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Columbus Blue Jackets (38-30-7) @ Philadelphia Flyers (39-27-9), 7:00pm, CSN-Philly/FS-O
The Philadelphia Flyers look to snap their two-game losing streak tonight at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets. With the season winding down, tonight’s tilt has serious playoff implications, as the outcome will either greatly increase the Flyers’ odds of hanging on to the third spot in the division, with a chance to jump over the New York Rangers for second, or allow the Blue Jackets to move closer to the final spot in the Metropolitan Division for the playoffs.
Tonight will be both the Flyers and the Blue Jackets’ 76th game of the season. The Orange and Black currently cling to the final spot in the Metropolitan Division playoff scenario, while Columbus has a one-point advantage over the Toronto Maple Leafs for the final wild card spot. With the Flyers heading into tonight’s game at 39-27-9 and the Blue Jackets at 38-30-7, Philly currently has a four-point lead over Columbus. A Flyers’ win in regulation will hand the Orange and Black a six-point lead over the closest team that is trailing them in the division, which should mean that the Flyers essentially are a lock for the postseason. An overtime/shootout loss will still increase the difference between Philly and the Blue Jackets, but a regulation win will mean the only way the Flyers don’t reach the postseason is if they collapse and the suddenly freefalling Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals immediately turn it around with season-ending hot streaks.
As for their recent play, the Flyers are on a two-game losing streak, but there probably hasn’t been a more impressive two-game skid all season long, as they fell to the top two teams in the league in a pair of shootouts after hanging with each team in regulation and overtime. Tuukka Rask was forced to make 49 saves and win a shootout on Sunday to help the Boston Bruins edge out the Flyers 4-3, while Ryan Miller stood on his head Tuesday night in Philly’s 1-0 shootout loss in St. Louis. It sounds like a pair of frustrating losses, but to come away with a pair of points against two teams that usually dominate the opposition, as well as knowing the ice wasn’t tilted for the opposition in the process, the Flyers last two games are hopefully an indication of things to come.
The Blue Jackets, on the other hand, can feel somewhat insecure with their play as of late, as they have gone 2-3-1 over their last six games with only one of those wins coming in regulation. On Tuesday night, there wasn’t anything the Blue Jackets could do in their 3-2 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche. All three of the Avs’ goals beat Sergei Bobrovsky after they redirected off one of his teammates in front of the net in an extremely misfortunate night for Columbus. Despite their recent turmoil, things might be turning around for the Blue Jackets, as tonight’s game against the Flyers is one of their hardest games remaining this season. Following their game tomorrow against the Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus’ last five games feature the Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, and three teams currently outside of the playoff picture.
On the ice tonight, the Flyers will need to slow down the Blue Jackets at five-on-five, as Columbus is a much better puck possession team than Philadelphia. Using Fenwick for percentage in five-on-five situations where the score is close, which is a major statistic used to determine a team’s ability to possess the puck, the Blue Jackets rank 11th in the NHL at 51.3 percent while the Flyers sit in 24th with 47.9 percent. The Orange and Black won the Fenwick for percentage in five-on-five action in their lone win against Columbus, as they posted a 57.1 percentage in their 5-4 decision on December 19th, 2013. However, in the Flyers’ two losses against Columbus this season, Philly posted Fenwick for percentages of 43.8 in their 6-3 loss on December 21st and 41.5 in their 5-2 loss on January 23rd.
The Flyers’ penalty kill will need to be strong yet again, as the Blue Jackets’ power play has been on fire as of late. After they went 0-for-35 in a nine-game stretch from March 6th to March 23rd, the Blue Jackets have scored on four of their 11 man-advantage situations for a 36.4 conversion rate over their last four tilts.
As it will be for years to come, the goaltending matchup between the Flyers and Blue Jackets is interesting due to the past and present play of both Steve Mason and Bobrovsky. Mason will be in net against the team he won a Calder Memorial Trophy with during the 2008-2009 season, while Bobrovsky will face the team that traded him for three picks the summer before he won the Vezina Trophy in a shortened season. Although Mason remains a polarizing player on the Flyers’ roster amongst fans, his numbers this season aren’t too different from those of Bobrovsky. While Mason is 31-17-7 with a .916 save percentage and 2.53 GAA, Bob is 27-19-5 with a .919 save percentage and 2.47 GAA. As of late, Mason is 5-1-1 with a .933 save percentage while Bobrovsky is 1-3-1 in his last six appearances with a .912 save percentage.
Aside from the goalie situation, one interesting note going into tonight’s game is the play of former Flyer R.J. Umberger. The Pittsburgh native has been a healthy scratch for four of the Blue Jackets’ last seven games. With a cap hit of $4.6 million through the 2016-2017 campaign, Umberger has 18 goals, 15 assists, and 24 PIMs this season in 71 games. However, with head coach Todd Richards wanting Cam Atkinson in the lineup, Umberger has been a healthy scratch due to his current five-game point drought, as the forward has only one goal, or point for that matter, in his last nine games. Umberger has also failed to record an assist in his last 15 games.
After tonight’s contest against the Blue Jackets, the Flyers head up to Boston to take on the Bruins for the final time in the teams’ season series before completing their back-to-back with a home game against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday. The Orange and Black then head down to Florida to take on the Panthers Tuesday night and the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday night.
RECORDS
Columbus Blue Jackets
Overall: 38-30-7
Away: 18-16-3
Against the Eastern Conference: 27-20-3
Against the Metropolitan Division: 14-13-1
Philadelphia Flyers
Overall: 39-27-9
Home: 23-13-2
Against the Eastern Conference: 24-17-6
Against the Metropolitan Division: 14-10-3
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Columbus Blue Jackets
Boone Jenner – Ryan Johansen – Mark Letestu
Matt Calvert – Brandon Dubinsky – Cam Atkinson
Corey Tropp – Artem Anisimov – Nick Foligno
Blake Comeau – Derek MacKenzie – Jared Boll
Jack Johnson – Dalton Prout
Fedor Tyutin – James Wisniewski
Nick Schultz – David Savard
Sergei Bobrovsky
Curtis McElhinney
Philadelphia Flyers
Scott Hartnell – Claude Giroux – Jakub Voracek
Tye McGinn – Brayden Schenn – Wayne Simmonds
Matt Read – Sean Couturier – Michael Raffl
Zac Rinaldo – Vincent Lecavalier – Adam Hall
Kimmo Timonen – Braydon Coburn
Mark Streit – Nicklas Grossmann
Andrew MacDonald – Luke Schenn
Steve Mason
Ray Emery
TEAM LEADERS
Columbus Blue Jackets
Goals: Ryan Johansen, 30
Assists: James Wisniewski, 38
Points: Ryan Johansen, 55
Power-Play Points: James Wisniewski, 24
Plus/Minus: Corey Tropp, plus-12
PIMs: Brandon Dubinsky and Nick Foligno, 94
Average TOI: Jack Johnson, 24:33
GAA: Sergei Bobrovsky, 2.47
Save Percentage: Sergei Bobrovsky, .919
Philadelphia Flyers
Goals: Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds, 25
Assists: Claude Giroux, 53
Points: Claude Giroux, 78
Power-Play Points: Claude Giroux, 33
Plus/Minus: Scott Hartnell, plus-11
PIMs: Zac Rinaldo, 137
Average TOI: Braydon Coburn, 22:31
GAA: Steve Mason, 2.53
Save Percentage: Steve Mason, .916
INJURIES
Columbus Blue Jackets
Nathan Horton – Lower-body injury (day-to-day)
Ryan Murray – Knee surgery (sidelined indefinitely)
Nikita Nikitin – Lower-body injury (day-to-day)
Philadelphia Flyers
Steve Downie – Upper-body injury (questionable)
FORMER PLAYERS
Former Flyers in Columbus’ organization
With Columbus: Sergei Bobrovsky, R.J. Umberger, Craig Hartsburg (assistant coach)
With the Springfield Falcons (AHL): Michael Chaput (Flyers’ third-round pick in 2010 NHL Entry Draft)
With the Evansville IceMen (ECHL): Garrett Bartus (Greenville Road Warriors), Josh Beaulieu (Philadelphia Phantoms), Tristan King (Greenville Road Warriors), Matt Lowry (Greenville Road Warriors)
Former Blue Jackets in Philadelphia’s organization
With Philadelphia: Jakub Voracek, Steve Mason
With the Adirondack Phantoms (AHL): Steve Delisle (fourth-round pick of Columbus in 2008 NHL Entry Draft), Petr Straka (second-round pick of Columbus in 2010 NHL Entry Draft), Chris VandeVelde (Springfield Falcons)
With the Greenville Road Warriors (ECHL): NONE
