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Flyers, Blackhawks meet in Chicago Wednesday
By: Staff Writer - StatFox
Published: 3/16/2016  at  5:46:00 AM
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Philadelphia Flyers (33-23-12) at Chicago Blackhawks (41-23-6)

NHL Wednesday Night Rivalry Game
Face-off: Wednesday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: N/A

The Flyers will be hoping to stay hot with a big road victory over the Blackhawks on Wednesday. If this matchup had taken place a few weeks ago, the NHL might have washed it if it possessed the NFL’s ability to flex games out of prime-time television. But the Flyers, left for dead as recently as the trade deadline, have gone 7-1-1 in their last nine games and must be taken seriously as a threat to claim one of the Eastern Conference’s wild card spots. The Blackhawks’ fortunes have also turned of late, having lost three consecutive games and been passed in the Central Division standings by the Blues and Stars. Somewhere, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is smiling.

What will happen in this now-critical contest? That depends on what trends you believe most. Philadelphia is 5-2 in its last seven games against Chicago, but the Flyers are 1-6 in their last seven road games against the Blackhawks. A low-scoring game could favor the Flyers: They are a healthy 21-5 when allowing two goals or less this season, while the Blackhawks are 6-25 when lighting the lamp two or fewer times. Goaltender Steve Mason (2.61 GAA, 91.5 SV%) will need to be the Flyers’ best player for the orange and black to have a shot at an upset; his team still surrenders close to 30 shots on goal per game. And the Blackhawks are 26-9 ATS against teams who allow 29.5 or more shots per game.

The Flyers can answer on the power play—they are second in the league in power play chances, at 3.4 per game—but will need to overcome the loss of Jakub Voracek (10 G, 38 A, 48 PTS), who is out with a lower-body injury. Wayne Simmonds (25 G, 23 A, 48 PTS) and Brayden Schenn (23 G, 24 A, 27 PTS) are the team’s two leading goal scorers, but its two biggest threats are star center Claude Giroux (18 G, 40 A, 58 PTS) and rookie revelation Shayne Gostisbehere (16 G, 23 A, 39 PTS). The young defenseman has a knack for scoring big goals, and he’ll likely need to pop in another one if the playoff-hopeful Flyers wish to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions.

The Blackhawks, meanwhile, have plenty of players who could take advantage of the Flyers’ occasionally leaky defense: Patrick Kane (38 G, 51 A, 89 PTS), Artemi Panarin (25 G, 37 A, 62 PTS) and Jonathan Toews (24 G, 24 A, 48 PTS) are just three of their top weapons. But given the team’s enviable depth and experience, all four lines—and its cache of All-Star defenseman—have the potential to score.


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