Flyers-Capitals: Game 50 Preview

Kevin Durso

January 31 2018

(Kate Frese/SB Nation)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

It's time for the stretch run. While the Flyers still have 33 games on the schedule and a lot of points are still up for grabs, those games will all take place in just over two months, so it is very much a sprint to the finish.

Many of these games will be against division opponents, including the first, as the Flyers take on the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night to open up their post-All-Star break schedule.

Game time is set for 8 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Washington Capitals	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	49	14	43	57	Alex Ovechkin	49	30	23	53
Jake Voracek	49	9	47	56	Evgeny Kuznetsov	49	13	32	45
Sean Couturier	49	26	23	49	John Carlson	49	7	31	38
Shayne Gostisbehere	45	9	24	33	Nicklas Backstrom	48	10	28	38
Wayne Simmonds	49	16	13	29	T.J. Oshie	43	11	18	29

Player to Watch
11 Travis Konecny	8 Alex Ovechkin
Last 5 Games: 4 G, 2 A, 6 P, +4	Last 5 Games: 3 G, 4 A, 7 P, +1

Travis Konecny has goals in four straight games and provided the only tally for the Orange and Black in last Thursday's game. He's been the hottest Flyer of late, and it will be worth watching to see if that hot streak playing alongside Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux carried over to the other side of the All-Star break.

Just another typical year for Alex Ovechkin. He's hit the 30-goal mark before the All-Star break, which has him on pace for another 50-goal season easily. He also has been picking up the points lately with seven in the last five games. And as always, he's lethal on the power play from the left circle.

Goalie Matchup
30 Michal Neuvirth	70 Braden Holtby
5-6-1, 2.46 GAA, .918 SV%	25-9-2, 2.66 GAA, .917 SV%

After two really solid wins, Michal Neuvirth was basically left out to dry against the Tampa Bay Lightning last Thursday, allowing five goals in the loss. With Brian Elliott on IR, at least for now, the Flyers will likely have to lean on Neuvirth through this week.

It's been another solid season for Braden Holtby, who is up to 25 wins on the season and was at the All-Star Game in Tampa this past weekend. The Flyers did manage to solve him twice 10 days ago in a 2-1 overtime win, so they have managed to defeat him once before, but as one of the league's elite goalies, Holtby can definitely be a game-changer.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Brian Elliott

Scratches: Dale Weise, Taylor Leier, Mark Alt

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
93 Jake Voracek	19 Nolan Patrick	17 Wayne Simmonds
40 Jordan Weal	51 Valtteri Filppula	12 Michael Raffl
56 Tyrell Goulbourne	21 Scott Laughton	15 Jori Lehtera
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
8 Robert Hagg	47 Andrew MacDonald
23 Brandon Manning	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
30 Michal Neuvirth

Lineup Notes

The Flyers moved Nolan Patrick up to the second line with Jake Voracek and Wayne Simmonds on the wings. Valtteri Filppula drops to the third line with Jordan Weal and Michael Raffl. The rest of the Flyers lineup remains the same.

Capitals Projected Lineup

Scratches: Chandler Stephenson, Nathan Walker, Taylor Chorney

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
8 Alex Ovechkin	92 Evgeni Kuznetsov	43 Tom Wilson
65 Andre Burakovsky	19 Nicklas Backstrom	77 T.J. Oshie
10 Brett Connolly	20 Lars Eller	13 Jakub Vrana
39 Alex Chiasson	83 Jay Beagle	25 Devante Smith-Pelly
Defense
29 Christian Djoos	74 John Carlson
2 Matt Niskanen	9 Dmirty Orlov
44 Brooks Orpik	22 Madison Bowey
Goalie
70 Braden Holtby

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (9th, 4th on road), Capitals (T-14th, 15th at home)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (28th, 22nd on road), Capitals (18th, 18th at home)
Recent History vs. Capitals
- Oct. 14, 2017 – Flyers 8, Capitals 2 (at PHI)
- Jan. 21, 2018 – Flyers 2, Capitals 1 (OT) (at WSH)
Flyers Leaders vs. Capitals
- Claude Giroux – 35 GP, 18 G, 18 A, 36 P
- Jake Voracek – 31 GP, 11 G, 11 A, 22 P
- Shayne Gostisbehere – 9 GP, 0 G, 6 A, 6 P
- Michal Neuvirth – 3 GP, 1-1-0, 3.16 GAA