Flyers-Sabres: Game 68 Preview

Kevin Durso

March 7 2020

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

With their eighth straight win on Thursday and an overtime loss for the Capitals, the Flyers moved into a tie for the Metropolitan Division lead. By the time they take the ice and go for their ninth straight, they will know whether they have the chance to grab sole possession of the division lead as well.

The Capitals face the Penguins on Saturday afternoon, and the Flyers will certainly be in tune to that game as they prepare for their own matchup with the Buffalo Sabres, a team out of the playoff picture and currently on a five-game losing streak.

Game time is 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Buffalo Sabres	GP	G	A	P
Travis Konecny	64	24	37	61	Jack Eichel	66	35	42	77
Sean Couturier	67	22	37	59	Sam Reinhart	67	22	28	50
Jake Voracek	67	12	42	54	Victor Olofsson	52	19	21	40
Claude Giroux	67	19	32	51	Rasmus Dahlin	57	4	34	38
Kevin Hayes	67	23	18	41	Rasmus Ristolainen	67	6	26	32

Player to Watch
13 Kevin Hayes	9 Jack Eichel
Last 5 Games: 4 G, 2 A, 6 P, +5	Last 5 Games: 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, -8

Kevin Hayes was held scoreless in the win over Carolina on Thursday, but has had some very successful games lately. He had a three-point game against San Jose, scored a late goal against his former team, the Rangers, last Friday, and had a pair of points in Wednesday's win in Washington. Hayes had a pair of assists against the Sabres in December.

To put the Sabres recent struggles into perspective, they have been outscored, 19-9. Throughout the losing streak, Buffalo's leading scoring Jack Eichel has been held without a point. Eichel did not play against the Flyers in their only meeting of the season in December, and it certainly made for a much easier task for the Flyers, so Eichel's presence could make a difference here, but scoring has been hard to come by for the Sabres of late.

Projected Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	40 Carter Hutton
41 GP, 23-12-3, 2.47 GAA, .911 SV%	30 GP, 12-13-4, 3.18 GAA, .898 SV%

Carter Hart was once again solid in goal, making 28 saves in Thursday's win over Carolina and improving his home record to 19-2-2. Riding a personal six-game winning streak, Hart will be back in goal against Buffalo on Saturday night. He made 16 saves in the Flyers 6-1 win over the Sabres on Dec. 19.

Carter Hutton gets the start for the Sabres on Saturday night. Hutton was in goal for the Sabres loss to Winnipeg on Tuesday night, making 32 saves on 35 shots. Hutton has lost his last three starts four of his last five since a four-game winning streak from Feb. 7-16.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: James van Riemsdyk (broken right hand, out indefinitely), Nolan Patrick (migrane disorder, out indefinitely), Oskar Lindblom (Ewing's sarcoma, out for season)

Scratches: Shayne Gostisbehere

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
49 Joel Farabee	13 Kevin Hayes	11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton	38 Derek Grant	18 Tyler Pitlick
12 Michael Raffl	44 Nate Thompson	62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim	5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hagg	61 Justin Braun
Goalie
79 Carter Hart	37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

In the midst of an eight-game winning streak, it should be no surprise that there are no changes to the lineup.

Sabres Projected Lineup

Injuries: Tage Thompson, Matt Hunwick, Vladimir Sobotka, Lawrence Pilut

Scratches: Michael Frolik

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
53 Jeff Skinner	9 Jack Eichel	23 Sam Reinhart
68 Victor Olofsson	90 Marcus Johansson	95 Dominik Kahun
13 Jimmy Vesey	27 Curtis Lazar	17 Wayne Simmonds
28 Zemgus Girgensons	22 Johan Larsson	21 Kyle Okposo
Defense
26 Rasmus Dahlin	62 Brandon Montour
19 Jake McCabe	55 Rasmus Ristolainen
33 Colin Miller	10 Henri Jokiharju
Goalie
40 Carter Hutton	35 Linus Ullmark

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (T-8th), Sabres (19th)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (12th), Sabres (31st)
Recent History vs. Sabres
- Nov. 21, 2018 – Sabres 5, Flyers 2 (at BUF)
- Dec. 8, 2018 – Flyers 6, Sabres 2 (at BUF)
- Feb. 26, 2019 – Flyers 5, Sabres 2 (at PHI)
- Dec. 19, 2019 – Flyers 6, Sabres 1 (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Sabres
- Claude Giroux – 37 GP, 8 G, 29 A, 37 P
- Travis Konecny – 10 GP, 3 G, 6 A, 9 P
- Jake Voracek – 30 GP, 4 G, 18 A, 22 P
- Kevin Hayes – 14 GP, 1 G, 9 A, 10 P
- Carter Hart – 1 GP, 1-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .941 SV%