Wrapping up the March portion of their schedule, interim head coach Brad Shaw's Philadelphia Flyers (30-36-9) will host Andrew Brunette's Nashville Predators (27-38-8) on Monday evening. Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second and final meeting of the season series between the Flyers and Predators. On Nov. 27 at Bridgestone Arena, the Flyers earned a 3-2 overtime victory in dramatic fashion. Now-former Flyer Morgan Frost tied the score with 12 seconds remaining in regulation before team captain Sean Couturier scored the winning goal at 2:31 of overtime on a set-up from Travis Konecny.
Monday's game concludes a three-game homestand for the Flyers. The team won each of Shaw's first two games behind the bench: 6-4 over Montreal last Thursday and 7-4 against Buffalo on Saturday.
The Predators lost two in a row at home before heading to Philadelphia: 3-2 against St. Louis last Thursday and 3-1 against Vegas on Saturday. The Preds are 9-22-5 on the road this season, while the Flyers are 18-19-1 on home ice.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Monday evening plus an x-factor heading into the game.
1. Couturier line on a tear
The trio of rookie Matvei Michkov on left wing, Couturier at center and Konecny on right wing has been on a roll since being put together in the last two weeks.
Michkov has racked up four goals in the last two games alone, and brings an active five-game point streak (4g, 5a, 9 points) into Monday's match. The 20-year-old Russian leads all NHL rookies with 24 goals this season and is three points behind Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson (59 points) for the overall points lead among first-year players.
Couturier saw his own five-game point streak come to an end against Buffalo on Saturday but logged 19:24 of ice time and played his customary steadying role. Over the last six matches, the captain has four goals, four assists and eight points.
Team leading scorer Konecny (24g, 47a, 71 points) has two goals, four assists and six points in the last five games.
2. Early jumps and late closeouts
The Predators have only scored 55 goals in the first period this season (ranked 28th) and have a 3-16-1 record when trailing at the end of the first period. They're 3-30-2 when trailing heading into the third period.
The Flyers are 14-4-6 when they hold a lead at the first intermission. They are 19-2-5 when leading after two periods; a mark that they wish were a little better because it represents nine winnable points that the team left on the table.
Just as their record suggests, the Predators are in deep trouble when they chase the game. The Flyers have pulled out six regulation wins plus a regulation tie/overtime loss when trailing in the third period. One of the wins came at Nashville's expense.
3. Treacherous second period
It is no secret that second periods -- the frame with the long change -- has been a sore spot for the Flyers most of the season. The Flyers have yielded 100 goals in the second period this year, while scoring 71. It's not only Philly's most troublesome juncture of any regulation period, it's also at the bottom of the league in terms of opposition scoring.
The Predators are in the red by 20 goals (64 scored, 84 allowed) in second periods. Only five teams have lit the lamp fewer times in the second period than Nashville.
4. Special teams
The Flyers' opponent has been respectable overall on special teams. Steven Stamkos can still hammer one-timers into the net as well as anyone else not named Alexander Ovechkin. Stamkos' dozen power play goals this season and Roman Josi's 15 power play assists are big reasons why Nashville has connected on 21.7 percent of their power plays this season (ranked 16th).
Nashville ranks in the top one-third of the league (9th overall) on the penalty kill at 80.9 percent overall. In combination, the Preds' 102.6 special teams index number places them in the top half of the league. Five-on-five has been where the Predators stumble.
The Flyers have scored a power play goal in back--to-back games. Their season high is three straight games. Overall, the Flyers have struggled to a 14.7 percent mark (ranked 30th) on the power play and did not get off the schneid for March until two games ago.
Philadelphia's penalty kill ranks 18th in the NHL at 77.3 percent. Their combined special teams number of 92.0 ranks near the bottom of the NHL.
X-Factor: Foerster closing in on 20
Flyers winger Tyson Foerster notched 20 goals as a rookie last season. On Thursday, he broke out of his 14-game goal drought as the Flyers defeated Montreal. Subsequently, he made it back-to-back games with a goal in Saturday's victory over Buffalo.
Foerster now has 18 goals on the season: two away from making it back-to-back years of achieving the 20-goal milestone.
