Flyers-Blackhawks: Game 17 Preview

Kevin Durso

November 10 2018

(Photo: Kate Frese)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

Thursday's game on home ice was the perfect combination of frustrating and entertaining. The Flyers jumped to a 2-0 lead, let it slip away and fell behind 4-2 before a third-period rally and overtime winner from Shayne Gostisbehere gave them a dramatic comeback win.

The Flyers have won four of their last five games with Thursday's heroics, and they will carry that into Saturday's game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks fired head coach Joel Quenneville earlier this week and lost their fourth straight game on Thursday in Jeremy Colliton's first game behind the bench.

Game time is at 1 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Chicago Blackhawks	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	16	6	13	19	Patrick Kane	15	12	9	21
Jake Voracek	16	4	12	16	Alex DeBrincat	16	8	7	15
Wayne Simmonds	16	7	3	10	Jonathan Toews	16	8	5	13
Oskar Lindblom	16	4	5	9	Brent Seabrook	16	2	7	9
Shayne Gostisbehere	16	3	6	9	Artem Anisimov	16	2	7	9

Player to Watch
17 Wayne Simmonds	88 Patrick Kane
Last 5 Games: 1 G, 2 A, 3 P, +2	Last 5 Games: 3 G, 4 A, 7 P, -2

Things have been a little quiet for Wayne Simmonds in the goal department lately, but he's scored four career goals against the Blackhawks and can go to the net they way you need to at times to beat Chicago.

Patrick Kane is still the Blackhawks go-to guy. He's got seven points in the last five games and had already scored 12 goals this season. Against the Flyers, he's had some success, with four regular season goals.

Goalie Matchup
37 Brian Elliott	50 Corey Crawford
5-5-0, 2.93 GAA, .899 SV%	3-5-0, 3.07 GAA, .904 SV%

After coming on in relief and shutting the door on Arizona, Brian Elliott is expected to get the start between the pipes for the Flyers. Elliott made 16 saves after entering Thursday's game early in the second period for his fifth win of the season and showed no ill effects of an injury that held him out of the lineup for two games.

Chicago will likely turn to Corey Crawford in net. Crawford has seen his share of struggles early, just like his teammates. In six career games against the Flyers, Crawford has a 2-4-0 record and a 2.86 GAA.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: James van Riemsdyk, Michael Raffl, Michal Neuvirth

Scratches: Andrew MacDonald

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom	19 Nolan Patrick	93 Jake Voracek
22 Dale Weise	40 Jordan Weal	17 Wayne Simmonds
21 Scott Laughton	15 Jori Lehtera	62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	8 Robert Hagg
53 Shayne Gostisbehere	26 Christian Folin
6 Travis Sanheim	3 Radko Gudas
Goalie
37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

No changes are expected to the Flyers lineup ahead of Saturday's game.

Blackhawks Projected Lineup

Injuries: Brandon Saad, Marcus Kruger, Gustav Forsling, Connor Murphy

Scratches: Brandon Davidson

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
12 Alex DeBrincat	19 Jonathan Toews	24 Dominik Kahun
8 Nick Schmaltz	15 Artem Anisimov	88 Patrick Kane
84 Alexandre Fortin	64 David Kampf	40 John Hayden
14 Chris Kunitz	62 Luke Johnson	29 Andreas Martinsen
Defense
2 Duncan Keith	28 Henri Jokiharju
56 Erik Gustafsson	7 Brent Seabrook
23 Brandon Manning	44 Jan Rutta
Goalie
50 Corey Crawford

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (T-26th, 27th at home), Blackhawks (30th, 28th on road)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (30th, 31st at home), Blackhawks (24th, 22nd on road)
Recent History vs. Blackhawks
- Nov. 1, 2017 – Blackhawks 3, Flyers 0 (at ARI)
- Nov. 9, 2018 – Flyers 3, Blackhawks 1 (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Blackhawks
- Claude Giroux – 14 GP, 4 G, 15 A, 19 P
- Jake Voracek – 28 GP, 6 G, 16 A, 22 P
- Sean Couturier – 10 GP, 2 G, 4 A, 6 P
- Brian Elliott – 20 GP, 8-9-1, 2.39 GAA, .917 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Claude Giroux needs two points to pass Rick MacLeish for fourth on the Flyers all-time list. Giroux also needs four points to reach 700 for his career.