The Buffalo Sabers, trying to stay alive in the Eastern Conference playoff race, will try not to be swept by the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers (29-32-13) won the first two games 4-0 and 5-2.
Buffalo (36-31-7) has eight games left and is five points behind Pittsburgh for last spot in the playoffs. The Sabers are on a 3-0-1 run and have a game on their hands against the Penguins.
On Friday, the Sabers defeated the Rangers 3-2 in overtime. They are 4-7-1 in the back end of consecutive games.
The Philadelphia Flyers will bring right winger Travis Konecny back into the lineup for the first time since February 20. He leads the Flyers in goals (27) and points (52) despite missing 16 games with an upper-body injury.
Buffalo’s leading scorer Tage Thompson (44 goals) has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury. Sabers coach Don Granato said there was a “slight” chance he would play on Saturday.
The expected lineup of flyers
Farabee-Cates tippet
JVR Hayes Konecny
Lemieux-Frost-Allison
Deslauriers-Laughton rotating RW
defense
Provorov-York
Sanheim-Ristolainen
Seeler DeAngelo
Brown
goalie
Sand Stream (2-10-3, 3.48 GAA, 0.887 SP)
The expected lineup of Sabers
Skinner Center City Towel
Peterka-Cozens-Quinn
Greenway Jost Olofsson
Girgensons-Krebs-Okposo
defense
Samuelsson-Dahlin
Power Jokiharju
Stillman-Ljubushkin
goalie
Luukkonen (16-11-4, 3.63, .890)
Runaway
The Flyers’ power play went 2-2 in Thursday’s 5-4 overtime loss in Ottawa to move up to 31st place in the NHL (16.3% win rate). Buffalo has the seventh best PP at 24.1%. … The Sabers are the third-best team in the NHL, averaging 3.55 goals per game. … Sandstrom will make his third consecutive start. … Buffalo has three players with more than 30 goals: Thompson (44), Jeff Skinner (32) and Alex Tuch (32). Towel has 14 points (8-6) in his last 14 games…. Skinner has 34 points, including 17 goals, in 48 games against the Flyers.
The Flyers are on a season-high seven-game point streak (5-0-2). … James van Riemsdyk has scored 20 goals in 49 career games against the Sabers. … JVR has 298 career goals. … Sandstrom is 0-1 with a 4.11 GAA and an .897 save rate in his only career appearance against Buffalo. … Morgan Frost has eight points (3-5) in his last six games. … Philly has scored more than three goals in 17 of their last 25 games. … On this day in 1973, Rick MacLeish became the first player in Flyers history to reach the 50-goal mark in a season and the second to reach 100 points. … The Flyers lead the all-time streak against the Sabers, 99-68-27. … Retiring broadcaster Steve Coates will be honored before and during the game.
How to watch, listen
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia at 7 p.m. Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic.
how to bet
FanDuel Money Line: Flyer minus 110, Saber minus 110.
Tip: Sabers, 4-3, in a shootout.
Travis Konecny returns; Sean Couturier will not play this season
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