Photo courtesy of Kate Frese
The Philadelphia Flyers (14-12-6) head to Columbus to do battle with Scott Hartnell and the Columbus Blue Jackets (12-19-3). This is the second of four meetings between the two clubs and first of two in Columbus. The Blue Jackets defeated the Flyers 4-1 back on December 5th.
Nick Foligno scored twice while Hartnell added a goal and two assists in the Jackets victory. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 7:00pm at Nationwide Arena.
| Flyers Leaders | GP | G | A | P | Blue Jackets Leaders | GP | G | A | P |
| Claude Giroux | 32 | 11 | 17 | 28 | Scott Hartnell | 33 | 12 | 13 | 25 |
| Jake Voracek | 32 | 2 | 18 | 20 | Ryan Johansen | 31 | 6 | 16 | 22 |
| Wayne Simmonds | 32 | 7 | 10 | 15 | Brandon Saad | 33 | 11 | 10 | 21 |
| Brayden Schenn | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | Cam Atkinson | 33 | 10 | 11 | 21 |
| Sean Couturier | 26 | 5 | 6 | 11 | Boone Jenner | 34 | 12 | 7 | 19 |
| Player to Watch | |
| 10 B. Schenn | 43 S. Hartnell |
| Last 5 Games: 1G, 4A, 5P +2 | Last 7 Games: 4G, 5A, 9P, +1 |
Brayden Schenn has picked up the pace lately. Schenn has quietly scored five points in the last five games for the Flyers. Throughout his young NHL career, Schenn has gotten most of his points by scoring goals. Of the five pointsscored over the last five games, four of them have been on assists. The younger Schenn seems to have found a home on the right side of the line featuring Claude Giroux and Michael Raffl.
Prior to the December 5th matchup in Philadelphia, Hartnell was a healthy scratch. He responded by netting a goal and two assists in the game and has nine points in the last seven to vault to the top of the Blue Jackets scoring list. Like Schenn, Hartnell has relied on goal scoring for most of the points he has scored. So far this year, his 25 points are almost a perfect balance of goals and assists.
| Goalie Matchup | |
| 35 Steve Mason | 70 Joonas Korpisalo |
| 6-8-4, 2.76 GAA, .912 SV% | 0-2-0, 3.67 GAA, .893 SV% |
Steve Mason was outstanding in his return on Thursday. The Flyers netminder turned aside all 36 shots Vancouver fired his way to pick up his second shutout of the season. Mason had not played in 10 days prior to Thursday as he struggled in all aspects of his game. He will be back between the pipes tonight against his former team.
Joonas Korpisalo will get the call for Columbus. It is his third start of the season.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Scratches: Mark Streit, Sam Gagner, Radko Gudas, Vincent Lecavalier, Luke Schenn
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| 12 Michael Raffl | 28 Claude Giroux | 10 Brayden Schenn |
| 93 Jake Voracek | 14 Sean Couturier | 17 Wayne Simmonds |
| 76 Chris VandeVelde | 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare | 25 Ryan White |
| 24 Matt Read | 21 Scott Laughton | 20 R.J. Umberger |
| Defense | ||
| 15 Michael Del Zotto | 3 Radko Gudas | |
| 82 Evgeny Medvedev | 55 Nick Schultz | |
| 23 Brandon Manning | 53 Shayne Gostisbehere | |
| Goalie | ||
| 35 Steve Mason |
The Flyers will roll with the same lineup as in Thursday night's win over the Canucks.
Game Notes
- Power Play: Flyers (25th, 15th on road), Blue Jackets (15th, 23rd at home)
- Penalty Kill: Flyers (19th, 16th on road), Blue Jackets (13th, 4th at home)
- The Flyers have not won in Columbus since 2005 and overall have lost four straight to the Blue Jackets.
- Philadelphia is 9-10-3 against Columbus since they entered the league
Where to Watch
TV: CSN
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia.
