Flyers-Blue Jackets: Game 81 Preview

Kevin Durso

April 8 2017

(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

Two games remain on the Flyers season as the final weekend begins.

It will start for the Orange and Black on Saturday afternoon against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have locked up their playoff spot in third place in the Metropolitan Division.

The opening face-off is set for 12:30 p.m.

Flyers Leaders	GP	G	A	P	Blue Jackets Leaders	GP	G	A	P
Jake Voracek	80	19	41	60	Cam Atkinson	80	34	27	61
Claude Giroux	80	14	43	57	Alexander Wennberg	79	13	45	58
Brayden Schenn	80	25	29	54	Brandon Saad	80	24	29	53
Wayne Simmonds	80	30	22	52	Nick Foligno	77	26	24	50
Valtteri Filppula	80	12	30	42	Sam Gagner	79	18	31	49

Player to Watch
10 Brayden Schenn	Brandon Saad
Last 5 Games: 3 G, 2 A, 5 P, +4	Last 5 Games: 2 G, 1 A, 3 P, +3

To this point, Brayden Schenn has been one of the only Flyers to solve the Blue Jackets, with two goals in three games this season. Schenn was also one of the Flyers leading scorers of late, carrying a five-game point streak into Tuesday's shutout loss and scoring three goals in that time.

Brandon Saad scored two goals in his last game and has two assists against the Flyers this season.

Goalie Matchup
35 Steve Mason	72 Sergei Bobrovsky
25-21-8, 2.67 GAA, .908 SV%	41-16-5, 2.02 GAA, .933 SV%

Three days after missing the game completely and two days after serving as backup while dealing with an illness, Steve Mason turned in a strong game on Tuesday, allowing one goal on 27 shots in a 1-0 overtime loss to the Devils. Mason is back between the pipes on Saturday afternoon.

Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to start the front end of the back-to-back to close Columbus' regular season. Bobrovsky has surged in the second half of the season to become a favorite in the Vezina race this season. Of course, Flyers fans don't need to be reminded that the Russian was once wearing the Orange and Black.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Mike Vecchione, Nick Cousins

Injuries: Michal Neuvirth (upper-body injury, day-to-day), Radko Gudas (upper-body injury, day-to-day), Michael Raffl (lower-body injury, out 6-8 weeks), Matt Read (upper-body injury, out 6-8 weeks)

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
11 Travis Konecny	28 Claude Giroux	93 Jake Voracek
40 Jordan Weal	51 Valtteri Filppula	17 Wayne Simmonds
22 Dale Weise	14 Sean Couturier	10 Brayden Schenn
76 Chris VandeVelde	78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	13 Roman Lyubimov
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	47 Andrew MacDonald
23 Brandon Manning	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
15 Michael Del Zotto	55 Nick Schultz
Goalie
35 Steve Mason

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (T-13th, 10th at home), Blue Jackets (12th, T-11th on road)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-19th, T-10th on road), Blue Jackets (10th, 13th on road)
Recent History vs. Blue Jackets
- March 25, 2017 - The Flyers were shut out by the Blue Jackets, 1-0, in Columbus. After a scoreless first period, Alexander Wennberg finally broke the ice with a goal at 13:11 to give Columbus the lead. Sergei Bobrovsky made the goal stand up, stopping all 36 Flyers shots in the shutout win, including 12 in the final period. Michal Neuvirth had a strong game, making 20 saves on 21 shots.
- March 13, 2017 – The Flyers fell to the Blue Jackets, 5-3, at home. Columbus opened up a 2-0 lead in the first with goals by Sam Gagner and Cam Atkinson separated by one minute. Travis Konecny got the Flyers on the board at 14:10 of the first to cut the lead to one. A power-play goal by Brayden Schenn and a second goal from Konecny gave the Flyers the lead at 11:03 of the second, but was quickly answered by a goal from Zach Werenski to tie the game at three just over three minutes later. Brandon Dubinsky's power-play goal at 8:46 of the third proved to be the game-winner, as Atkinson iced the game with an empty-netter in the final seconds to seal the win.
- Jan. 8, 2017 - The Flyers fell to the Blue Jackets, 2-1, in overtime in Columbus. Columbus took the lead in the second on a goal by David Savard at 7:08. That goal held up until the final minute of regulation, when Brayden Schenn scored to tie the game with 16.5 seconds left to force overtime. But in overtime, Columbus claimed the win as Nick Foligno at 2:33. Steve Mason made 23 saves in the loss.
Milestone Watch
- Claude Giroux needs two goals to move into 15th all-time in Flyers history. Giroux also needs two assists to move into fourth all-time in Flyers history, and six assists to reach 400 for his career.
- Wayne Simmonds needs four points to reach 400 in his career and five assists to reach 200 in his career.
- With one more win, Steve Mason will reach 200 for his career.