Flyers-Jets: Game 75 Preview

The Philadelphia Flyers (36-25-13) return home to the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night for a tilt with the Winnipeg Jets (31-38-6). This is the second of two meetings between the clubs and the lone match up in Philadelphia. Game time is 7:00

 

Philadelphia is coming home for three games after a 2-1-1 road trip last week. The team will host Washington on Wednesday night and Ottawa on Saturday.

 

The Flyers enter tonight holding down the final playoff spot. They are tied with Detroit at 85 points but have a game in hand and one game left with the Red Wings in Detroit next week.

 

Player to Watch
17 Wayne Simmonds	26 Blake Wheeler
Last 5 Games: 0G, 2A, 2Pts, Even	Last 5 Games: 1G, 4A, 5Pts, +2

 

Wayne Simmonds leads the team with 25 goals on the season. Simmonds is also on one of his dry spells as he has not lit the lamp since March 15th against Detroit. If the Flyers are going to hold on to their current playoff spot, the Wayne Train is going to need to find the back of net regularly down the stretch. 

 

Blake Wheeler is having another solid season for the Jets. The big winger has scored at least 60 points in each of his three full seasons in Winnipeg. The only season in which he did not was the lockout year. With 67 points on the year, Wheeler needs just three more points to set a new career high for points in a season.

 

Goalie Matchup
35 Steve Mason	31 Ondrej Pavelec
19-17-9, 2.54 GAA, .918 SV%	10-13-2, 2.72 GAA, .907 SV%

Steve Mason will make his sixth straight start for Philadelphia tonight. He is 2-2-1 in the previous five. As long as the Flyers are in a playoff spot, or in the race, it looks like Mason will be the guy unless he is physically unable to go. 

Ondrej Pavelec figures to start for the Jets tonight. Pavelec has split time with each of the other two goaltenders this season. Throughout his career, Pavelec has proven that he can steal games from time to time but has yet to prove he is the long term answer for the Jets.  The Flyers will need to bring their best effort though if they want to claim a victory tonight.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Scratches: Scott Laughton, R.J. Umberger, Evgeny Medvedev, Jordan Weal, Micheal Del Zotto, Michal Neuvirth

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
10 Brayden Schenn	28 Claude Giroux	17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jakub Voracek
76 Chris VandeVelde	78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	25 Ryan White
89 Sam Gagner	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 they did on Saturday in Arizona.

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (17th, 25th at home), Jets (30th, 27th on road) 
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (18th, 21st at home), Jets (25th, 23rd on road)
• There were no hearings for Radko Gudas and Martin Hanzal for their hits in Saturday's game. 

Where to Watch
TV: CSN Philly
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic

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