Flyers-Blackhawks: Game 69 Preview

 

 

 

The Philadelphia Flyers (33-23-12) try to build on last night's 4-3 win over Detroit when they head to the Madhouse on Madison to play Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks (41-23-6). The Flyers enter tonight just one back of Detroit for the final playoff spot with two games in hand. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:00.

 

This is the second and final meeting between the two clubs and the lone matchup in Chicago. The Flyers defeated the Blackhawks 3-0 way back on October 14th. Michal Neuvirth picked up the shutout victory in that game.

 

Player to Watch
12 Michael Raffl	88 Patrick Kane
Last 5 Games: 4G, 3A, 7Pts, +5	Last 5 Games: 1G, 0A, 1Pts, -4

 

Michael Raffl was outstanding last night against Detroit. The winger scored two goals on two plays that were all effort. Raffl leads the team in plus/minus and has moved into sixth place on the scoring chart. After spending time on multiple lines throughout the first half of the season, he seems to have found a home on the left side of Sean Couturier. 

 

Patrick Kane is on his way to both the scoring title and possibly the MVP this year. His 89 points are 12 clear of last year's scoring champ and current second place contender Jamie Benn. The good news, he has struggled of late with just one goal in his last five games. The bad news, he is too good to stay cold for long.

 

Goalie Matchup
30 Michal Neuvirth	33 Scott Darling
16-8-4, 2.29 GAA, .925 SV%	6-5-2, 2.57 GAA, .912 SV%

Michal Neuvirth  returns between the pipes tonight for Philadelphia. Neuvirth may be the best off season acquisition of Ron Hextall's brief tenure as Flyers general manager. He has been outstanding all season long and defeated the Blackhawks earlier this season by a score of 3-0.

Scott Darling will get the nod for Chicago tonight. Darling looked like he could oust Corey Crawford as the starter last year during the Blackhawks playoff run. It never materialized and Darling has been Crawford's back up all season. 

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Jakub Voracek, R.J. Umberger, Evgeny Medvedev, Jordan Weal, Micheal 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
76 Chris VandeVelde	78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	25 Ryan White
21 Scott Laughton	52 Nick Cousins	24 Matt Read
Defense
47 Andrew MacDonald	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
32 Mark Streit	55 Nick Schultz
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
35 Steve Mason

The Flyers will use the same lineup as last night.

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (17th, 10th on road), Blackhawks(3rd, 7th at home) 
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (22nd, 18th on road), Blackhawks (25th, 16th at home)
• The Flyers are 58-45-30 all time against the Blackhawks but are just 17-29-19 in Chicago.
• The Flyers have lost the last two meetings in Chicago.

Where to Watch
TV: NBCSN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic

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