Wednesday picks: Flyers to grab playoff spot
Welcome to NHL Picks where CBSSports.com hockey writers Chris Peters and Adam Gretz make their predictions for all of the day’s games.
Philadelphia Flyers at Chicago Blackhawks, 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN
With a win over the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday, the Philadelphia Flyers put themselves in a position to climb into the last wild card spot in the Eastearn Conference if they can beat the Chicago Blackhawks Wednesday night. It’s not an easy task, but they might be catching the defending champs at the right time.
The Flyers will be playing the second game in as many days. They’ll still be without Jakub Voracek and goalie Michal Neuvirth is expected to start after recovering from a stomach virus, but they’re rolling right now. Wins in seven of their last nine games has Philadelphia believing in the playoff dream again. A win over the Blackhawks allows them to leapfrog the Red Wings for a seat at the postseason table.
As noted, this might be a good time for the Flyers to play Chicago as the Blackhawks have been struggling of late. Mired in a three-game losing streak over which the team has allowed 13 goals while only scoring four, head coach Joel Quenneville is shaking things up. It appears that the Blackhawks’ bench boss has broken up his top scoring line to put Patrick Kane with Jonathan Toews. Meanwhile, Tomas Fleischmann is expected to replace Andrew Ladd on Toews’ left wing, with Ladd sliding to the third line. Additionally, backup Scott Darling is expected to start against the Flyers.
This isn’t terribly unusual for the Blackhawks this time of year to slump like they have and for Quenneville throw the lines in a blender as he looks for a spark. It doesn’t always work and if it doesn’t the experiment could end pretty quickly. The Blackhawks don’t want to lose much more ground on the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars who are each three points ahead of Chicago in the Central Division standings.
The offense has been a little disjointed for Chicago during this rough patch, which is the likely cause of the line shuffling. Even Patrick Kane, who leads the NHL with 89 points, has gone three games without a point for the first time all season.
The Flyers, meanwhile, have had their offense firing. They have 21 goals over their last five games, four of which they won. Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn have been among the most effective offensively in the absence of Voracek, but they’ve been producing pretty much all year. Simmonds leads the team with 25 goals, while Schenn is second with 23. Rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has been particularly strong over the last week-plus as well. He has four goals over his last four games and has been pouring pucks on net from the point.
As a little sidebar to an already compelling game, this contest will feature two of the very best rookies in the NHL with Gostisbehere for the Flyers and top rookie scorer Artemi Panarin for the Blackhawks. There’s a good chance both end up as finalists for the Calder Memorial Trophy, with Gostisbehere making a better case as the season wears on. It should be a treat to see both on the same ice surface as Gostisbehere was not yet with the Flyers the last time these two teams met.
That was way back in mid-October when the Flyers beat the Blackhawks 3-0 with Neuvirth between the pipes. It didn’t take long for Philadelphia to have themselves a little goaltending controversy. Despite just overcoming an illness, Neuvirth is expected to get the net against Chicago again. He hasn’t played in almost two weeks, so it should be apparent pretty quickly if his time off brought on some rust or if he got some much-needed rest.
Even though the Flyers will be playing their second game of a back-to-back, it’s hard to see the Flyers slowing down. That’s especially true knowing they can finish the night in a playoff spot. Both teams have plenty of motivation, but one of them has been playing much better of late and will stay hot Wednesday night. Pick: Flyers 3, Blackhawks 2
The Flyers have a chance to jump into a playoff spot Wednesday night. (USATSI)
The rest of Wednesday’s picks
Blues 4, Oilers 1
