Flyers at Oilers
The Philadelphia Flyers played themselves out of contention for a postseason spot in the last two weeks and will try to avoid going winless on a four-game road trip when they meet the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. The Flyers were four points behind Boston for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference on March 6, but have gone 1-4-3 since and are 0-2-1 on the trip. Edmonton is 1-0-2 in its last three games and can match its longest point streak of the season at four.
Philadelphia scored seven goals in a win over Detroit last Saturday while totaling eight in the other seven games - three in the last three - during its March swoon. The Oilers have posted 21 goals in their last six outings while allowing 26 in the same span as they look toward next season. Edmonton, which owns the league’s fewest victories (19), has dropped four of five to the Flyers after a 4-1 defeat Nov. 4 in Philadelphia.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CBC, CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE FLYERS (29-29-15): Captain Claude Giroux has picked it up of late with four points in the last four games and needs one goal to reach 20 for the fourth time in his career. Jakub Voracek leads the team with a career-best 70 points and Wayne Simmonds leads the team with 27 goals. Forward Matt Read is expected back after missing the last two contests to be with his wife for the birth of their child and Vincent Lecavalier, mired in a 26-game goal drought, was a healthy scratch in the 4-1 loss at Calgary on Thursday.
ABOUT THE OILERS (19-39-13): Nail Yakupov, the first pick in the 2012 draft, has raised his level of play with three goals and three assists during a five-game point streak – two of the tallies coming on a red-hot power play. Edmonton has converted 11-of-29 chances with the man advantage over the last six contests while surrendering seven power-play goals in the same span. Jordan Eberle recorded three of those man-advantage tallies while collecting four goals and eight assists during a six-game point streak.
OVERTIME
1. Philadelphia G Steve Mason is only 14-17-10, but is in the top 10 of the league in save percentage (.925).
2. Edmonton C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has six assists and his career-high 20th goal in the last four games to reach 50 points for the third time in his four-year career.
3. Giroux leads the league in power-play points with 33.