Flyers-Devils: Game 46 Preview

Kevin Durso

January 20 2018

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

Just one week ago, the Flyers returned from the bye week against the upstart New Jersey Devils and claimed an important win over a Metropolitan Division foe.

The Flyers face that challenge again in their first of back-to-back games against division opponents this weekend, facing off with the Devils on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

Game time is set for 1 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	New Jersey Devils	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	45	14	40	54	Taylor Hall	42	17	30	47
Jake Voracek	45	8	45	53	Jesper Bratt	43	11	18	29
Sean Couturier	45	26	20	46	Nico Hischier	44	8	20	28
Shayne Gostisbehere	41	9	23	32	Will Butcher	44	2	24	26
Wayne Simmonds	45	16	13	29	Brian Gibbons	44	12	11	23

Player to Watch
17 Wayne Simmonds	9 Taylor Hall
Last 5 Games: 3 G, 2 A, 5 P, +4	Last 5 Games: 4 G, 6 A, 10 P, +5

It seems like Wayne Simmonds is starting to find his scoring groove again. The Flyers power forward has goals in five of his last eight games, including a shorthanded goal in Thursday's comeback win. He also scored in the Flyers win over the Devils last Saturday.

For as well as Nico Hischier has played this season, Taylor Hall is riding quite the hot streak entering Saturday's game. Hall has goals in five of his last six games and has collected 11 points in that time, including four multi-point games.

Goalie Matchup
30 Michal Neuvirth	1 Keith Kinkaid
4-5-1, 2.35 GAA, .924 SV%	7-3-2, 3.09 GAA, .898 SV%

Michal Neuvirth gets another start, in large part to the fact that he almost single-handedly won the Flyers the game on Thursday. Neuvirth was stellar and earned this start. It will be just his third start since Nov. 28.

It's been an interesting stretch for Keith Kinkaid. He only had one start since Dec. 9 before this week — suiting up in an overtime loss for the Devils on Jan. 2. But now Kinkaid makes his third straight start while Cory Schneider works his way back from taking an errant stick on the bench during the Devils last game. Kinkaid has also won both starts, most recently stopping 16 of 19 shots in the Devils 4-3 overtime win over Washington on Thursday.

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
30 Michal Neuvirth

Lineup Notes

Although Taylor Leier took the line rush on the fourth line, the Flyers lines remain the same following their win on Thursday.

Devils Projected Lineup

Injuries: Mirco Mueller

Scratches: Blake Coleman, Jimmy Hayes, Steven Santini

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
9 Taylor Hall	13 Nico Hischier	63 Jesper Bratt
90 Marcus Johansson	19 Travis Zajac	18 Drew Stafford
44 Miles Wood	37 Pavel Zacha	21 Kyle Palmieri
39 Brian Gibbons	11 Brian Boyle	23 Stefan Noesen
Defense
6 Andy Greene	45 Sami Vatanen
2 John Moore	28 Damon Severson
8 Will Butcher	12 Ben Lovejoy
Goalie
1 Keith Kinkaid

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (9th, T-15th at home), Devils (T-6th, 26th on road)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (29th, T-29th at home), Devils (T-10th, 14th on road)
Recent History vs. Devils
- Jan. 13, 2018 – Flyers 5, Devils 3 (at NJ)
Flyers Leaders vs. Devils
- Claude Giroux – 41 GP, 9 G, 29 A, 38 P
- Jake Voracek – 31 GP, 6 G, 13 A, 19 P
- Wayne Simmonds – 33 GP, 11 G, 7 A, 18 P
- Michal Neuvirth – 16 GP, 7-3-5, 2.20 GAA
Milestone Watch
- Michal Neuvirth needs one win to reach 100 for his career.