Flyers at Blue Jackets: No Brotherly Love Between These Metro rivals
The Blue Jackets and Flyers begin the first of four regular-season meetings tonight at Nationwide Arena.
Saturday, December 23, 2017 - 7:00 ET
Nationwide Arena - Columbus, OH
TV: Fox Sports Ohio; Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Blog: Broad Street Hockey
Philadelphia Flyers, 15-13-7, 37 points, 8th Metropolitan, 11th East
vs.
Columbus Blue Jackets, 21-13-2, 44 points, 3rd Metropolitan, 4th East
Season Series
12/23/2017 PHI @ CBJ
2/16/2018 PHI @ CBJ
2/22/2018 CBJ @ PHI
3/15/2018 CBJ @ PHI
Stats
| Philadelphia | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| 2.80 (20) | GPG | 2.78 (22) |
| 2.83 (T-12) | GAPG | 2.67 (7) |
| 20.0% (T-14) | PP% | 11.5% (31) |
| 76.6% (29) | PK% | 81.4% (15) |
| 49.33% (20) | EV Corsi % | 51.57% (10) |
| 101.0 (8) | EV PDO | 100.1 (17) |
| Sean Couturier, 16 | G Leader | Josh Anderson, 13 |
| Jakub Voracek, 36 | A Leader | Artemi Panarin, 22 |
| Jakub Voracek, 44 | P Leader | Artemi Panarin, 30 |
| Radko Gudas, 57 | PIM Leader | Boom Jenner, 29 |
| 7-6-3 | Road / Home | 13-6-0 |
| 7-3-0 | Last 10 | 4-5-1 |
Without getting a win, the Columbus Blue Jackets showed a lot of the nitty gritty goodness that you expect against a team like the Penguins Thursday night. Regardless of it being the trailing end of a back-to-back.
They'll need that same intensity against a Philadelphia Flyers team that is scrambling to get back into the thick of the Metropolitan division. The Flyers enter off a Friday night loss at the Sabres.
Rejoining the Blue Jackets on an emergency basis is Jordan Schroeder, likely for Alexander Wennberg who left the contest against Pittsburgh in the third period and did not return. Tyler Motte is also back with the big club as Sonny Milano headed back to Cleveland once again.
Who to Watch
Flyers captain Claude Giroux is scorching the scoresheet of late, with 13 points (2 goals, 11 assists) over his last eight games. He had two assists in Buffalo on Friday night and carries a four-game point streak (seven assists) into play at Nationwide Arena.
Seth Jones also has the scoring touch, with five points (3 goals, 2 assists) over his past five games, and a current three-game point streak. Center Pierre-Luc Dubois has scored in each of the last two games.
Brian Elliott has been busy in the Flyers crease. He has started every game this month, a stretch of 10-consecutive, and 19 of 20 overall. For the month of December, Elliott has posted strong numbers (7-3, 2.11 GAA, .928 S%). Elliott is 1-0-3 against the Metropolitan Division.
Regular backup Michal Neuvirth has been sidelined with a leg injury. Alex Lyon was called up to serve as Elliott’s backup. The first game Lyon enters would be his NHL debut.
We will find out later if Sergei Bobrovsky or Joonas Korpisalo get the last start for the Jackets until Dec. 27.
Blue Jackets - Flyers Game Notes
Projected Lineups
| Claude Giroux | Sean Couturier | Wayne Simmonds |
| Michael Raffl | Valtteri Filppula | Jakub Voracek |
| Jordan Weal | Nolan Patrick | Dale Weise |
| Jori Lehtera | Scott Laughton | Travis Konecny |
| Ivan Provorov | Andrew MacDonald |
| Robert Hagg | Shayne Gostisbehere |
| Travis Sanheim | Radko Gudas |
| Brian Elliott |
| Alex Lyon |
| Artemi Panarin | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Josh Anderson |
| Boone Jenner | Nick Foligno | Cam Atkinson |
| Tyler Motte | Lukas Sedlak | Oliver Bjorkstrand |
| Matt Calvert | Jordan Schroeder | Markus Hannikainen |
| Markus Nutivaara | Seth Jones |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Scott Harrington | Gabriel Carlsson |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Joonas Korpisalo |