Philadelphia Flyers (6-5-1) at Chicago Blackhawks (5-5-2)
8PM Eastern/7 Central
RADIO: WGN 720
TV: NBC Sports
PROJECTED GOALIES:
Philadelphia:
Brian Elliott (5-2-1, 3.23 GAA, .884 save%)
Chicago:
Corey Crawford (5-4-0, 2.12 GAA, .935 save%)
PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS:
Chicago
DeBrincat-Toews-Panik
Saad-Schmaltz-Kane
Sharp-Anisimov-Hayden
Bouma-Wingels-Hartman
Keith-Franson
Rutta-Seabrook
Kempny-Murphy
Philadelphia
Voracek-Couturier-Giroux
Laughton-Raffl-Leier
Simmonds-Weal-Filippula
Read-Konecny-Lehtera
Gudas-Sanheim
Manning-Alt
Hagg-Provorov
STATISTICAL COMPARISONS:
Power play:
Philadelphia 23.3% (8th)
Chicago 12.7% (28th)
Penalty kill:
Philadelphia 79.1% (20th)
Chicago 82.4% (13th)
Corsi For % (5-on-5)
Philadelphia 48.9%
Chicago 49.0%
Faceoffs:
Philadelphia 50.6% (17th)
Chicago 50.9% (15th)
SUMMARY:
Coming off a lengthy rest and playing on home ice, the Blackhawks are a team psychologically and practically speaking a team in need of a win. Their record has slumped to essentially below .500. The power play is near the basement of the league and shows little sign of life. The team is struggling to find consistency and of late to score goals at all strengths. Even the penalty kill, which was a real positive to start the year, has struggled of late.
Coming off a loss in their last game, the Flyers are backstopped by Brian Elliott, who’s always been a guy who can make the spectacular save and win a big game here and there, but kind of average to mediocre over the long haul.
Gustav Forsling appears to be an injury scratch for tonight, which will jumble the Hawks’ defense pairings a bit. Those listed above are pretty much a best guess.
Alex DeBrincat flopped over to his more natural left wing in practice Monday, opposite Richard Panik, who is back on Jonathan Toews’ right flank. If this holds for the game tonight, then expect Brandon Saad to drop to Patrick Kane’s line.
This top 6, at the very least, has everyone in their best natural position. Saad has had terrific chemistry with Kane in the past (2014 playoffs). For DeBrincat, this could be the last “trial” before heading to Rockford. The rookie needs to start having success, playing with top players.