PREVIEW GAME #14 Philadelphia @ Canadiens (Feb. 16/2013)

Game #14

Philadelphia vs. Canadiens

Bell Centre – Feb. 16/ 2013 – 7:20pm

Trivia –

…..The Flyers have won three straight and six of their last seven against the Canadiens. The Habs were 1-3 against them last season.

…..Brian Boucher will start in goal for the Flyers. He made his only appearance this season in relief of Ilya Bryzgalov at Toronto on Monday, yielding one goal on 10 shots.

…..This is the second time goaltender Robert Mayer has been called up from Hamilton. He was Peter Budaj’s backup the final three games of last season after Carey Price suffered a concussion. He did not play. Mayer has inherited the role as the Canadiens number three goaltender after Cedrick Desjardins was traded back to the Tampa Bay organization Thursday.

…. The Canadiens have scored first in 10 of their 13 games this season. When they scoredthe first goal they are 7-2-1.

….. Five of the Canadiens last six games have been decided by one goal. This season they are 5-2-1 in one-goal games

…… The Flyers are 1-2-0 after three games of a current six game road trip. New Jersey scored four straight goals on them Friday night after Philadelphia had taken a 3-1 lead. Overall on the road this season they are 2-7-0. Prior to their road trip they were 3-0-1 on a homestand.

…..The Flyers have been outscored 31-21 in losing seven of nine on the road,

….. The Canadiens have lost their last two home games following a five-game win streak at the Bell Centre.

….. The Canadiens have two players in the top 10 in rookie scoring. Alex Galchenyuk is tied for third with eight points, Brendan Gallagher is tied for eighth with six.

…….In the Canadiens last meeting against the Flyers on March 24th at Philadelphia the Canadiens had seven regulars out with injuries RW-Brian Gionta (IR-biceps surgery), LW-Travis Moen (IR-upper body), LW-Mathieu Darche (IR-concussion), D-Raphael Diaz (IR-groin); C-Scott Gomez (concussion); D-Tomas Kaberle (upper body); D-Yannick Weber (upper body). They lost the game 4-1.

……Winning faceoffs has become an issue with the Canadiens. In 11 of their 13 games this season the Canadiens have lost the game faceoff battle. As a team the Canadiens rank 28th in the league at 45.6%. Only Edmonton and Buffalo are worse. The only player on the Canadiens roster capable of winning more faceoffs than he loses is Petteri Nokelainen. He hasn’t played this season because of a back injury.

….Last season the Flyers scored 3.17 goals per game, second in the league. This year they rank 23^rd at 2.47.

…. The Flyers rank 4th among NHL teams with 221 blocked shots and lead in the league with 390 total hits

….The Canadiens have scored one goal or fewer in three of their last five games.

….After an excellent start the Canadiens power play has slumped scoring once in 14 opportunities over the past three games.

…. In the twelve games since linemate Scott Hartnell suffered his broken foot, Claude Giroux has scored just once; at Winnipeg in the 3-2 Tuesday. It is his only goal his last 13 games. He did register a pair of assists in the loss to New Jersey Friday night giving him 10 points in his last 15 games. . Giroux was third in the League last season with 93 points.

.…Rene Bourque scored the game winning goal Thursday against Florida, his fourth in 13 games. Last season he scored five for the Canadiens in 38 games.

…..Brian Boucher will start in goal for the Flyers. Ilya Bryzgalov has played in all but one of the Flyers 15 games this season and has made nine consecutive starts. Original gackup Michael Leighton got the other start, a 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay on January 27^th and then suffered a broken finger. Boucher is now his backup. He has played a total of 33 minutes.

….Centre Sean Couturier returned to the Flyers lineup Friday night in New Jersey. He was sent home from Toronto to Philadelphia before the first game of the team’s six game road trip suffering from a flu virus. He missed the Toronto and Winnipeg games.

….Part of the Flyers problems are due to injuries on defence. They lost Kimmo Timonen to a lower body injury Friday against New Jersey. Four other regulars are out with long term problems including Marc-Andre Bourdon (IR-concussion); Chris Pronger (LTIR-post concussion syndrome); Andrej Meszaros (IR-separated shoulder); Matt Walker (IR-lower body).

….Already this season this is the fifth set of back-to-back games for the Flyers. They are 1-4 in the first game and 2-2 in the second, losing the last two of the second games in-a-row.

…..Montreal is one of two teams in the NHL against whom the Flyers have an overall losing record at 66-75-30-4 in 175 games.

…..The Flyers have killed 29 of their last 31 opposition power plays (93.5 percent).

The Statistics –

Season Records Philadelphia – (6-8-1) 13 pts. 10^th in Eastern Conference Canadiens– (8-4-1) 17 points 5^th in the East.

Season Series – First of three games.

Last Ten Games – Philadelphia (4-5-1) Canadiens (6-3-1)

Last Time Out – Philadelphia playing their second game in 24 hours. They suffered a 5-2 loss at New Jersey Friday night. The Canadiens completed a two game 4 point road trip with a 1-0 overtime win at Sunrise Florida Thursday.

Home/Away – Philadelphia on the Road (2-7-0) Canadiens at Home – (5-3-0)

Goaltending– Philadelphia – Brian Boucher – 1 relief appearance (33:45) 1.76 GAA .900save% (Ilya Bryzgalov 14 games (6-7-1) 2.60GAA .907save%). Canadiens – Peter Budaj 2 games (0-1-1) 4.32 GAA .866save%

Special Teams – Power Play – Philadelphia ranked 15^th 11/60 18.3% Canadiens ranked 11^th 14/69 20.3% Penalty Killing – Philadelphia ranked 18^th 12/62 80.6% Canadiens ranked 15^th 81.5%

Last Season’s Series – The Flyers won the season series 3-1-0. Oct. 26/2011 @ Bell Centre -Canadiens-5 Philadelphia-1. Ends six game Canadiens losing streak. Pacioretty-2 goals. Weber, Cammalleri and Kostitsyn. Jagr for the Flyers. Canadiens outshot the Flyers 28-22. @Philadelphia Nov. 25 Philadelphia-3 Canadiens-1. Claude Giroux with two goals. Voracek with the other. Nokelainen for the Canadiens. Bobrovsky in goal vs. Price. Flyers outshot the Canadiens 36-24. Dec. 15 @Bell Centre – Philadelphia-4 Canadiens-3. Andrej Meszaros breaks 3-3 tie at 8:08 of third period. Maxime Talbot, Harry Zolnierczyk and Wayne Simmonds also scored. Louis Leblanc scores his first career NHL goal. Also Desharnais and Cole. Max Pacioretty with two assists. Mar.24 @Philadelphia – Philadelphia-4 Canadiens-1. The Canadiens, who came into the game with the NHL’s top penalty killing record, gave up three power play goals on only three power play shots. Peter Budaj in goal. Danny Briere -with two and Kimmo Timonen all on the power play. Also Matt Read. Plekanec for the Canadiens. Bryzgalov becomes the first Flyer goaltender to allow two or fewer games in eleven consecutive games since Bernie Parent in 1974-75.

Who’s Hot – Philadelphia – Brayden Schenn has points in six of his last eight games (3g-5a) . Matt Read scored his third goal in five games Friday night. He leads the Flyers with six goals. Jakub Voracek has two goals and eight points in the past eight games and leads the team with 10 points. Canadiens – P.K. Subban has six points in the seven games he’s played. Tomas Plekanec has two goals, 2 assists his last five games.

Injury Report – Philadelphia – D-Timmo Kimonen (doubtful-lower body); C-Sean Couturier (flu); D-Marc-Andre Bourdon (IR-concussion); D-Chris Pronger (LTIR-post concussion syndrome)D-Andrej Meszaros (IR-separated shoulder); D-Matt Walker (IR-lower body);LW-Scott Hartnell (IR-broken foot); G-Michael Leighton (IR-upper body); LW-Jody Shelley (IR-hip surgery); Canadiens – G-Carey Price (flu); C-Petteri Nokelainen (IR-back)

Flyers Projected Lineup

Forwards

Matt Read – Claude Giroux – Wayne Simmonds

Jakub Voracek – Brayden Schenn – Tye McGinn

Ruslan Fedotenko – Danny Briere – Mike Knuble

Maxime Talbot – Sean Couturier – Zac Rinaldo

Defence

Kimmo Timonen? – Luke Schenn

Nicklas Grossmann – Kurtis Foster

Braydon Coburn – Bruno Gervais

Goal

Brian Boucher