Flyers-Capitals: Game 55 Preview

An opportunity to get two more points in the standing slipped away as the Flyers struggled in a poor effort in a 5-0 to the New Jersey Devils, the last place team in the Metropolitan Division. With a missed opportunity behind them, the Flyers go back to playing a demanding schedule against the top teams in the league.

It all starts on Saturday night when the Flyers face the top team in the Metro, the Washington Capitals. The Flyers have played two very competitive games against the Capitals this season, but also face a critical situation where they need to continue gaining points to keep pace in the division and playoff race.

Game time is 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Washington Capitals	GP	G	A	P
Sean Couturier	54	13	33	46	John Carlson	54	14	51	65
Travis Konecny	51	17	27	44	Alex Ovechkin	53	40	17	57
Jake Voracek	54	11	29	40	Jakub Vrana	54	23	22	45
Claude Giroux	54	13	22	35	Evgeny Kuznetsov	51	18	27	45
Kevin Hayes	54	17	15	32	Nicklas Backstrom	46	10	31	41

Player to Watch
28 Claude Giroux	8 Alex Ovechkin
Last 5 Games: 0 G, 1 A, 1 P, -2	Last 5 Games: 9 G, 1 A, 10 P, +5

There was really no Flyer that had a good game on Thursday, but Claude Giroux's line was particularly poor. Giroux was on the ice for three goals against in the loss to the Devils, including the deciding goal just 13 seconds into the game. Giroux's offensive decline has as much to do with a changing role as it does performance, but the Flyers could use a big effort from the captain, who has gone 13 games without a goal and has just five assists in that time.

History is on the line on Saturday night for Alex Ovechkin. After posting a hat trick in his last game, Ovechkin sits just two goals away from 700 for his career. He sits at an even 40 goals on the season after scoring 14 goals in the last seven games.

Projected Goalie Matchup
37 Brian Elliott	70 Braden Holtby
27 GP, 13-6-4, 2.89 GAA, .900 SV%	36 GP, 20-10-4, 3.08 GAA, .897 SV%

Off a shutout win on Monday that moved him to 4-0-1 in his last five starts, Brian Elliott turned in a poor performance, allowing four goals on 17 shots to the Devils before being pulled. Carter Hart is still not quite ready to return, so Elliott remains the go-to guy in goal for at least one more game.

Braden Holtby is coming off a strong start, making 29 saves on 31 shots in a win against the Kings. Holtby has faced the Flyers twice this season, getting a shootout win on Nov. 13 and taking the loss on Jan. 8.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Joel Farabee (illness, day-to-day), Carter Hart (lower right abdominal, day-to-day), Nolan Patrick (migrane disorder, out indefinitely), Oskar Lindblom (Ewing's sarcoma, out for season)

Scratches: Shayne Gostisbehere

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
28 Claude Giroux	14 Sean Couturier	93 Jake Voracek
21 Scott Laughton	13 Kevin Hayes	11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk	48 Morgan Frost	18 Tyler Pitlick
12 Michael Raffl	82 Connor Bunnaman	62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Defense
9 Ivan Provorov	15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim	5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hagg	61 Justin Braun
Goalie
37 Brian Elliott	34 Alex Lyon

Lineup Notes

Shayne Gostisbehere comes back out of the lineup and Robert Hagg returns. The Flyers also called up Morgan Frost on Friday to fill in as third-line center, moving Claude Giroux back to the wing and shuffling the lines.

Capitals Projected Lineup

Scratches: Travis Boyd

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
8 Alex Ovechkin	19 Nicklas Backstrom	77 T.J. Oshie
13 Jakub Vrana	92 Evgeny Kuznetsov	43 Tom Wilson
62 Carl Hagelin	20 Lars Eller	14 Richard Panik
28 Brendan Leipsic	26 Nic Dowd	21 Garnet Hathaway
Defense
6 Michal Kempny	74 John Carlson
9 Dmitry Orlov	3 Nick Jensen
34 Jonas Siegenthaler	33 Radko Gudas
Goalie
70 Braden Holtby	30 Ilya Samsonov

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (T-18th), Capitals (12th)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-13th), Capitals (2nd)
Recent History vs. Capitals
- Nov. 13, 2019 - Capitals 2, Flyers 1 (F/SO) (at PHI)
- Jan. 8, 2020 - Flyers 3, Capitals 2 (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Capitals
- Claude Giroux - 43 GP, 21 G, 20 A, 41 P
- Jake Voracek - 37 GP, 15 G, 16 A, 31 P
- Sean Couturier - 31 GP, 6 G, 14 A, 20 P
- Brian Elliott - 17 GP, 8-7-0, 3.24 GAA, .891 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Claude Giroux needs three points to reach 800 for his career.

Where to Watch
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic/97.3 ESPN

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN and Flyers editor for SportsTalkPhilly.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.