Jakub Voracek celebrates a goal against L.A. last year. Photo courtesy of (Amy Irvin/38Photography)
The Philadelphia Flyers (3-3-2) will try to make it three in a row tonight when they welcome the Los Angeles Kings (6-1-1) to the Wells Fargo Center. Los Angeles is riding a winning streak of their own however, winning their last six. This is the first of two meetings this season. Game time is 7:00.
The Flyers and Kings split their season series last year. Each team won in the other's building. On February 1st, the Flyers skated away with a 2-0 victory in L.A. On March 24th, the Kings returned the favor by beating the Flyers 3-2 in Philadelphia.
Jakub Voracek, two goals and eleven points, Claude Giroux, two goals and ten points, continue lead the Flyers offensively. Mart Streit, eight points, sits in a three way tie for second among all NHL defensemen in scoring.
Wayne Simmonds still leads the Flyers with five goals but has cooled off since his torrid start. On the flip side, Michael Raffl has netted four goals since being placed on the top line with Giroux and Voracek.
The biggest surprise has to be the play of goaltender Ray Emery. Emery has all three Flyer victories this season. He is 3-0-1 with 2.06 goals against average and .914 save percentage.
The Kings are lead by former Flyer Jeff Carter and youngster Tyler Toffoli up front and all world goaltender Jonathan Quick between the pipes. Carter leads the Kings with twelve points, five goals and seven assists. Toffoli also has twelve points on four goals to go along with eight helpers.
Meanwhile Jonathan Quick has been his usual outsanding self. The Kings netminder is 5-1-1 with a 1.69 goals against average, a .940 save percentage and two shutouts. His 225 saves trail only Cory Schneider for most saves on the year.
Game Notes
The Flyers are 83-40-15 all time against L.A.
The Flyers powerplay enters tonight 5th in the NHL operating at 25.8 percent.
Los Angeles enters with the 7th best penalty kill in the league killing off 85.7 percent of opponets chances.
The Kings have won the last three matchups in Philadelphia.
Projected Flyers Lineup (subject to change)
Scratches: Vincent Lecavalier, Braydon Coburn, Andrew MacDonald, Blair Jones
Line 1: Michael Raffl-Claude Giroux-Jake Voracek
Line 2: R.J. Umberger-Sean Couturier-Matt Read
Line 3: Brayden Schenn-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Wayne Simmonds
Line 4: Zac Rinaldo-Chris Vandevelde-Jason Akeson
D-Pair 1: Nick Grossmann-Mark Streit
D-Pair 2: Michael Del Zotto-Nick Schultz
D-Pair 3:Shane Gostisbehere-Luke Schenn
Goalie – Emery
Where to watch:
TV-CSNPhilly
Radio-97.5 the FANatic
Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074.
