Nashville Predators at the Philadelphia Flyers: Pre-Game Primer

TV-Radio...

6:00 CST - TV: Fox Sports TN, TCN Philadelphia. Preds Radio Network (102.5-FM The Game)

Stage Setter...

The Nashville Predators are the hottest team in the NHL, going 13-2 in the last 15 games, and they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers in their second meeting of the season. The two teams feature the most balanced scoring in the league, with each having nine ten-goal scorers.

Make the jump for everything else...

Western Conference Standings...
        Team           GP Pts
1. * Detroit          51 69
2. * Vancouver 50 66
3. * San Jose       48 62
4. Nashville         51 66
5. St. Louis         49 65
6. Chicago           51 65
7. Los Angeles    51 50
8. Minnesota       50 55

9. Dallas             49 54
10. Colorado      52 54
11. Calgary         51 52
12. Phoenix         51 52

Prior Meetings...

The two teams faced off in Nashville on January 14 and the Predators took home a solid 4-2 win after getting off to a fast start and never slowing down. Nashville is 6-6-(3)-0 all time against the Flyers and 3-4-1 at the Wells Fargo Center.

Last Time Out...

Nashville beat the Wild in Minnesota 5-4 in an amazing four-goal third period comeback on Tuesday night.

Philadelphia lost 2-1 in a shoot-out to Winnipeg at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday..

Top Scorers (G-A-Pts)...

Nashville - M. Erat (11-25-36), S. Weber (10-25-35), D. Legwand (13-18-31), M. Fisher (14-16-30), C.Smith (11-19-30), C. Wilson (10-18-28), R. Suter (5-23-28) S. Kostitsyn (12-15-27) and P. Hornqvist (15-9-24).

Philadelphia - C. Giroux (18-37-55), S. Hartnell (25-19-44), J. Jagr (12-23-35), M. Read (15-16-31), K. Timonen (2-29-31),  D. Briere (13-17-30),  J. Voracek (8-20-28), W. Simmonds (13-14-27), and M. Carle (4-22-26).

In Goal (W-L-O, GAA, save %)...

Nashville - P. Rinne (29-11-4, 2.40, .924) and A. Lindback (Starter) (2-5-0, 2.65, .898)

Philadelphia - S. Bobrovsky (11-4-1, 2.42,.919) and I. Bryzgalov (Starter) (18-10-5, 2.93,.896)

Other Comparisons...

Teams	Predators	Flyers
Record	31-16-4 (66)	29-14-6 (64)
Last 10	9-1-0	5-3-2
Home Record	16-7-3	11-7-4
Road Record	15-9-1	18-7-2
Power Play (rank)	22.4 (2)	20.7 (4)
Penalty Kill (rank)	82.6 (14)	82.6 (15)
Goals For (rank)	2.78 (11)	3.31 (2)
Goals Allowed (rank)	2.55 (10)	2.86 (21)
Shots For (rank)	27.5 (26)	32.4 (5)
Shots Allowed (rank)	30.9 (21)	29.0 (8)
Penalty Mins (rank)	9.5  (5)	15.4 (29)
Faceoff % (rank)	49.2 (22)	47.8 (27)

Injuries...

Nashville - Jerred Smithson (lower body) and Francis Bouillon (lower body)

Philadelphia - Zac Rinaldo (upper body), Chris Pronger (concussion), Blair Betts (lower body), Daniel Briere (concussion), James Van Riemsdyk (concussion), and F Ian LaPerriere (concussion)

Notes...

• The Preds have comeback from a 2 or 3 goal deficits 7 times this season
• Nashville was 11-2-0 in January which was the best in the NHL for the month
• The Preds are 11-2-2 against the Central which is the best record in the NHL in a division
• The Predators are 6-1-0 in their last seven road games
• Nashville is 25-2-2 when scoring more than two goals.
• Rinne is (2-1-0, 2.92, .917) in his career against the Flyers.
• The Predators are 12-0-1 when Nick Spaling scores as he did last time against the Flyers.

Other Predator Previews...

Predators.com
The Tennessean
Ryan Porth
Amanda DiPaolo
Robby Stanley
Dirk Hoag
Paul McCann
Predatorial
Fang Finger

Philadelphia Media...

Flyers.com
Russ Cohen
Broad Street Hockey
Philly.com
Philly Burbs
Courrier Post
CSN Philly

Game Notes from NHL Media Services

A Look Ahead for the Preds...

Tonight                    @ Philadelphia 6 p.m.
Saturday                   St Louis 7 p.m.
Tuesday                    Vancouver 7 p.m.
Feb. 9                      @ Ottawa 6:30 p.m.
Feb 11                     @ Boston Noon

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass