By William Espy
(All Time Home Record vs Philadelphia 6-2-2)
Following a high scoring affair in Arizona which resulted in a 7-5 victory for the Blue Jackets, they return home tonight to play a divisional rival, Philadelphia Flyers. These teams have met once already this season, which resulted in a 4-1 Columbus victory. The Flyers are currently sitting in eleventh in the East four points out of a wild card position with a game in hand.
Very similarly to the Dallas Stars with John Klingberg, the Flyers have Shayne Gostisbehere who appears to be this season’s breakout defenseman. In 16 games this season, “Ghost” as he is affectionately known in the City of Brotherly Love has posted 11 points which includes 6 goals (3 of which are game winning goals).
The scoring from the Flyers’ stars has been lackluster, with former Blue Jackets Jakub Voracek posting only 20 points which consists of only two, yes TWO goals. Captain “G” Claude Giroux has not struggled at all however and he currently has 28 points in 32 games.
Unexpectedly, the Flyers goaltending especially from Michal Neuvirth has been phenomenal. Neuvirth has started 16 games this season and appeared in a total of 18 and has a .937 save percentage and a 2.06 goals against average. Former Blue Jacket Steve Mason has not been as good, but has posted respectable numbers which are a .912 save percentage and a 2.76 GAA.
Blue Jackets coach John Tortarella announced this morning that not only David Savard will miss roughly four weeks with an ankle injury, but Jack Johnson is questionable for tonight’s game. On a positive note, Cody Goloubef and Sergei Bobrovsky were skating with the team and Rene Bourque has been activated from the IR.
Andrew Bodnarchuk has seemingly earned a long term spot on the Blue Jackets blue line, creating an issue when the entire defensive corps is healthy again.
Projected Lineups:
Flyers:
Michael Raffl - Claude Giroux - Brayden Schenn
Jakub Voracek - Sean Couturier - Wayne Simmonds
Chris VandeVelde - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Ryan White
Matt Read - Scott Laughton - R.J. Umberger
Michael Del Zotto - Radko Gudas
Nick Schultz - Evgeny Medvedev
Shayne Gostisbehere - Luke Schenn
Steve Mason
Michal Neuvirth
Blue Jackets:
Boone Jenner- Ryan Johansen - Nick Foligno
Scott Hartnell - Alexander Wennberg - Brandon Saad
Matt Calvert - Brandon Dubinsky - Cam Atkinson
Gregory Campbell - William Karlsson - David Clarkson
Ryan Murray - Fedor Tyutin
Kevin Connauton - Dalton Prout
Justin Falk - Andrew Bodnarchuk
Joonas Korpisalo
Curtis McElhinney
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