Flyers at Avalanche
THE STORY: Mounting Injuries may be catching up to the Philadelphia
Flyers as they begin a five game road trip Monday against the Colorado
Avalanche. The Flyers, already without captain Chris Pronger, NHL
scoring leader Claude Giroux, prospect Brayden Schenn and veteran
defenseman Andreas Lilja, can add rookie Sean Couturier to the growing
list of injured. Couterier was hit in the head by a puck Saturday in the
Flyers 6-0 home-ice loss to the Boston Bruins. The Flyers have already
lost more than 100 man games to injury or illness. Philadelphia is
12-3-1 on the road, while the Avalanche have reeled off five straight
home wins. On Saturday they held off the Washington Capitals 2-1.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 25 saves for his fifth win in nine
decisions. Giguere got the start in place of Semyon Varlamov, who was
given the night off with a sore back.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, CS Philadelphia, Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE FLYERS (20-8-3):
Philadelphia had its seven game win streak snapped Saturday. Goalie
Ilya Bryzgalov surrendered five goals on 20 shots before giving way to
Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 16 saves in relief. With Pronger and Lilja
injured, defenseman Matt Carle has been carrying the bulk of the load on
the back end for the Flyers. He leads the team in ice time (22:34) and
has seven points in his last five. Philadelphia is 8-2-0 in its last 10
games.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (15-17-1): Cody McLeod and Erik
Johnson each scored their first goals of the year Saturday for the
Avalanche, who also won an impressive 63 percent of the face-offs
against the Capitals. Colorado sits at the bottom of the Northwest
Division standings with 31 points, but has improved its record at home
to 9-9-0. The Avalanche are an impressive 5-0 in shootouts this year,
and have won 16 of their last 17 in the bonus format. Milan Hejduk leads
the way converting on three of five attempts.
OVERTIME:
1. Philadelphia forward Jaromir Jagr played in his
1,300th NHL game Saturday. In 27 games with the Flyers, Jagr has 10
goals and 26 points.
2. While Colorado has found its winning way at home, the Avalanche are winless in nine straight road contests.
3. Giguere earned his 236th NHL win Saturday, tying him with Reggie Lemelin for 49th all-time.