As Keith Yandle ties record, Flyers look to avoid their own against Dallas
Keith Yandle will tie Doug Jarvis’ iron man streak record when he steps on the ice for the Flyers as they take on the Dallas Stars. For Philadelphia, they will be looking to end an 11-game losing streak. Things have already gotten ugly and have a chance to get even worse during this upcoming back to back.
Despite a 2-1 lead over the Sabres a few days ago, things spiraled out of control after a failed challenge saw Buffalo tie things up and later take the lead. Things only got worse from there as Martin Jones’ afternoon wasn’t long and Carter Hart was forced to come in as damage control. What ended as a 6-3 loss only further proved how much things are in disarray for this team.
While things have been up and down for the Stars overall, they are playing well as of late. They’ve won their last two and six of their last 10 games. They’ve scored 10 goals over the last two wins, though neither was a sure fire victory. They had to fight in both to comeback, the most recent in overtime.
Still, it won’t be easy for a team that essentially has no identity right now.
Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 13-20-8 (34 points, 8th in Metro)
The Flyers have dug themselves a humongous hole and are essentially a non-existent factor in the playoff race, let along their own division. And they’ll have to crawl on with more injuries affecting their lineup.
Wade Allison, who was making his season debut against the Sabres, sustained an MCL sprain in the third period. He’s expected to miss at least until after the All Star break while the team determined the severity of the sprain. Zack MacEwen, while available to play, suffered a lower-body injury in the loss to Buffalo. He’s likely not at full strength for this one.
Joel Farabee remains out and there has been essentially no update on either Sean Couturier or Ryan Ellis, who’s last game was against this Dallas squad in November. Derrick Brassard continues to work his way back but has yet to take part in a full practice.
With all of the injuries and the Phantoms having just played three games in three nights, Nick Seeler will be tasked with playing a majority of the game as a forward. It’s not something he hasn’t done before, but it’s certainly not ideal. This means the Flyers will be going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen to make this happen.
Projected Lineup
van Riemsdyk – Giroux – Atkinson
Lindblom – Frost – Konecny
Max Willman – Laughton – Mayhew
Seeler – Cates – MacEwen
Provorov – Braun
Sanheim – Ristolainen
Yandle – York
Hart
Dallas Stars
Record: 20-16-2 (42, 5th in Central)
The Stars come in well rested, having been off for the last two days. And while they have won back to back games, the team hasn’t been happy with how things have gone. So they’ll be looking to clean up some areas of their game. If the Flyers can identify what has given them trouble, it could be a way to frustrating them even more.
They’ve had trouble keeping the puck out of their own net, giving up four or more goals in five of their nine games in the month of January. One of which was a 7-1 blowout at the hands of the Lightning. The Flyers haven’t scored four or more goals December 18th in their 4-3 win over the Senators. In fact, they’ve only scored more than two goals three times this month.
One of the Stars who has been scoring plenty of goals has been Joe Pavelski. The 37-year-old has not lost a beat this season. He’s second on the team in goals (16) and leads the team in both assists (27) and points (43). The Stars All-Star has eight points in his last five games. Jason Robertson also has 16 goals on the year while Roope Hintz leads the way with 17 goals. Overall Dallas has four players with double-digit goals four with over 20 points.
Jake Oettinger will appear in his 15th game of the season. He’s lost his last two stars, giving up nine goals combined. He was pulled in both games. He carries a 2.73 GAA and a .905 SV% into this one.
Projected Lineup
Robertson – Hintz – Pavelski
Benn – Seguin – Gurianov
Kiviranta – Peterson – Radulov
Tufte – Damiani – Glendening
Suter – Heiskanen
Lindell – Klingberg
Hanley – Hakanpaa
Oettinger
When, Where, and How to Watch
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Where: Wells Fargo Center
TV Broadcast: NBCSP
Radio Broadcast: 93.3 WMMR
Live Stream: Fubo TV
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