Who: The Toronto Maple Leafs vs. The Philadelphia Flyers
What: Game 55 of the regular season.
When: 7:00 PM EST
Where: TSN, NHLNet, AM640
The Leafs are going to the Winter Classic, and tonight they visit its 2012 host city, and runners up. The Flyers are 4-3-3 in their last ten, and are coming off a 0-1 OT loss to the Islanders. The Leafs will play their third game in four nights and are just 5 points back of the 4th place Flyers (though the Flyers have a game in hand).
Last time these two teams met, Giroux's stretch pass made the Leafs' D look like the Oilers', as Jagr was sprung for multiple breakaways. It should be no surprise that Komisarek is the healthy scratch, and Schenn is on the fourth pairing, as cutting off passing lanes, especially in the neutral zone, will be key. The last time Phaneuf and Hartnell met, Hartnell ran his mouth after beating Phaneuf's All-Star Game defensive effort. Presumably, he glanced over his shoulder first.
The Flyers' lineup is still without Chris Pronger, whose season has been cut short by post concussion syndrome. Bryzgalov has a virus of some sort - hopefully he didn't catch Pronger's - so Bobrovsky will start, and Jason Bacashihua has been called up on emergency recall to ride the pine.
The Leafs lines:
Lupul-Bozak-Kessel
MacArthur-Grabovski-Kulemin
Lombardi-Connolly-Crabb
Brown-Steckel-Armstrong.
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Gunnarsson-Phaneuf
Liles-Franson
Gardiner-Schenn.
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Reimer
Gustavsson
Go Leafs Go.