Flyers-Blackhawks: Game 1 Preview

Kevin Durso

October 4 2019

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

It is finally here. The Flyers open the 2019-20 regular season from Prague, Czech Republic as they take on the Chicago Blackhawks.

It has been a long offseason for the Flyers and many new faces are around, none bigger than the man behind the bench in Alain Vigneault. With new players like Kevin Hayes, Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun all debuting with the Flyers and rookies Carsen Twarynski and Connor Bunnaman about make their NHL debut as well, it certainly is a new beginning for the Orange and Black.

Game time is at 2 p.m.

Team Leaders (2018-19 Statistics)

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Chicago Blackhawks	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	82	22	63	85	Patrick Kane	81	44	66	110
Sean Couturier	80	33	43	76	Jonathan Toews	82	35	46	81
Jake Voracek	78	20	46	66	Alex DeBrincat	82	41	35	76
Travis Konecny	82	24	25	49	Erik Gustafsson	79	17	43	60
James van Riemsdyk	66	27	21	48	Dylan Strome	58	17	34	51

Player to Watch
13 Kevin Hayes	88 Patrick Kane
2018-19 Stats: 19 G, 36 A, 55 P	2018-19 Stats: 44 G, 66 A, 110 P

It's an important debut for Kevin Hayes. The forward acquired by the Flyers to bring stability and added depth to the center position will start by playing with Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek, looking to make an early impact.

The Blackhawks may have been one of the NHL's bottom-feeders last season, but Patrick Kane remains one of the top scoring threats in the game. Last season, he led the Blackhawks with 44 goals and 110 points.

Goalie Matchup (2018-19 Stats)
79 Carter Hart	50 Corey Crawford
31 GP, 16-13-1, 2.83 GAA, .917 SV%	39 GP, 14-18-5, 2.93 GAA, .908 SV%

Carter Hart looks to start his second NHL season off strong by getting the start in the season opener. Hart appeared in three preseason games and the exhibition in Switzerland. Before Monday's exhibition, Hart had stopped 56 of 57 shots faced.

Corey Crawford gets the first start for the Blackhawks this season after making 39 starts last season. Crawford has a 2-6-0 record against the Flyers in his career with a 2.79 GAA.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Nolan Patrick, Andy Welinski

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	13 Kevin Hayes	93 Jake Voracek
23 Oskar Lindblom	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk	21 Scott Laughton	81 Carsen Twarynski
12 Michael Raffl	82 Connor Bunnaman	18 Tyler Pitlick
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim	15 Matt Niskanen
8 Robert Hagg	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
Goalie
79 Carter Hart	37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

Plenty of new faces in the Flyers lineup with Kevin Hayes centering the "top" line with Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek. Carsen Twarynski will debut on the third line, Connor Bunnaman will center the fourth line and Tyler Pitlick will make his Flyers debut on the fourth line as well. Defensively, Justin Braun lines up with Ivan Provorov and Matt Niskanen with Travis Sanheim for their Flyers debuts.

Blackhawks Projected Lineup

Injuries: Connor Murphy, John Quenneville

Scratches: Calvin de Haan

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
92 Alex Nylander	19 Jonathan Toews	88 Patrick Kane
12 Alex DeBrincat	17 Dylan Strome	65 Andrew Shaw
20 Brandon Saad	64 David Kampf	8 Dominik Kubalik
15 Zack Smith	22 Ryan Carpenter	91 Drake Caggiula
Defense
2 Duncan Keith	56 Erik Gustafsson
6 Olli Maatta	7 Brent Seabrook
68 Slater Koekkoek	39 Dennis Gilbert
Goalie
50 Corey Crawford	40 Robin Lehner

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (23rd), Blackhawks (15th)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (26th), Blackhawks (31st)
Recent History vs. Blackhawks
- Nov. 10, 2018 – Flyers 4, Blackhawks 0 (at PHI)
- March 21, 2019 – Flyers 3, Blackhawks 1 (at CHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Blackhawks
- Claude Giroux – 16 GP, 5 G, 18 A, 23 P
- Sean Couturier – 12 GP, 5 G, 6 A, 11 P
- Jake Voracek – 30 GP, 6 G, 17 A, 23 P
- Carter Hart – 1 GP, 1-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .976 SV%