Saturday's tilt in Philadelphia will be a quick trip, a matinee matchup that leads right into a four-game homestand beginning Sunday. The two teams met earlier his season on Oct. 18, a wild back-and-forth affair that ended 7-4 for Chicago. The line of Artem Anisimov (2G, 2A), Patrick Kane (1G, 3A) and Artemi Panarin (2G, 1A) were the big contributors that night.
Jonathan Toews will miss his fifth consecutive game with a reported back injury on Saturday. The team is being cautious with their captain, although he did skate on Friday before the team flew out. Toews was also placed on IR retroactively to make room for defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, who has been cleared to return to the lineup tomorrow.
The Flyers have put together a three-game win streak, although they find themselves just at the edge of the Wild Card picture in the Eastern Conference with a 12-10-3 record overall, with only 9 regulation or overtime wins (which would factor into a tiebreak situation). Philadelphia was last in action on Tuesday, notching a 3-2 overtime win in Ottawa after recovering from a 2-0 deficit. The Blackhawks needed extra time to secure a 4-3 victory against New Jersey on Thursday, making it a run of three games that have required overtime.
TVR set to return for the Blackhawks in Philadelphia
WHO'S THE HOSS?
The Blackhawks' overtime hero on Thursday was Marian Hossa, who netted his fourth game-winner of the season to secure the extra point. The 37-year-old now has 12 goals on the season, one fewer than his total from 2015-16, when he connected on a career-low 6.8 percent on 191 shots on goal. Those numbers have corrected in a big way this year, as he's shooting 21.4 percent through 24 games. While it's likely not sustainable, Hossa has played at top form all season long, looking "better and stronger than ever" according to defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson, who also tallied on Thursday. He's currently the veteran presence on a trio with rookies Vinnie Hinostroza and Ryan Hartman, who have been slotted as Chicago's second line with Toews still out of the lineup.
BIG THREE
As expected, Philly's top trio of Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds have paced the team on their current win streak as well as throughout the season. The Flyers captain scored twice against Ottawa on Thursday, racking up 5 SOG in a team-high 22:44 of ice time, and now has three goals and two assists over a four-game win streak. Voracek, his frequent linemate over the last few years, has a goal and four helpers over his last three games; he also leads the team with 84 shots on goal, which shares fifth in the NHL.
Giroux and Voracek are playing on Philadelphia's top line alongside Michael Raffl, while Simmonds is skating on the second line with center Brayden Schenn and 19-year-old Travis Konecny, who has fit right into the Flyers roster in his first NHL campaign. A prototypical power winger, Simmonds paces the team with 11 goals and shares the team lead with Giroux and Voracek, all with 22 points. The three have been mainstays on Philly's top power-play unit, which has led the team to the third-best conversion (23.6%) in the league.
GHOST WORLD
Although his second campaign has not gone quite as smoothly as his first, Shayne Gostisbehere is still one of the most dynamic young defensemen in the league. The 2016 Calder Trophy finalist finished last season with 46 points in 64 games (.72 points per game), including 22 on the power play, but his scoring has dropped this season (12 points in 24 games, 0.5 PPG), although he's putting pucks on net at a slightly higher rate. The 23-year-old is usually the lone defenseman on Philadelphia's top power-play unit and can be dangerous both as a setup man as well as getting shots through to the net. Gostisbehere picked up his eighth helper of the season on Thursday; he leads the team with 20:53 of ice time per game.
Crawford to undergo appendectomy
NOTABLE ABSENCES
CHI:Jonathan Toews (upper body), Corey Crawford (illness)
PHI:Sean Couturier (lower body), Boyd Gordon (upper body), Michal Neuvirth (lower body), Radko Gudas (illness)
LINES
Panarin -- Anisimov -- Kane
Hartman -- Hinostroza -- Hossa
Rasmussen -- Kruger -- Panik
Desjardins -- Schmaltz -- Motte
Keith -- Hjalmarsson
Campbell -- Seabrook
Kempny -- van Riemsdyk
Darling
Semborski
