Flyers-Panthers: Game 37 Preview

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Florida Panthers	GP	G	A	P
Jake Voracek	36	8	36	44	Vincent Trocheck	36	14	21	35
Claude Giroux	36	13	29	42	Jonathan Huberdeau	36	12	23	35
Sean Couturier	36	16	16	32	Aleksander Barkov	35	11	21	32
Shayne Gostisbehere	33	7	20	27	Evgenii Dadonov	28	7	14	21
Wayne Simmonds	36	11	10	21	Keith Yandle	36	3	18	21

 

Player to Watch
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	11 Jonathan Huberdeau
Last 5 Games: 3 G, 2 A, 5 P, -3	Last 5 Games: 3 G, 0 A, 3 P, -1

 

It says a lot for Shayne Gostisbehere's season that he's already matched his goal total from the previous season and is just 12 points off of last season's total in less than half the games played. He's also been one of the Flyers top point producers of late, with three goals and two assists in the last five games. Playing in his home state at an arena near where he grew up provides even more incentive. Gostisbehere had a four-game point streak prior to the Flyers loss in Columbus on Saturday.

 

Jonathan Huberdeau only played in 31 games last season, so his presence was lost for much of the season. This season, he's returned to form, on pace to put up career numbers for the Panthers. Huberdeau has three goals in the Panthers last two games. Huberdeau has four goals and seven points in 12 career games against the Flyers.

 

Goalie Matchup
37 Brian Elliott	34 James Reimer
13-8-7, 2.59 GAA, .916 SV%	9-9-4, 3.15 GAA, .908 SV%

There has been one constant to all of the Flyers games in December. Brian Elliott has been in goal. That trend continues on Thursday, as Elliott gets the start against the Panthers, his 12th straight in goal for the Flyers. Elliott was solid in goal for the Flyers in back-to-back starts last weekend, making 33 saves in the loss to Buffalo and 35 in the shootout loss to Columbus. 

James Reimer has been Florida's go-to guy with Roberto Luongo sidelined with injury. Reimer's on a roll of late with wins in his last three starts, including a 38-save shutout against Ottawa in his last start on Dec. 23. 

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Brandon Manning

Scratches: Mark Alt, Jordan Weal

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
12 Michael Raffl	19 Nolan Patrick	93 Jake Voracek
22 Dale Weise	51 Valtteri Filppula	17 Wayne Simmonds
15 Jori Lehtera	21 Scott Laughton	20 Taylor Leier
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
8 Robert Hagg	47 Andrew MacDonald
6 Travis Sanheim	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

The Flyers used the same lines and defensive pairings as they did in Columbus. There were several changes to the Flyers lines prior to their final game before the holiday break and they will give those combinations a second look on Thursday.

Panthers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Roberto Luongo, Ian McCoshen

Scratches: Dryden Hunt, Radim Vrbata

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
11 Jonathan Huberdeau	16 Aleksander Barkov	27 Nick Bjugstad
63 Evgenii Dadonov	21 Vincent Trocheck	62 Denis Malgin
88 Jamie McGinn	90 Jared McCannn	23 Connor Brickley
18 Micheal Haley	17 Derek MacKenzie	7 Colton Sceviour
Defense
3 Keith Yandle	5 Aaron Ekblad
19 Michael Matheson	13 Mark Pysyk
52 Mackenzie Weegar	6 Alex Petrovic
Goalie
34 James Reimer

Game Notes

• Power Play: Flyers (15th, 7th on road), Panthers (T-22nd, 19th at home)
• Penalty Kill: Flyers (29th, 17th on road), Panthers (17th, 22nd at home) 
• Recent History vs. Panthers
  • Oct. 17, 2017 – Flyers 5, Panthers 1 (at PHI)
• Flyers Leaders vs. Panthers
  • Valtteri Filppula – 20 GP, 6 G, 11 A, 17 P
  • Claude Giroux – 32 GP, 7 G, 13 A, 20 P
  • Shayne Gostisbehere – 5 GP, 2 G, 2 A, 4 P
  • Brian Elliott – 9 GP, 6-2-0, 2.32 GAA

Where to Watch
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 93.3 WMMR