Flyers-Devils: Game 54 Preview

The Flyers and Devils renew their rivalry in Philadelphia on Saturday.

 

 

The Philadelphia Flyers (24-20-9) open a very important three games in four days stretch with a showdown against the New Jersey Devils (27-21-7) on Saturday afternoon. Game time is 1:00.

 

This is third of four meetings between the clubs and the final one Philadelphia. The teams will play again on Tuesday in Newark. The Devils defeated the Flyers 4-1 on October 29th in Philadelphia. The Flyers returned the favor on December 4th handing the Devils a 4-3 overtime loss in Newark. 

 

The teams are seperated by just four points in the standings with the Flyers holding two games in hand. 

 

 

 

Player to Watch
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	14 Adam Henrique
last 5 games, 1G, 5A, 6Pts, -1	last 5 games, 2G, 3A, 5Pts, +1

 

Shayne Gostisbehere could easily be the player to watch almost every night. The rookie blueliner has been a jolt of life since being called up. With a point today, Gostisbehere can set an all time Flyers rookie record for consecutive games with a point. He tied former Legion of Doom winger Mikael Renberg's franchise record on Thursday against Buffalo.

Goalie Matchup
30 Michal Neuvirth	35 Cory Schneider
11-6-2, 2.1 G4AA, .933 SV%	24-16-6, 2.01 GAA, .930 SV%

Michal Neuvirth looks to make his return to the net after missing the last six games with an injury. Neuvirth last played on January 29th picking up a 4-3 overtime victory in Washington. Steve Mason will likely play tomorrow in New York against the Rangers

Cory Schneider has been fantastic for the Devils this season. He is second in goals against average and fourth in save percentage. 

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Matt Read, Scott Laughton, Evegeny Medvedev, Sean Couturier

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
93 Jake Voracek	28 Claude Giroux	17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Micheal Raffl	52 Nick Cousins	10 Brayden Schenn
76 Chris VandeVelde	78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	25 Ryan White
20 R.J. Umberger	19 Jordan Weal	89 Sam Gagner
Defense
15 Michael Del Zotto	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
32 Mark Streit	55 Nick Schultz
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
30 Michal Neuvirth

The Flyers will use the same lineup as they did on Thursday except in goal where Neuvirth will start in place of Steve Mason.

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (23rd, 26th at home), Devils (8th,12th on road) 
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (23rd, 23rd at home), Devils (8th, 9th on road)
• The Flyers are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games overall. 
• Nick Cousins scored his first NHL goal on Thursday against Buffalo and has points in two of the four games he has played in since his recall.

Where to Watch
TV: CSN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic

Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074.