Flyers at Flames
Wayne Simmonds and Michal Neuvirth are starting to heat up and the Philadelphia Flyers hope their respective temperatures continue to rise on Wednesday as the club opens a three-game road trip against the Calgary Flames. Simmonds has scored in back-to-back contests to raise his team-leading goal total to 23 and had a goal and an assist as the Flyers started their 10-game winning streak with a 5-3 victory over the Flames on Nov. 27.
"We know we're a streaky team. When we get hot, we get hot," Neuvirth told the Courier-Post of Philadelphia, which resides just outside the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. "It's still in our hands with a lot of games left. We just have to play it one game at a time and play every game like playoff hockey for us." Calgary knows that feeling all too well, winning four of five before returning from its five-day break with a lackluster 5-0 loss to Arizona on Monday. Brian Elliott turned aside eight of nine shots in relief of Chad Johnson and has been confirmed to start versus the Flyers, against whom he has recorded a 6-4-2 career mark with three shutouts.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, NHL.TV, TCN-Philadelphia, SN360, Sportsnet West (Calgary)
ABOUT THE FLYERS (27-22-7): Philadelphia's compressed schedule will lighten up after back-to-back contests against the Alberta contingent (Calgary and Edmonton) to open a three-game trek through Western Canada, but don't tell that to veteran forward Jakub Voracek. "We all play 82 games," the 27-year-old Voracek told CSN Philly.com. "No matter the distance between games, we have to play as if these games are the last game of the season. That’s how tight it is right now." Voracek, who collected a goal and an assist in the first encounter with Calgary, has set up a tally in consecutive contests to increase his team-leading totals in assists (33) and points (47).
ABOUT THE FLAMES (28-26-3): Mikael Backlund (team-leading 38 points) amassed four points (one goal, three assists) on the team's three-game road trip heading into the break before joining rookie Matthew Tkachuk with a disastrous minus-3 rating against the Coyotes. Speaking of Tkachuk (10 goals, 24 points), the 19-year-old scored in the first meeting with Philadelphia and has steadily contributed offensively. Johnny Gaudreau hasn't been shy on the offensive side by recording one goal and five assists in his last six games overall and posting the same total in four career contests versus the Flyers, although he missed the teams' encounter in November with a hand injury.
OVERTIME
1. Calgary C Sean Monahan (team-leading 19 goals) is one tally shy of becoming the youngest player in franchise history to reach 100 in his career (Joe Nieuwendyk).
2. Neuvirth owns a 3-1-1 mark with a 1.20 goals-against average and .946 save percentage in his last five starts.
3. The Flames are just 14-14-0 at home while the Flyers are 10-13-3 on the road.