Flyers-Red Wings: Game 58 Preview

Kevin Durso

February 16 2019

(Photo: Kate Frese)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

After some late night trade activity from the Flyers, acquiring goalie Cam Talbot, it's back to the ice for the next game in the pursuit of a playoff spot. Eight points separate the Flyers from both the Penguins and Blue Jackets, teams they will have a chance to face directly later this month.

For now, they start a weekend home-and-home with the Detroit Red Wings, a team that enters the weekend in the bottom five in the NHL standings.

Game time is at 1 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Detroit Red Wings	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	57	17	44	61	Dylan Larkin	57	24	30	54
Sean Couturier	55	24	26	50	Gustav Nyquist	58	14	33	47
Jake Voracek	57	14	35	49	Andreas Athanasiou	52	20	17	37
Travis Konecny	57	15	18	33	Frans Nielsen	54	9	21	30
James van Riemsdyk	41	15	13	28	Thomas Vanek	50	11	17	28

Player to Watch
11 Travis Konecny	72 Andreas Athanasiou
Last 5 Games: 1 G, 2 A, 3 P, -2	Last 5 Games: 3 G, 1 A, 4 P, +1

The Flyers top line is in danger of being reconstructed. Claude Giroux has remained consistent, but is doing his scoring with Jake Voracek and Sean Couturier on the ice with him. That puts Travis Konecny as one of the guys on notice. He has struggled recently and needs to turn it around to stay on the top line.

The speedy Andreas Athanasiou scored two goals in his last game, including one on a penalty shot, and had another in his previous game. With three goals in two games, he's got the scorer's touch right now.

Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	35 Jimmy Howard
18 GP, 11-6-1, 2.48 GAA, .924 SV%	39 GP, 17-15-5, 2.74 GAA, .915 SV%

Carter Hart gets the start in goal against the team he faced in his NHL debut. He stopped 20 of 22 shots that night in his first NHL win. With 18 starts under his belt, the nerves from that night are gone, and Hart is looking to bounce back from a loss against Pittsburgh on Monday, his first since Jan. 12.

It was a milestone night for Jimmy Howard on Thursday. In his 500th NHL game, he made 40 saves and picked up the win. Howard was not in goal for the meeting against the Flyers in December. He last faced the Flyers last March, making 27 saves and getting the win via a shootout.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Michal Neuvirth, Brian Elliott

Scratches: Phil Myers, Mikhail Vorobyev, Cam Talbot

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
25 James van Riemsdyk	28 Claude Giroux	11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
21 Scott Laughton	19 Nolan Patrick	17 Wayne Simmonds
27 Justin Bailey	44 Phil Varone	12 Michael Raffl
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	6 Travis Sanheim
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	47 Andrew MacDonald
8 Robert Hagg	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
79 Carter Hart

Lineup Notes

No changes are expected to the Flyers lineup from Tuesday's game.

Red Wings Projected Lineup

Injuries: Evgeny Svechnikov, Tyler Bertuzzi

Scratches: Martin Frk, Luke Witkowski, Denis Cholowski, Jacob De La Rose

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Tyler Bertuzzi	71 Dylan Larkin	14 Gustav Nyquist
26 Thomas Vanek	51 Frans Nielsen	39 Anthony Mantha
43 Darren Helm	41 Luke Glendening	72 Andreas Athanasiou
8 Justin Abdelkader	70 Christoffer Ehn	27 Michael Rasmussen
Defense
55 Niklas Kronwall	25 Mike Green
65 Dan Dekeyser	3 Nick Jensen
52 Jonathan Ericsson	83 Trevor Daley
Goalie
35 Jimmy Howard

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (22nd, 17th at home), Red Wings (24th, 13th on road)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (27th, T-23rd at home), Red Wings (24th, T-11th on road)
Recent History vs. Red Wings
- Dec. 20, 2017 – Flyers 4, Red Wings 3 (at PHI)
- Jan. 23, 2018 – Flyers 3, Red Wings 2 (F/OT) (at DET)
- March 20, 2018 – Red Wings 5, Flyers 4 (F/SO) (at DET)
- Dec. 18, 2018 – Flyers 3, Red Wings 2 (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Red Wings
- Claude Giroux – 21 GP, 7 G, 19 A, 26 P
- Sean Couturier – 17 GP, 6 G, 6 A, 12 P
- Jake Voracek – 34 GP, 6 G, 18 A, 24 P
- Carter Hart – 1 GP, 1-0-0, 2.00 GAA, .909 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Radko Gudas needs two points to reach 100 for his career.