Philadelphia Flyers: 29-17-5, 63 points
Atlanta Thrashers: 26-25-4, 56 points
Antero Nittymaki v. Kari Lehtonen
The Flyers temporarily hit the road tonight, when they follow in the 76ers footsteps and travel down to Atlanta before coming back home to face Washington tomorrow. The Flyers got a couple days off after the very physical 3-0 win over Anaheim before their busy schedule for the rest of the week, including games against Washington tomorrow and the Rangers this weekend.
Antero Nittymaki is back in net tonight. Although Martin Biron played well in the shutout of Anaheim, Niitty has Atlanta's number. In 7 career games against the Thrashers, he's 7-0-0 with a 1.58 Goals Against Average, stopping shots at a .947 clip. Biron should still have momentum from his game against the Ducks when he starts tomorrow. Kari Let'emin? Against the Flyers, it seems that way. Against the Flyers, he's 0-4-0 with a 3.31 GAA. Against Niittymaki, he's never won in pro hockey. I don't put too much stock in that last one, but I feel obligated to mention it.
The Thrashers just seem to get dominated by the Flyers. In two losses this year, Atlanta has been outscored 8-1. Last season, they got swept, even though the Flyers were the worst team in hockey. In fact, you'd have to go back to November of 2005 to find the last time the Thrashers have defeated the Flyers. It's the only time they've done that since the lockout.
Fortunately for the Flyers, it appears that Ilya Kovalchuk will again be out of the lineup. He has 13 goals in 22 career games against Philadelphia, and he's a threat to score every time he touches the puck. They've still rattled off three straight even without him, so despite their early season struggles, the Thrashers are doing well for themselves right now.
As per usual, Bill Meltzer has the scratches. Honestly, why would you even read this blog when I link to his regularly? He does a lot of great stuff and Flyers fans can't thank him enough for what he posts.
Lasse Kukkonen
Joffrey Lupul
Rory Fitzpatrick
Mike Rathje
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2 comments:
Why is Loops scratched? Is he injured?
And it's Let-none-in.
Also, he beat Nitty when they played against each other in Finland. He's v. excited for tonight, too.
maal,
First of all, thanks for the feedback. Lupul is on IR because of a spinal cord/neck injury suffered against Toronto about a month ago. You can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyIrZRuLCdw
Basically, Derian Hatcher was lining up Alex Steen, but Steen slipped by, and he ended up hitting Lupul, who was skating directly behind Steen.
He passed his baseline test and should be cleared to play in a week or two.
I should've cleared up the Nittymaki v. Lehtonen comments. I meant since they came over to America and played in the AHL and NHL. See why I don't put much stock into stats like that? I don't think one plays better because of the opposing goalie. Barring a fight, which has about a 0% chance of happening, they won't be directly opposing each other at all at any point during the game. Let'emin is just a fun nickname. He's going to be a great goalie, so I might as well use it while I still have the opportunity.
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