The Philadelphia Flyers (4-4-2) travel north of the border for a showdown with the Vancouver Canucks (5-2-4). This is the first of a three game in four night stretch in western Canada that will see the Flyers play in Edmonton tomorrow and Calgary on Thursday. Puck drop at 10:00.
The Flyers are coming off a 3-1 loss in Buffalo on Friday night and are 0-2-1 in their last three games. They were outscored 11-5 in those three games. Even more disturbing is all three games were against non playoff teams from a year ago.
This has been something that recent Flyers teams have been guilty of. They have proven they can hang with the best teams in the league yet fail to get valuable points against teams near or at the bottom of the standings.
Heading into tonight, Mark Streit leads the team in points with seven. Brayden Schenn holds the team lead with four goals.
The tandem of Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth have been solid between the pipes through the first 10 games. Both goalies can boast save percentages north of .900. Mason figures to get the start tonight.
Vancouver enters tonight having won two of the last three including handing the Montreal Canadiens their first loss of the season. The Canucks have been a very streky team so far this season.
They jumped out to an early 3-0-1 record before dropping four straight, 0-2-2. They backed that up with their current 2-0-1 run.
Offensively, Vancouver is led by Daniel Sedin. Sedin has three goals and six assists for nine points. Alexandre Burrows trails by just a single point.
Ryan Miller is the unquestionable starter in net. The former Sabres star has started 10 of the teams 11 games to this point. Miller is 4-2-4 with a 2.16 goals against average and a .923 save percentage.
Game Notes
- Power Play: Flyers (24th, 11th on road), Canucks (15th, 9th at home)
- Penalty Kill: Flyers (23rd, 28th on road), Canucks(2nd, 13h at home)
- The Flyers are 8-2-0 in their last ten games in Vancouver
- This is the first of two meetings between the two clubs. They will play in Philly on December 17th.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Line 1: Michael Raffl-Claude Giroux-Jake Voracek
Line 2: Matt Read-Scott Laughton-Wayne Simmonds
Line 3: Sam Gagner-Brayden Schenn-Vincent Lecavalier
Line 4: Chris VandeVelde-Ryan White-R.J. Umberger
D-Pair 1: Michael Del Zotto-Mark Streit
D-Pair 2: Nick Schultz-Evgeny Medvedev
D-Pair 3: Luke Schenn-Brandon Manning
Goalie: Steve Mason
Scratches: Radko Gudas, Sean Couturier, Pierre Edouard Bellemare, Chris Connor
Where to Watch
TV: CSN Philly
Radio: 97.5 FM
Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074
