Flyers provide next stop on trip
The official game preview Philadelphia Flyers vs Colorado Avalanche.Season series: It's the second and final time the Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado Avalanche will play this season. On Jan. 2, Jamie McGinn and Ryan O'Reilly had goals in a 2-1 Avalanche victory in Denver.
Big story: The Flyers hope their strong play in a 2-1-0 swing through California last week carries over to their final games before the Olympic break. As one of the teams jammed into the fight for one of the final Eastern Conference playoff spots, every point is vital between now and April. The Avalanche are looking to rebound from a 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
Team Scope:
Avalanche: It may have been the second game of a back-to-back set Tuesday, but even after needing overtime to beat the New Jersey Devils on Monday, Colorado coach Patrick Roy wasn't accepting any excuses for his team's loss to the Rangers.
"We talked a lot about the start of this game, that it was key," Roy told the Denver Post after the game. "But the Rangers came out flying. They got the momentum from the first shift and kept it until the end of the first."
The Rangers scored twice in that period and the Avalanche never were able to recover. They were unable to build on Gabriel Landeskog's goal at 6:37 of the second period, allowing the Rangers to score 53 seconds later.
"We kind of shot ourselves in the foot there in the second," Landeskog told the Denver Post. "We had the chance there to get back in it."
Flyers: After a five-day break, defenseman Kimmo Timonen skated with his teammates Wednesday at practice, but his sore foot has him questionable for the game against the Avalanche. He skated with Hal Gill on a fourth defense pairing.
"Felt pretty good," Timonen told reporters after practice. "First full practice in six days. We'll see how it feels [Wednesday and Thursday] and go from there."
Timonen has sat out the past two games since blocking a shot with his left foot Jan. 31 against the Anaheim Ducks. He said he'd like to get into the Flyers' final two games before the Olympic break -- Thursday against the Avalanche and Saturday against the Calgary Flames -- to assess his ability to play for Finland at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Who's hot: Landeskog, the Avalanche's captain, has three goals and six assists during a seven-game point streak. Flyers captain Claude Giroux has four goals and nine points in his past five games.
Injury report: Avalanche defenseman Cory Sarich (back) is out. Forward Alex Tanguay (knee) is questionable. Timonen (foot) is questionable for the Flyers.
--Adam Kimelman for NHL.com--
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06/02/2014 - 17:00
