Flyers-Panthers: Game 56 Preview

A dominant win in Washington certainly helped to lift the Flyers spirits again after an embarrassing loss to New Jersey. Despite that, it was not enough to push them back into the playoff picture just yet due to tiebreakers.

The Flyers certainly have an opportunity to change that over the next week and beyond. The Flyers next six games come against teams right in the thick of the playoff race. For now, the focus is simply on the next one, which comes against the Florida Panthers at Wells Fargo Center on Monday night.

Game time is 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Florida Panthers	GP	G	A	P
Sean Couturier	55	15	34	49	Jonathan Huberdeau	54	19	49	68
Travis Konecny	52	18	28	46	Aleksander Barkov	51	16	38	54
Jake Voracek	55	11	31	42	Mike Hoffman	54	21	24	45
Claude Giroux	55	14	24	38	Evgenii Dadonov	54	23	18	41
Kevin Hayes	55	17	15	32	Keith Yandle	54	5	34	39

Player to Watch
14 Sean Couturier	68 Mike Hoffman
Last 5 Games: 2 G, 4 A, 6 P, +4	Last 5 Games: 3 G, 2 A, 5 P, +1

Sean Couturier scored two goals on Saturday to snap an eight-game goalless drought. He had seven assists in that time and added another assist in Saturday's game, so the points are still coming for Couturier of late.

Mike Hoffman is up to 21 goals on the season and has scored in three of the last four games for the Panthers. When Hoffman is scoring, he's scoring in bunches, especially on the power play, so he's one to watch at this time.

Projected Goalie Matchup
79 Carter Hart	72 Sergei Bobrovsky
32 GP, 15-11-3, 2.61 GAA, .905 SV%	42 GP, 20-15-5, 3.27 GAA, .898 SV%

Carter Hart picked up a win via a shootout over the Bruins for the second time this season on Jan. 13, then suffered an injury in practice the next day. He missed nearly the next four weeks, which included the All-Star break and bye, resulting in nine games missed. The Flyers went 6-2-1 over the nine games with Brian Elliott leading the way. Hart makes his return to the net on Monday night.

Another matchup with the Panthers means another game with Sergei Bobrovsky in net against his former team. Bobrovsky has suffered three straight losses, making 44 saves in a 1-0 overtime loss to the Blue Jackets before two straight regulation losses to Vegas and Pittsburgh. Bobrovsky made 35 saves in a 5-2 win over the Flyers on Nov. 19.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Joel Farabee (illness, 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
79 Carter Hart	37 Brian Elliott

Lineup Notes

Outside of Carter Hart's return, no changes are expected to the Flyers lineup. Joel Farabee did return to practice, but Alain Vigneault noted that the forward lost some weight due to illness and is working to build that back up.

Panthers Projected Lineup

Injuries: Brian Boyle, Chris Driedger

Scratches: Denis Malgin

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
11 Jonathan Huberdeau	16 Aleksander Barkov	63 Evgenii Dadonov
10 Brett Connolly	21 Vincent Trocheck	55 Noel Acciari
77 Frank Vatrano	14 Dominic Toninato	68 Mike Hoffman
8 Jayce Hawryluk	7 Colton Sceviour	13 Mark Pysyk
Defense
3 Keith Yandle	5 Aaron Ekblad
61 Riley Stillman	6 Anton Stralman
19 Michael Matheson	52 Mackenzie Weegar
Goalie
72 Sergei Bobrovsky	33 Samuel Montembeault

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (T-15th), Panthers (T-6th)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (T-13th), Panthers (25th)
Recent History vs. Panthers
- Oct. 16, 2018 - Flyers 6, Panthers 5 (F/SO) (at PHI)
- Nov. 13, 2018 - Panthers 2, Flyers 1 (at PHI)
- Dec. 29, 2018 - Panthers 2, Flyers 1 (at FLA)
- Nov. 19, 2019 - Panthers 5, Flyers 2 (at FLA)
Flyers Leaders vs. Panthers
- Travis Konecny - 9 GP, 1 G, 5 A, 6 P
- Claude Giroux - 38 GP, 9 G, 15 A, 24 P
- James van Riemsdyk - 30 GP, 8 G, 9 A, 17 P
- Carter Hart - 2 GP, 0-2-0, 4.02 GAA, .889 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Claude Giroux needs two power-play assists to pass Bobby Clarke for first on the Flyers all-time list.