Flyers-Sharks: Game 3 Preview

Kevin Durso

October 9 2018

(Photo: Kate Frese)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

The Flyers opened the season out west and split the two games there. Now, they finally get to play in front of their home fans for a regular season game.

They get a pretty tough opponent to face in the home opener too.

The San Jose Sharks come to Philadelphia with tremendous defensive depth, a solid goalie and forwards who can contribute, but also a 1-2-0 record after a 4-0 loss to the Islanders on Monday afternoon.

Game time is set for 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	San Jose Sharks	GP	G	A	P
Wayne Simmonds	2	2	0	2	Evander Kane	3	2	0	2
Robert Hagg	2	1	1	2	Timo Meier	3	1	0	1
Mikhail Vorobyev	2	1	1	2	Kevin Labanc	3	1	0	1
Claude Giroux	2	0	2	2	Tomas Hertl	3	1	0	1
Jake Voracek	2	0	2	2	Justin Braun	3	0	1	1

Player to Watch
40 Jordan Weal	9 Evander Kane
Last 5 Games: N/A	Last 5 Games: 2 G, 0 A, 2 P, E

Jordan Weal enters the lineup and has big shoes to fill with James van Riemsdyk out of the lineup. Back on the wing and in his first game action of the season, he's worth watching just to see how he fits with his linemates.

Scoring has been at a premium early for the Sharks — just five goals in three games — but Evander Kane has two and has also torched the Flyers for eight goals and 20 points in 22 games in his career.

Goalie Matchup
37 Brian Elliott	30 Aaron Dell
1-1-0, 3.03 GAA, .898 SV%	0-0-0, -.– GAA, — SV%

Despite another strong start in Colorado, Brian Elliott was on the losing end of a 5-2 decision. He allowed four goals in the game, but made a number of stellar saves keeping the Flyers in the game until late in the third. Elliott will start again in the home opener on Tuesday.

Aaron Dell gets his first start of the season after Martin Jones started the first three games for the Sharks. The Sharks are fresh off a 4-0 loss on Monday afternoon to the Islanders and Dell has two wins in three starts against the Flyers in his career.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: James van Riemsdyk, Michal Neuvirth, Corban Knight, Alex Lyon

Scratches: Dale Weise, Christian Folin

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
23 Oskar Lindblom	19 Nolan Patrick	11 Travis Konecny
40 Jordan Weal	24 Mikhail Vorobyev	17 Wayne Simmonds
21 Scott Laughton	15 Jori Lehtera	12 Michael Raffl
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
6 Travis Sanheim	3 Radko Gudas
8 Robert Hagg	47 Andrew MacDonald
Goalie
37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

With James van Riemsdyk out of the lineup with injury, Jordan Weal comes back in as the third-line left winger. Radko Gudas also re-enters the lineup in place of Christian Folin. The Flyers also stick with a line swap from Saturday's game with Jake Voracek on the top line and Travis Konecny on the second line.

Sharks Projected Lineup

Injuries: Joe Thornton

Scratches: Dylan Gambrell, Tim Heed, Radim Simek

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Timo Meier	8 Joe Pavelski	68 Melker Karlsson
48 Tomas Hertl	39 Logan Couture	62 Kevin Labanc
9 Evander Kane	40 Antti Suomela	27 Joonas Donskoi
20 Marcus Sorenson	60 Rourke Chartier	23 Barclay Goodrow
Defense
44 Marc-Edouard Vlasic	65 Erik Karlsson
47 Joakim Ryan	88 Brent Burns
4 Brenden Dillon	61 Justin Braun
Goalie
30 Aaron Dell

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (T-18th), Sharks (T-23rd)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (11th), Sharks (T-20th)
Recent History vs. Sharks
- Oct. 4, 2017 – Flyers 5, Sharks 3 (at SJ)
- Nov. 28, 2017 – Sharks 3, Flyers 1 (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Sharks
- Wayne Simmonds – 28 GP, 9 G, 4 A, 13 P
- Claude Giroux – 15 GP, 8 G, 4 A, 12 P
- Jake Voracek – 22 GP, 2 G, 10 A, 12 P
- Brian Elliott – 14 GP, 7-4-1, 2.60 GAA, .919 SV%