Flyers-Golden Knights: Game 41 Preview

Kevin Durso

January 2 2020

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

The Flyers first game of 2020 also marks the halfway point of the regular season. While it has been a fairly successful one so far, the current six-game road trip has tested the Flyers.

The Flyers have a 1-2-0 record on the six-game road trip so far, and that includes two rather lackluster losses in San Jose and Los Angeles. The road trip continues with a stop against the Vegas Golden Knights, as the Flyers look to get back into the win column.

Game time is at 10 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Vegas Golden Knights	GP	G	A	P
Travis Konecny	37	11	24	35	Max Pacioretty	43	16	25	41
Jake Voracek	40	8	23	31	Mark Stone	43	16	24	40
Sean Couturier	40	10	20	30	Reilly Smith	43	15	18	33
Claude Giroux	40	12	16	28	William Karlsson	43	10	23	33
Kevin Hayes	40	12	11	23	Jonathan Marchessault	43	15	16	31

Player to Watch
14 Sean Couturier	61 Mark Stone
Last 5 Games: 1 G, 1 A, 2 P, +1	Last 5 Games: 3 G, 3 A, 6 P, +4

Sean Couturier did score a goal in Sunday's win in Anaheim, but has struggled to put up points over recent games with just two over the last five games after a string of five points in three games.

Mark Stone is on a four-game points streak where he has scored three goals and has six points. In the month of December, there were only four games where Stone did not record a point. Stone has at least one point in 10 of the last 11 games, including six multi-point games.

Projected Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	29 Marc-Andre Fleury
27 GP, 13-8-3, 2.41 GAA, .911 SV%	28 GP, 16-8-3, 2.71 GAA, .913 SV%

Carter Hart struggled in San Jose, but looked pretty good in two periods in Los Angeles in relief of Brian Elliott on Tuesday. He gets back in net for the start in Vegas on Thursday night.

Marc-Andre Fleury had a rough outing on Dec. 23, allowing seven goals in a loss to Colorado, but has since bounced back with back-to-back wins. In his last against Anaheim, Fleury stopped 26 of 28 shots.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Nolan Patrick (migrane disorder, out indefinitely), Oskar Lindblom (Ewing's sarcoma, out for season)

Scratches: Robert Hagg (healthy), Chris Stewart (healthy)

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
25 James van Riemsdyk	13 Kevin Hayes	11 Travis Konecny
12 Michael Raffl	21 Scott Laughton	18 Tyler Pitlick
49 Joel Farabee	24 Mikhail Vorobyev	62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim	61 Justin Braun
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	5 Phil Myers
Goalie
79 Carter Hart	37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

No official word on the lineup just yet, but morning skate line rushes showed that Scott Laughton appears to be returning to action, skating on the third line with Michael Raffl on the third line with Tyler Pitlick.

Golden Knights Projected Lineup

Injuries: Cody Eakin

Scratches: Nicolas Hague

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
81 Jonathan Marchessault	71 William Karlsson	19 Reilly Smith
67 Max Pacioretty	20 Chandler Stephenson	61 Mark Stone
89 Alex Tuch	26 Paul Stastny	9 Cody Glass
28 William Carrier	92 Tomas Nosek	75 Ryan Reaves
Defense
3 Brayden McNabb	88 Nate Schmidt
22 Nick Holden	27 Shea Theodore
15 Jon Merrill	5 Deryk Engelland
Goalie
29 Marc-Andre Fleury	30 Malcolm Subban

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (14th), Golden Knights (10th)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (12th), Golden Knights (7th)
Recent History vs. Golden Knights
- Oct. 4, 2018 – Flyers 5, Golden Knights 2 (at VGK)
- Oct. 13, 2018 – Golden Knights 1, Flyers 0 (at PHI)
- Oct. 21, 2019 – Flyers 6, Golden Knights 2 (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Golden Knights
- Sean Couturier – 5 GP, 1 G, 4 A, 5 P
- Kevin Hayes – 5 GP, 1 G, 4 A, 5 P
- Travis Konecny – 5 GP, 1 G, 4 A, 5 P
- Matt Niskanen – 5 GP, 2 G, 3 A, 5 P
- Claude Giroux – 5 GP, 2 G, 2 A, 4 P
Milestone Watch
- Shayne Gostisbehere needs two points to reach 200 for his career.