Game #35 Preview and Gamethread: Saturday Matinee in Philly
Another important Metro division game
Saturday, December 22, 2018 - 1:00 EST
Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
TV: Fox Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Broad Street Hockey
Columbus Blue Jackets (19-12-3, 41 points, 2nd Metro, 6th East)
at
Philadelphia Flyers (14-15-4, 32 points, 7th Metro, 14th East)
We’ve got an early start today, with puck drop today at 1:00 p.m. Therefore this preview will serve as the game thread as well. Come chat below during the game. I’ll be watching while wrapping my Christmas presents!
Player to Watch
Carter Hart
The Philadelphia Flyers have themselves a Steve Mason situation. I mean, not like when they actually had Steve Mason. I mean like when Steve Mason was a fresh-faced rookie that took the league by storm. In the wake of injuries to Brian Elliott and Anthony Stolarz and poor play from Michael Neuvirth, the 20-year-old Hart has started both games this week in his NHL debut and won both of them. He has allowed just 3 goals against while stopping 51 of 54 shots. The team at Broad Street Hockey took a look at other notable debuts by Flyers rookie goaltenders. There’s a familiar name on the list (with a win against the Penguins, remarkably!)
Jackets Notes
In case you missed it, the Jackets finished their homestand with a 2-1 win on Thursday night over the Devils ... After an 0-2 start, they finished that homestand with a 3-2-1 record. That means they’re riding a four game point streak ... Cam Atkinson scored a penalty shot on Thursday for his 20th goal of the season. In franchise history only Rick Nash has scored 20 before Christmas.
The Other Bench
The Flyers have won two straight, including a win Thursday against the Predators ... When last we saw the Flyers, they had just fired GM Ron Hextall. He has been replaced on an interim basis by Chuck Fletcher ... After much anticipation - and in the wake of a four game losing streak - Fletcher fired head coach Dave Hakstol and replaced him with AHL Lehigh Valley coach Scott Gordon ... Gordon has an interesting habit of shuffling his lines at practice and in the early shifts as a way of throwing off his opponents. So keep an eye out for that today.
Season Series
10/18/2018 PHI 3 @ CBJ 6
12/06/2018 CBJ 4 @ PHI 3 (OT)
12/22/2018 CBJ @ PHI
02/28/2019 PHI @ CBJ
Stats
| Philadelphia | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 2.94 (18) | GPG | 3.24 (10) |
| 3.61 (29) | GAPG | 3.09 (20) |
| 12.1% (31) | PP% | 14.5% (26) |
| 74.8% (28) | PK% | 80.2% (14) |
| 50.99% (9) | EV Corsi % | 49.74% (18) |
| 99.5 (22) | EV PDO | 100.2 (16) |
| Sean Couturier, 13 | G Leader | Cam Atkinson, 20 |
| Claude Giroux, 29 | A Leader | Artemi Panarin, 25 |
| Claude Giroux, 41 | P Leader | Artemi Panarin, 35 |
| Wayne Simmonds, 47 | PIM Leader | Pierre-Luc Dubois, 38 |
| 7-7-2 | Home / Road | 9-5-1 |
| 4-4-2 | Last 10 | 5-4-1 |
Projected Lineups
| Artemi Panarin | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Cam Atkinson |
| Nick Foligno | Alexander Wennberg | Anthony Duclair |
| Oliver BJORKSTRAND | Boone Jenner | Josh Anderson |
| Riley Nash | Brandon Dubinsky | Markus Hannikainen |
| Ryan Murray | Seth Jones |
| Zach Werenski | David Savard |
| Markus Nutivaara | Scott Harrington |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Joonas Korpisalo |
| Jakub Voracek | Sean Couturier | Wayne Simmonds |
| James Van Riemsdyk | Claude Giroux | Travis Konecny |
| Scott Laughton | Nolan Patrick | Michael Raffl |
| Oskar Lindblom | Philip Varone | Dale Weise |
| Ivan Provorov | Travis Sanheim |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | Robert Hagg |
| Andrew McDonald | Radko Gudas |
| Carter Hart |
| Michael Neuvirth |