Flyers-Avalanche: Game 9 Preview

Kevin Durso

October 22 2018

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

In the second game of the season, the Flyers were locked in a tight contest with the Colorado Avalanche before a late power-play goal essentially sealed the result in Colorado's favor.

The Flyers get a chance at a win in a rematch on Monday night, hosting the Avalanche to close out the season series.

Game time is set for 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Colorado Avalanche	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	8	3	8	11	Nathan MacKinnon	8	8	6	14
Jake Voracek	8	3	8	11	Mikko Rantanen	8	2	12	14
Wayne Simmonds	8	6	1	7	Gabriel Landeskog	8	7	3	10
Scott Laughton	8	4	1	5	Alexander Kerfoot	8	1	5	6
Travis Konecny	8	2	3	5	Carl Soderberg	8	3	2	5

Player to Watch
17 Wayne Simmonds	92 Gabriel Landeskog
Last 5 Games: 3 G, 0 A, 3 P, -3	Last 5 Games: 6 G, 2 A, 8 P, +8

Wayne Simmonds scored an empty-net goal on Saturday after striking for two goals on Tuesday. He leads the team with six goals so far. The team talked about getting traffic in front of the net and with that being Simmonds' office, keep an eye on him to make an impact.

Gabriel Landeskog has eight points in the last five games, but all six goals in that time have come in the last three games, giving him the hot hand entering the game. It's really a pick-em of sorts between Landeskog and linemates Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon. All three have been lighting it up since the start of the season.

Goalie Matchup
37 Brian Elliott	1 Semyon Varlamov
2-3-0, 3.68 GAA, .878 SV%	3-0-0, 1.77 GAA, .948 SV%

Brian Elliott returns between the pipes for the Flyers after stopping 19 of 21 shots in a win on Saturday, just his second of the season. The numbers still aren't pretty for Elliott, but a win like that was a step in the right direction as he makes another start against Colorado.

Semyon Varlamov goes back in net for the Avalanche on Monday night. Varlamov had a strong performance against the Flyers on Oct. 6, making 35 saves in a win. Varlamov has a 4-2-1 record and 2.86 GAA in eight career games against the Flyers.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: James van Riemsdyk, Michal Neuvirth

Scratches: Mikhail Vorobyev, Corban Knight, Andrew MacDonald

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	17 Wayne Simmonds
23 Oskar Lindblom	40 Jordan Weal	11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton	19 Nolan Patrick	93 Jake Voracek
12 Michael Raffl	15 Jori Lehtera	22 Dale Weise
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	53 Shayne Gostisbehere
8 Robert Hagg	26 Christian Folin
6 Travis Sanheim	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

No changes to the Flyers lineup in the morning skate. The team will run the same lines as Saturday's win over New Jersey.

Avalanche Projected Lineup

Injuries: J.T. Compher

Scratches: Vladislav Kamenev, Mark Barberio, Conor Timmins

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
92 Gabriel Landeskog	29 Nathan MacKinnon	96 Mikko Rantanen
10 Sven Andrighetto	13 Alexander Kerfoot	22 Colin Wilson
83 Matt Nieto	34 Carl Soderberg	11 Matt Calvert
56 Marko Dano	17 Tyson Jost	57 Gabriel Bourque
Defense
49 Samuel Girard	6 Erik Johnson
28 Ian Cole	4 Tyson Barrie
16 Nikita Zadorov	12 Patrik Nemeth
Goalie
1 Semyon Varlamov

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (18th, T-13th at home), Avalanche (11th, 8th on road)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (29th, 29th at home), Avalanche (3rd, 5th on road)
Recent History vs. Avalanche
- Nov. 4, 2017 – Avalanche 5, Flyers 4 F/SO (at PHI)
- March 28, 2018 – Flyers 2, Avalanche 1 (at COL)
- Oct. 5, 2018 – Avalanche 5, Flyers 2 (at COL)
Flyers Leaders vs. Avalanche
- Claude Giroux – 13 GP, 8 G, 5 A, 13 P
- Jordan Weal – 3 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 3 P
- Jake Voracek – 24 GP, 6 G, 11 A, 17 P
- Brian Elliott – 14 GP, 9-3-2, 2.24 GAA, .907 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Claude Giroux passes Joe Watson for 5th all-time in games played in Flyers history.