Flyers-Avalanche: Game 73 Preview

Flyers Leaders	GP	G	A	P	Avalanche Leaders	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	69	20	41	61	Matt Duchene	71	29	27	56
Brayden Schenn	70	24	27	51	Nathan MacKinnon	72	21	31	52
Wayne Simmonds	72	25	25	50	Gabriel Landeskog	66	18	30	48
Jakub Voracek	63	10	39	49	Tyson Barrie	69	13	34	47
Shayne Gostisbehere	54	16	23	39	Carl Soderberg	73	12	35	47

 

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	92 Gabriel Landeskog
Last 5 Games: 2 G, 2 A, 4 P, -1	Last 5 Games: 3 G, 2 A, 5 P, +3

 

Claude Giroux has two goals in his last two games, but that's not the reason for the pick. There seemed to be no player more dejected with the way Tuesday's game ended than Giroux. As the captain, these are the moments where Giroux must be the leader of the response. If he can deliver a big game, his teammates should follow suit.

 

With both Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene out of the lineup, a lot of the Avalanche offense falls on Gabriel Landeskog. The captain has done his part lately, with three goals and five points in his last five games.

 

Goalie Matchup
35 Steve Mason	1 Semyon Varlamov
18-16-9, 2.56 GAA, .918 SV%	26-18-3, 2.66 GAA, .917 SV%

Steve Mason makes his third straight stop after nearly carrying the Flyers to wins in both games of a back-to-back. His performance in Tuesday's shootout loss was particularly notable, 51 saves on 53 shots in regulation and overtime.

Semyon Varlamov has been one of the strongest goaltenders in the NHL of late. He has wins in four of his last five starts, allowing one goal or less in three of them. He has also made at least 27 saves in each of the last five games.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Chris VandeVelde, Evgeny Medvedev, R.J. Umberger, Jordan Weal, Michael Del Zotto

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
10 Brayden Schenn	28 Claude Giroux	17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl	14 Sean Couturier	89 Sam Gagner
93 Jake Voracek	52 Nick Cousins	24 Matt Read
21 Scott Laughton	78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	25 Ryan White
Defense
47 Andrew MacDonald	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
55 Nick Schultz	32 Mark Streit
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
35 Steve Mason

The Flyers will use the same lineup as the previous two games on Thursday night.

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (17th, 10th on road), Avalanche (11th, 3rd at home)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-19th, 14th on road), Avalanche (9th, 11th at home) 
• Recent History vs. Avalanche
  • Nov. 10, 2015 – The Flyers suffered a 4-0 loss to the Avalanche in Philadelphia. Jarome Iginla struck for the game's first goal just 57 seconds into the game. Matt Duchene added two goals in the second period in the first 3:44 of the second period. Cody McLeod capped the scoring with a power-play goal at 2:04 of the third. Reto Berra made 25 saves in the shutout win. Michal Neuvirth stopped 36 of 40 Colorado shots.
• Flyers leaders vs. Avalanche
• Sam Gagner – 41 games, 15 goals, 24 assists, 39 points
• Claude Giroux – 7 games, 5 goals, 1 assist, 6 points
• Mark Streit – 10 games, 1 goal, 6 assists, 7 points
• Steve Mason – 16 games, 6-7-3, 3.05 GAA, .903 Sv%
• Milestone Watch
  • Jake Voracek needs 5 goals to reach 100 as a Flyer.
  • Sean Couturier needs 3 assists to reach 100 in his career.
  • Claude Giroux needs 4 points to pass Reggie Leach for 12th all-time in Flyers history.

Where to Watch
TV: CSN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic

Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.