Flyers at Capitals
The Philadelphia Flyers atoned for an early-season 10-game winless skid by skating into the All-Star break with victories in eight of their last 10 contests. The Flyers look to continue their torrid play as they bid to defeat the Washington Capitals for the third time in as many meetings this season when the Metropolitan Division rivals face off at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.
Captain Claude Giroux has recorded 11 (one goal, 10 assists) of his team-leading 57 points in 11 games this month and collected two goals and two assists in Philadelphia's 8-2 romp over Washington on Oct. 14. The 30-year-old was held in check in the more recent encounter, but Travis Konecny scored 27 seconds into overtime to fuel the Flyers in a 2-1 triumph on Jan. 21. Capitals superstar captain Alex Ovechkin netted his team's lone goal in that contest and has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games. The three-time Hart Trophy winner even teamed with longtime rival Sidney Crosby in Sunday's All-Star Game, with each scoring and setting up a goal in a losing effort to the Atlantic Division representatives.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network
ABOUT THE FLYERS (24-17-8): Philadelphia is looking for additional scoring outside of Sean Couturier (team-best 26 goals, 23 assists), Giroux (14 goals, 43 assists), Jakub Voracek (nine goals, NHL-high 47 assists) and Wayne Simmonds (16 goals, 13 assists). Michael Raffl and Konecny have taken step toward that direction with the former scoring nine times in his last 28 contests while the latter has six goals since being promoted to the top line 14 games ago. "That’s something we want to keep improving," coach Dave Hakstol told Philly.com. “... Everything is so tight coming down the stretch (in the division), so if you can get a little bit of scoring from throughout your lineup, I think that’s not only critical but is necessary."
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (29-15-5): Nicklas Backstrom scored in the first encounter versus Philadelphia and also tallied in Washington's 4-2 victory over Florida on Thursday, moving the Swedish Olympian within two tallies of 200 for his career. Fellow forward Evgeny Kuznetsov notched a pair of assists against the Panthers to give him five points in five games heading into the break, which he used to recover from a slight groin injury. The 25-year-old Russian told reporters he's good to go versus the Flyers, against whom he owns a minus-6 rating this season.
OVERTIME
1. Washington G Braden Holtby fell to 8-4-8 in his career versus Philadelphia after turning aside 21 shots in the most recent meeting earlier this month.
2. Flyers G Michal Neuvirth (stomach virus) returned to practice on Tuesday and is expected to get the nod versus his former team.
3. Washington's John Carlson will move into sole possession of ninth place on the team's all-time list for defensemen by playing in his 576th career game on Wednesday.