Flyers-Oilers: Game 5 Preview

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

To this point, the Flyers schedule has been relatively spaced apart with several days between games. But a common theme to their complete 2019-20 schedule is the amount of back-to-backs they will play.

Their first of 17 this season concludes on Wednesday night, as the Flyers return to the ice following Tuesday's 3-1 loss in Calgary to close out a three-game Western Canada road trip against the Edmonton Oilers.

Game time is at 9:30 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Edmonton Oilers	GP	G	A	P
Travis Konecny	4	3	4	7	Connor McDavid	6	4	8	12
Ivan Provorov	4	1	2	3	Leon Draisaitl	6	4	8	12
Oskar Lindblom	4	2	1	3	James Neal	6	8	0	8
Matt Niskanen	4	1	2	3	Oscar Klefbom	6	1	6	7
Sean Couturier	4	1	1	2	Darnell Nurse	6	1	4	5

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	18 James Neal
Last 5 Games: 0 G, 1 A, 1 P, E	Last 5 Games: 8 G, 0 A, 8 P, -1

The Flyers swapped line combinations, putting Claude Giroux back with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny in the third period of Tuesday's loss. The combinations for Wednesday remain to be seen, but Giroux needs to start to show some production. With just one point in four games, he's off to a very slow start.

You would think that the obvious choice for player to watch for the Oilers would be Connor McDavid. James Neal has the scorer's touch early in the season, picking up eight goals over the last five games, including six power-play goals.

Projected Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	19 Mikko Koskinen
3 GP, 2-0-1, 1.62 GAA, .938 SV%	2 GP, 2-0-0, 2.40 GAA, .914 SV%

It's a homecoming for Carter Hart, a Sherwood Park, Alberta native from just outside Edmonton. Hart has started his sophomore season strong with a 2-0-1 record, a 1.62 GAA and .938 save percentage.

Mikko Koskinen makes his third start of the season and first since Oct. 10, when he allowed three goals and made 28 saves in a win over the Devils.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Nolan Patrick

Scratches: Sam Morin, Connor Bunnaman

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	13 Kevin Hayes	25 James van Riemsdyk
23 Oskar Lindblom	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
18 Tyler Pitlick	21 Scott Laughton	93 Jake Voracek
44 Chris Stewart	12 Michael Raffl	81 Carsen Twarynski
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

The Flyers did not have a morning skate after playing on Tuesday night. There is always a chance that Connor Bunnaman or Sam Morin could slot into the lineup, but that will not be known until closer to game time.

Oilers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Adam Larsson, Joakim Nygard

Scratches: Gaetan Haas, Brandon Manning

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
29 Leon Draisaitl	97 Connor McDavid	44 Zack Kassian
39 Alex Chiasson	93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	18 James Neal
16 Jujhar Khaira	23 Riley Sheahan	52 Patrick Russell
92 Tomas Jurco	60 Markus Granlund	15 Josh Archibald
Defense
25 Darnell Nurse	74 Ethan Bear
77 Oscar Klefbom	36 Joel Persson
4 Kris Russell	83 Matt Benning
Goalie
19 Mikko Koskinen	41 Mike Smith

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (7th), Oilers (2nd)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (5th), Oilers (1st)
Recent History vs. Oilers
- Dec. 14, 2018 – Oilers 4, Flyers 1 (at EDM)
- Feb. 2, 2019 – Flyers 5, Oilers 4 (F/OT) (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Oilers
- Claude Giroux – 15 GP, 7 G, 12 A, 19 P
- Jake Voracek – 24 GP, 4 G, 20 A, 24 P
- James van Riemsdyk – 14 GP, 5 G, 6 A, 11 P
- Carter Hart – 1 GP, 1-0-0, 3.87 GAA, .909 SV%

Where to Watch
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic/97.3 ESPN

Flyers-Oilers: Game 5 Preview

Kevin Durso

Kevin Durso

Kevin Durso

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