AlaskaFlyerFan Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Flyers Gameday: 4/7/16 vs. TOR April 7, 2016, 8:55 AM ET [493 Comments] Bill Meltzer Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • NHL.com • RSS • Archive • CONTACT PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. MAPLE LEAFS Still looking to reduce to three their magic number for an Eastern Conference playoff spot, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (38-27-13) return home to take on Mike Babcock's Toronto Maple Leafs (28-41-11) on Thursday. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised on CSN Philadelphia. Before the game, the Flyers will present their team awards for the 2015-16 season; a departure from the norm, as the awards have typically been given before the final home game of the season rather than the penultimate one. This is the third and final meeting of the season between the teams, and the second in Philadelphia. Despite Toronto's struggles this season, they have given the Flyers a tough time. On Jan. 19, the Flyers got outworked on home ice by the Leafs and were on the wrong end of a 3-2 final in regulation. On Feb. 20, the Flyers survived a sloppy, staccato performance to rescue a 5-4 win in overtime. Thursday's game is the second half of a back-to-back segment for the Flyers and the second portion of four-in-five gauntlet to finish the regular season. They lost 3-0 in Detroit on Wednesday. The Leafs are in the third game of a three-in-four and the second half of a back-to-back. On Wednesday, the Leafs dropped their final home of the season by a 5-1 count to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Flyers' muddied the waters of their playoff hopes by losing in regulation to Detroit. The best-case scenario at this point: Philadelphia beats Toronto on Thursday, while the Detroit Red Wings beat the host Boston Bruins in regulation. That would cut the Flyers magic number to one. Flyers would then need either one point out of their weekend games against the Pittsburgh Penguins (home) and New York Islanders (road) or for Boston to lose to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.Flyers Outlook The Flyers are 13-5-2 over their last 20 games. For the season, the Flyers have a 22-10-7 home record but a mediocre 17-17-6 road mark. Philadelphia has lost back-to-back games in regulation; both on the road. On Wednesday in Detroit, very little went right for the Flyers. They went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and got very strong goaltending once again from Steve Mason (23 saves on 25 shots). There was not much Mason could have differently on a fluky goal off a Shayne Gostisbehere turnover or a breakaway shorthanded goal. Mason made several 10-bell saves to keep the game close. Detroit's final goal was an empty-netter. Mason will make his 11th consecutive start. He has appeared in 52 games this season, posting a 22-19-9 record, 2.52 goals against average, .918 save percentage and four shutouts (five regulation shutouts). Michal Neuvirth, who is for the rest of the regular season with torn meniscus in his left knee, appeared in 31 games, posting a 17-8-4 record, 2.28 GAA, .925 save percentage and three shutouts. Neuvirth has skated on his own each of the last three days. If the Flyers reach the playoffs, he should be available within the first round. On April 1, the Flyers announced that they were signing veteran goaltender Ray Emery to a contract for the rest of the season. He is available for backup duty the rest of the regular season. He is not playoff eligible. Thus far, the Flyers have done a remarkably good job of playing around the absence of top-pairing defenseman Michael Del Zotto. The player, who suffered torn ligaments in his left wrist on February 13, is out for the rest of the season. Gostisbehere has struggled a bit the last few weeks, which is common for rookies experiencing the marathon-like NHL regular season for the first time. He needs six points over the final three games to match Behn Wilson's franchise rookie defenseman season record of 49 points (set over 80 games in 1978-79). Team captain Claude Giroux leads the Flyers with 22 goals, 44 assists and 66 points in 76 games. He is followed on the Flyers' scoring leader list by Wayne Simmonds (29 goals, 28 assists, 57 points, 147 penalty minutes), Brayden Schenn (25 goals, 31 assists, 56 points) and Jakub Voracek (11 goals, 42 assists, 53 points in 70 games). Among Gostisbehere's 16 goals, seven have come on the power play, and four in overtime and he has scored five game-winners overall to go along with 27 assists and 43 points in 61 games. Sean Couturier rounds out the top six with 11 goals, 27 assists and 38 points in 61 games. Voracek has struggled since his return to the lineup from a foot injury. He has seemed to be better on his skates in recent games and had his best game since before the injury in last Saturday's 3-2 win over Ottawa. However, the last two games have been rough ones for most of the Flyers team, and Voracek is no exception. Problems with giveaways and putting shots wide of the net when he's had open looks have been his main issues. Simmonds, who needs one tally for the first 30-goal season of his career, has been the Flyers hottest offensive player of late -- in the thick of quite a few scoring chances even when he hasn't scored. The main downside has been lack of discipline at times. The Flyers are unlikely to have a morning skate. Lineups will be updated if there are any changes.Maple Leafs Outlook Any opponent in the NHL is dangerous if a club doesn't put in the proper focus and work ethic to beat them. Philadelphia has learned that the hard way this season with their two uninspiring games against Toronto, even though the Flyers do have one OT win to show for the games to date. The Maple Leafs enter this game with four wins in their last 10 games. Any Toronto win at this stage of things is an "upset victory", so that's actually a number that the Flyers need to respect despite the fact that Leafs are in the final game of a three-in-four and have lost four in a row and six of their last seven after a three-game winning streak in late March. Over the last 12 games, the Leafs claimed wins over Detroit, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Anaheim Ducks and Florida Panthers. Toronto threw a scare into the Red Wings again on April 2; a 3-2 loss but one in which Babcock's team put up a much better third period fight than the Flyers did on Wednesday. The Maple Leafs put on a 12-4 shot blitz in the third period and got back within a goal with 1:07 left on the clock. Wednesday's game against Columbus was an ugly one for the Maple Leafs after a scoreless first period. The Blue Jackets scored twice in the second period and three times in the third after a Morgan Rielly shorthanded goal gave the Leafs a short-lived 1-0 lead. Garret Sparks stopped 27 of 32 shots in a losing cause. The Leafs' injury list is very extensive, and leading scorer Nazem Kadri is suspended for a cross-checking incident. Among the notables who are not available to play are James van Riemsdyk (IR, foot fracture), Leo Komorov (lower body), Joffrey Lupul (IR, sports hernia), Milan Michalek (knee), Peter Holland (upper body) and Matt Hunwick (hernia). Among available players, veteran P.A. Parenteau (19 goals, 20 assists, 39 points in 75 games) is the leading scorer. He's followed by Rielly (nine goals, 27 assists and 36 points while dressing in all 80 games to date), Tyler Bozak (12 goals, 23 assists, 35 points in 55 games) and Jake Gardiner (six goals, 24 assists, 30 points in 77 games). In goal, Jonathan Bernier has struggled in many of his 37 appearances and actually had to raise his level of play to bring his season numbers up to their current 11-21-3 record, 2.88 goals against average and .907 save percentage. Sparks has gotten into 16 games to date with a 6-8-1 record, 2.95 GAA and .893 save percentage.Key team stat comparisons (NHL overall ranking) Non-shootout goals per game: Flyers 2.53 (24th), Maple Leafs 2.34 (28th) Non-shootout goals against per game: Flyers 2.57 (13th), Maple Leafs 2.90 (25th) 5-on-5 Goals For/Against Ratio: Flyers 127/124, Maple Leafs 116/156 Power play efficiency: Flyers 18.6% (16th), Maple Leafs 15.3% (29th) Penalty killing efficiency: Flyers 80.4% (22nd), Maple Leafs 80.9% (T-19th) Shots per game: Flyers 30.8 (6th), Maple Leafs 30.9 (5th) Shots against per game: Flyers 31.1 (25th), Maple Leafs 30.3 (18th) Faceoff percentage: Flyers 50.8% (6th), Maple Leafs 50.7% (T-7th)Projected lineups (subject to change, will be updated)Flyers 10 Brayden Schenn - 28 Claude Giroux - 17 Wayne Simmonds 12 Michael Raffl - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 89 Sam Gagner - 21 Scott Laughton - 24 Matt Read 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Ryan White 47 Andrew MacDonald - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit 23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas 35 Steve Mason [30 Michal Neuvirth] Scratches: Evgeny Medvedev (healthy), R.J. Umberger (healthy), Nick Cousins (healthy), Jordan Weal (healthy), Michael Del Zotto (IR, wrist), Ray Emery (healthy), Alex Lyon (healthy).Maple Leafs 46 Tobias Lindberg - 42 Tyler Bozak - 15 P.A. Parenteau 38 Colin Greening - 39 William Nylander - 37 Kasperi Kapanen 23 Brooks Laich - 54 Frederik Gauthier - 40 Michael Grabner 53 Sam Carrick - 56 Byron Froese - 28 Brad Boyes 52 Martin Marincin - 44 Morgan Rielly 51 Jake Gardiner - 20 Frank Corrado 48 Andrew Campbell - 29 T.J. Brennan 45 Jonathan Bernier / 31 Garret Sparks Scratches: Nazem Kadri (four-game NHL suspension), James van Riemsdyk (IR, foot fracture), Leo Komorov (lower body), Joffrey Lupul (IR, sports hernia), Milan Michalek (knee), Peter Holland (upper body), Matt Hunwick (hernia), Stephane Robidas (LTIR, knee), Nathan Horton (LTIR, degenerative spine condition). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murraycraven Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Disaster right now... Absolutely ugly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaskaFlyerFan Posted April 8, 2016 Author Share Posted April 8, 2016 1 minute ago, murraycraven said: Disaster right now... Absolutely ugly... Yep. They need to pick it up a little. Two breakaway goals could be killers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackhole Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Haven't been able to watch the last 2 games. ...wtf is going on? Are they going to blow this? I see D-troit is not helping either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 I'm watching the frozen 4 on ESPN right now. North Dakota vs. Denver. I want to watch some hungry teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murraycraven Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 I honestly think this team is physically spent. They have been playing with their backs against the wall for a long time and it was bound to take its toll. They just look a step too slow and beaten down.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 4 minutes ago, murraycraven said: I honestly think this team is physically spent. They have been playing with their backs against the wall for a long time and it was bound to take its toll. They just look a step too slow and beaten down.... And the only skill what so ever on the back end is Ghost. I'd keep Gudas and you could get rid of the rest of the defenseman on the team and i would be ok with it. I wish Andrew " Retreat" Macdonald would have sat the last two games to see if Medvedev could of helped....too late now....season over Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Play Stolarz the last 2 games since the season is over throw him a bone.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 HA i see "Retreat" scored!!! Too funny...not watching just checked the box score...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murraycraven Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 19 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said: Play Stolarz the last 2 games since the season is over throw him a bone.......... He is back with the Phantoms They managed to get the tie.... Hopefully they get the 2nd point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyer4ever Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Who needs a high draft pick when you have this abundance of talent, heart and hockey smarts, not to mention a dysfunctional management. Lets go Flyers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murraycraven Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 And there is the McDud we all know too well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 8 minutes ago, murraycraven said: He is back with the Phantoms They managed to get the tie.... Hopefully they get the 2nd point. Nope no 2nd point. Can't believe they think Toronto would call interference on Mason....HAHA...fat chance.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 10 minutes ago, murraycraven said: He is back with the Phantoms Yeah because the new goalie Alex Lyon is on the Flyer roster now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 My Flyer hopeful Drake Caggiula has both of North dakota's goal tonight......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Nice effort to get the single point...but damn, you can't beat the Leafs, who are icing an AHL team....at home?? WTFl At least we still have 2 games left, while the Wings and Bruins have only 1 left....so our fate is still in our own hands.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FD19372 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 The slow starts are killing this team. A lot of shots are great, but when they're right in the crest of the Leaf on Bernier, they don't mean much. So it comes down to a game versus none other than the Pens (and then should they win that, then the Islanders. Why the hell not? What's better than playing your arch-rivals with the playoffs on the line? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindbergh31 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 1 hour ago, murraycraven said: I honestly think this team is physically spent. They have been playing with their backs against the wall for a long time and it was bound to take its toll. They just look a step too slow and beaten down.... That maybe true but the Flyers still control their own playoff destiny, if they win their last two games they're in regardless what the Bruins and Wings. They don't deserve to be in since they lost to the stinkin Leafs. If the Bruins or Wings lose their last game then the Flyers only need to win one out of the remaining two games to get in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilsFanDrew Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 34 minutes ago, FD19372 said: The slow starts are killing this team. A lot of shots are great, but when they're right in the crest of the Leaf on Bernier, they don't mean much. So it comes down to a game versus none other than the Pens (and then should they win that, then the Islanders. Why the hell not? What's better than playing your arch-rivals with the playoffs on the line? Yep, last 3 games 5 goals given up in the 1st period. They certainly don't make it easy on themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 7 hours ago, FD19372 said: So it comes down to a game versus none other than the Pens Well i hope Giroux and the boys have been brushing up on their diving and head flailing....they are going to need it to beat the Pens...and then like the hooking on Ghost the other night they may still swallow the whistle....i hope not i'd rather the players to decide the outcome. I know Sid will be looking forward to the chance to send the Flyers off to their golfing leisure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 At Least Simmer saved the season. That goalie interference that wasn't called looked very similar to a goal that was disallowed earlier in the year versus Detroit by Simmer back in january...it was the one that had several pages on it in fact i'd dig it out if i had time but out the door to work. If anyone can how about find that thread. Thoughts gripes and whines welcome..............no Pens fans.............j/k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyer4ever Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 #47 was on the ice in overtime in a must win game against an AHL hockey team. Who needs a high draft pick? Dysfunction at the junction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ8812 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 this was pathetic. you think this team would want to win a game like this to you know, help they chances at the playoffs? Just goes to show you that this team just lacks talent to compete with the big boys. Which is fine since we are still rebuilding. Pens have destroyed us all year, but the game means nothing for them. They have clinched 2nd in the division. They could make it easier on us and rest some players, but even then, do the Flyers even care to show up and play a full 60 then??? Giroux, Voracek and SImmonds blew the game for us last night, so it's time for them to step up and show their worth tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murraycraven Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 17 minutes ago, RJ8812 said: SImmonds blew the game for us last night HUH??? He did make a terrible pass on the one goal but the guy literally save the season w/ the tying goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ8812 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 20 minutes ago, murraycraven said: HUH??? He did make a terrible pass on the one goal but the guy literally save the season w/ the tying goal. and if he wouldnt have made that boneheaded pass, he wouldnt have caused the 3rd goal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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