Flyers-Oilers: Game 29 Preview

Bill Minchin

December 8 2016

(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)

By Bill Minchin, Sports Talk Philly writer

The Philadelphia Flyers (15-10-3) return to the ice tonight for a showdown with Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers (14-10-4). This is the first of two meetings with Edmonton. The teams will face off on February 16th in Alberta. Opening face off is set for 7:00pm.

The Flyers extended their season high win streak to six games on Tuesday with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Florida Panthers. If they are to get it to seven games it will take all hands on deck to slow down McDavid and the high flying Oilers.

Flyers Leaders	GP	G	A	P	Oilers Leaders	GP	G	A	P
Wayne Simmonds	28	15	11	26	Connor McDavid	28	11	25	36
Claude Giroux	28	7	18	25	Leon Draisaitl	28	11	11	22
Jakub Voracek	28	9	15	24	Jordan Eberle	28	8	13	21
Brayden Schenn	25	4	12	16	Milan Lucic	28	8	12	20
Travis Konecny	28	4	10	14	Patrick Maroon	28	8	5	13

Player to Watch
93 Jakub Voracek	97 Connor McDavid
Last 5 Games: 1 G, 4 A, 5 P, +2	Last 5 Games: 1 G, 6 A, 7 P, +1

Jakub Voracek has been struggling of late to put pucks in the net. The overtime winner on Tuesday was his first goal in four games and just the second in the last twelve. That does not mean Voracek has played poorly. Going back to the Ottawa game last Thursday, Voracek has been arguably the best player on the ice for Flyers not named Steve Mason.

There is no doubt who the player to watch for Edmonton is gonna be. Connor McDavid is one of the best players in the NHL. The second year pro is a threat to put the puck in the net or set someone else up to do it every time he is on the ice. His 36 points are tops in the NHL, seven clear of Nikita Kucherov. The 19 year old is on pace for 100 plus points.

Goalie Matchup
35 Steve Mason	33 Cam Talbot
10-8-3, 2.71 GAA, .908 SV%	13-9-3, 2.61 GAA, .914 SV%

In sports it is said you ride the hot hand. Steve Mason is melting the ice underneath him he is so hot right now. Mason turned in another stellar performance Tuesday night turning aside 42 Florida shots including one on Jussi Jokinen early in the third that is save of the year material.

Cam Talbot got his Edmonton career of to a very underwhelming start last season but managed to right the ship and put up solid numbers for a struggling team. This year Talbot looks like guy who helped the Rangers stay hot when Henrik Lundqvist was lost with an injury back in 2015. Talbot has been a Flyers killer since entering the NHL and will look to continue that tonight.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Scott Laughton, Nick Schultz, Michael Del Zotto, Boyd Gordon, Sean Couturier, Matt Read, Michal Neuvirth

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
12 Michael Raffl	28 Claude Giroux	93 Jake Voracek
11 Travis Konecny	10 Brayden Schenn	17 Wayne Simmonds
58 Taylor Leier	78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	22 Dale Weise
76 Chris VandeVelde	25 Nick Cousins	13 Roman Lyubimov
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	47 Andrew MacDonald
23 Brandon Manning	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
3 Radko Gudas	32 Mark Streit
Goalie
35 Steve Mason

Radko Gudas looks to make his return to the lineup tonight after missing the last three games. Michael Del Zotto appears to the odd man out.

Game Notes:

Power Play: Flyers (2nd, 11th at home), Oilers (10th, 2nd on road)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (20th, 13th at home), Oilers (11th, 12th on road)
Recent History vs. Oilers
- The Flyers have dropped the last three games to Edmonton including a 4-0 shutout in Philadelphia last year.
Heritage Night: tonight is the third of five Heritage Nights. Tonight the Flyers will honoring goalies of the past inlcuding Bernie Parent, Ron Hextall, Pete Peeters, Brian Boucher and Pelle Lindbergh who will be represented by Kerstin Pietzch-Somnell. Kerstin was Lindbergh's Fiance at the time of his death.
Milestone Watch
- Claude Giroux needs one assist to pass Rick MacLeish and Eric Lindros for 5th all-time in Flyers history.
- Andrew MacDonald needs one assist away from the 100th of his career.