-3, 2.52 GAA, .909 SV%	30 GP, 12-13-2, 2.90 GAA, .909 SV%

Carter Hart got another home win on Saturday against the Jets, making 27 saves in the process. He'll be back in net looking for a much better result than his first game against the Sharks back in December.

Aaron Dell gets the start for the Sharks after allowing three goals on 33 shots in a loss to the Rangers on Saturday. Dell has been the more consistent goalie for the Sharks, though they have had a lot of struggles in that area this season. Dell has a 3-0-1 record with a 1.24 GAA in four career starts against the Flyers, including one shutout.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Nolan Patrick (migrane disorder, out indefinitely), Oskar Lindblom (Ewing's sarcoma, out for season)

Scratches: Shayne Gostisbehere

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
21 Scott Laughton	13 Kevin Hayes	11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk	38 Derek Grant	18 Tyler Pitlick
12 Michael Raffl	44 Nate Thompson	62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim	5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hagg	61 Justin Braun
Goalie
79 Carter Hart	37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

Both Derek Grant and Nate Thompson enter the lineup following Monday's trades. Thompson will center the fourth line. Grant will center the third line. Scott Laughton moves up to play second-line wing.

Sharks Projected Lineup

Injuries: Tomas Hertl, Erik Karlsson, Melker Karlsson, Dalton Prout

Scratches: Maxim Letunov, Lean Bergmann, Brandon Davidson

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
9 Evander Kane	39 Logan Couture	62 Kevin Labanc
28 Timo Meier	19 Joe Thornton	7 Dylan Gambrell
40 Antti Suomela	46 Joel Kellman	11 Stefan Noesen
20 Marcus Sorensen	70 Alexander True	73 Noah Gregor
Defense
51 Radim Simek	88 Brent Burns
44 Marc-Edouard Vlasic	38 Mario Ferraro
67 Jacob Middleton	72 Tim Heed
Goalie
30 Aaron Dell	31 Martin Jones

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (16th), Sharks (26th)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (11th), Sharks (1st)
Recent History vs. Sharks
- Oct. 9, 2018 – Sharks 8, Flyers 2 (at PHI)
- Nov. 3, 2018 – Sharks 4, Flyers 3 (F/OT) (at SJ)
- Dec. 28, 2019 – Sharks 6, Flyers 1 (at SJ)
Flyers Leaders vs. Sharks
- Claude Giroux – 18 GP, 8 G, 7 A, 15 P
- Travis Konecny – 5 GP, 0 G, 3 A, 3 P
- Kevin Hayes – 12 GP, 3 G, 4 A, 7 P
- Carter Hart – 1 GP, 0-1-0, 6.00 GAA, .793 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Scott Laughton needs one point to reach 100 for his career.
- Travis Konecny needs three assists to reach 100 for his career.