Flyers-Capitals: Game 47 Preview

Kevin Durso

January 21 2018

(Kate Frese/SB Nation)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

Fresh off a second straight win on Saturday, the Flyers hit the road for a quick turnaround.

The back end of a back-to-back takes the Flyers to Washington to face the Capitals, the team residing at the top of the Metropolitan Division standings.

Game time is set for 12:30 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Washington Capitals	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	46	14	41	55	Alex Ovechkin	47	28	22	50
Jake Voracek	46	8	45	53	Evgeny Kuznetsov	47	13	30	43
Sean Couturier	46	26	20	46	Nicklas Backstrom	46	9	28	37
Shayne Gostisbehere	42	9	24	33	John Carlson	47	6	30	36
Wayne Simmonds	46	16	13	29	T.J. Oshie	41	11	17	28

Player to Watch
11 Travis Konecny	8 Alex Ovechkin
Last 5 Games: 2 G, 2 A, 4 P, +3	Last 5 Games: 1 G, 4 A, 5 P, -2

Travis Konecny has started to show even more confidence after moving to the Flyers top line. With three goals and six assists in the last 10 games, Konecny is starting to see the points come too.

Alex Ovechkin is one of the league's top scorers every year. But in his last five games, he has just one goal and four assists since a five-game points streak where he scored four goals and added five assists. From a goal scoring standpoint, he's due for one soon.

Goalie Matchup
37 Brian Elliott	70 Braden Holtby
17-11-7, 2.84 GAA, .906 SV%	24-9-1, 2.70 GAA, .916 SV%

Brian Elliott's last start didn't go well, as he allowed five goals to the New York Rangers in two periods before being pulled. Michal Neuvirth then got the next two starts. On the back end of a back-to-back, Elliott is expected to return to the net for his first start since Tuesday.

The Capitals will go with usual starter Braden Holtby. Holtby took the loss in overtime to the Devils, allowing four goals on 32 shots. He also suffered the loss to Carolina on Jan. 11, snapping a four-game winning streak for him.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Dale Weise, Taylor Leier, Travis Sanheim

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
12 Michael Raffl	51 Valtteri Filppula	93 Jake Voracek
40 Jordan Weal	19 Nolan Patrick	17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Jori Lehtera	21 Scott Laughton	56 Tyrell Goulbourne
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
8 Robert Hagg	47 Andrew MacDonald
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

The Flyers lines are expected to remain the same for Sunday's game, but there is a chance that one of the team's healthy scratches could slot in to give the team a fresh player.

Capitals Projected Lineup

Scratches: Devante Smith-Pelly, Nathan Walker, Taylor Chorney

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
8 Alex Ovechkin	19 Nicklas Backstrom	43 Tom Wilson
13 Jakub Vrana	92 Evgeny Kuznetsov	39 Alex Chiasson
10 Brett Connolly	20 Lars Eller	77 T.J. Oshie
18 Chandler Stephenson	83 Jay Beagle	65 Andre Burakovsky
Defense
29 Christian Djoos	74 John Carlson
9 Dmitry Orlov	2 Matt Niskanen
44 Brooks Orpik	22 Madison Bowey
Goalie
70 Braden Holtby

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (9th, 4th on road), Capitals (15th, 15th at home)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (29th, 21st on road), Capital (22nd, 22nd at home)
Recent History vs. Capitals
- Oct. 14, 2017 – Flyers 8, Capitals 2 (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Capitals
- Claude Giroux – 34 GP, 18 G, 18 A, 36 P
- Jake Voracek – 30 GP, 11 G, 11 A, 22 P
- Shayne Gostisbehere – 8 GP, 0 G, 6 A, 6 P
- Brian Elliott – 14 GP, 7-5-0, 3.21 GAA