Shorthanded Flyers Host Struggling Canadiens

"Philadelphia Flyers 70 pts (30-19-10)
vs
Montreal Canadiens 51 pts (22-29-7)
7 p.m. ET
Wells Fargo Center � Philadelphia, PA
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 FM The Fanatic

Season Series/Schedule
Date Game GWG
2/8 MON 3 @ PHI 5 Travis Konecny
2/20 MON @ PHI
2/26 PHI @ MON

Team Leaders
Flyers Canadiens
Claude Giroux, 69 Points Max Pacioretty, 35
Sean Couturier, 29 Goals Brendan Gallagher, 21
Jakub Voracek, 54 Assist Alex Galchenyuk, 22

The Flyers push for a Stanley Cup playoff spot became more difficult with the announcement this morning that both forward Wayne Simmonds and goaltender Michal Neuvirth were placed on injured reserve. Simmonds will miss the next 2-3 weeks while Neuvirth will be out for 4-6 weeks.
Oksar Lindblom was recalled from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and he will make his NHL debut tonight. Jordan Weal will take Simmonds's spot on the second line and Lindblom will slot in on the third line with Scott Laughton and Michael Raffl.
The newly acquired Petr Mrazek will be in uniform tonight, but he will not start. Instead he will be backing up Alex Lyon, who will be making just the third start of his career.
The positive side of the Simmonds injury is that occurred as the Flyers begin a stretch of four games against struggling teams. They have games versus the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators sandwiched in between a pair of games with the Canadiens.
The Habs have just one point in their last five games and are 2-7-1 in their last 10. Their 2.53 goals per game is the third lowest scoring offense in the NHL. Only the Arizona Coyotes and Buffalo Sabres have scored fewer goals.

Probable Flyers Lineup
FORWARDS
Claude Giroux - Sean Couturier - Travis Konecny
Jakub Voracek - Nolan Patrick - Jordan Weal
Oskar Lindblom - Scott Laughton - Michael Raffl
Jori Lehtera- Valtteri Filppula - Dale Weise
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Ivan Provorov - Shayne Gostisbehere
Robert Hagg - Andrew MacDonald
Brandon Manning - Radko Gudas
GOALTENDER
Alex Lyon (1-1-0, 3.27 GAA, .895 save %, 0 SO)
INJURY REPORT
G-Brian Elliott (core muscle) out, G-Michal Neuvirth (lower-body) out, RW-Wayne Simmonds (upper-body) out

Probable Canadiens Lineup
FORWARDS
Max Pacioretty - Jonathan Drouin - Artturi Lehkonen
Paul Byron - Tomas Plekanec - Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk - Phillip Danault - Charles Hudon
Nicolas Deslauriers - Logan Shaw - Daniel Carr
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Karl Alzner - Jeff Petry
Joe Morrow - Jordie Benn
Victor Mete - David Schlemko
GOALTENDER
Carey Price (15-22-5, 2.98 GAA, .904 save %, 1 SO)
INJURY REPORT
RW-Ales Hemsky (upper-body) out, D-Shea Weber (foot) out, RW-Andrew Shaw (lower-body) out"