Flyers-Sens Preview: Philly Tries to Rebound Amidst Giroux Hoopla

To the Philadelphia Flyers, the return of Ottawa’s Claude Giroux is secondary Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.

Their mission is to rebound from Thursday’s 5-2 loss to lowly Columbus.

Here’s a look at the matchup:

Games notes

• The Senators (4-8-1) will be trying to avenge last week’s 2-1 home loss to the Flyers, who got goals from Kevin Hayes and Zack MacEwen, and strong goaltending from Carter Hart (31 saves). Giroux scored his 300th career goal.
• The Flyers (7-4-2) entered the weekend seventh in the NHL in fewest goals allowed per game (2.62).
• Philly is fifth out of 32 teams on the penalty kill (83.7% success rate) and 21st on the power play (19.5%). They had no power-play opportunities in Thursday’s loss in Columbus.
• Ottawa is 18th on the PK (78%) and 17th on the PP (21.3%).
• The Sens have lost seven straight (0-6-1), and haven’t won since Oct. 24, a 4-2 victory over Dallas. They are coming off Thursday’s 4-3 OT loss in New Jersey.
• This is the first of back-to-back games for the Flyers this weekend. They host Dallas in a Sunday matinee. The Flyers are 2-0-1 in the first game of back-to-backs, and 0-3 on the back end.
• Giroux, making his first-ever appearance at the Wells Fargo Center as a visiting player, has seven goals, including five in the last five games.
• Travis Konecny has a four-game point streak, during which he has a goal and five assists.
• Ottawa is averaging 3.46 goals per game (11th), while the Flyers are averaging just 2.69 (27th). Philly has a decided defensive edge, allowing just 2.62 goals per game (seventh), compared to the Sens’ 3.69 (27th).

Projected lines and pairings

Flyers

Line 1: Kevin Hayes centering Joel Farabee and Travis Konecny.

Line 2: Scott Laughton centering Owen Tippett and Wade Allison.

Line 3: Noah Cates centering Lukas Sedlak and Zack MacEwen.

Line 4: Morgan Frost centering Nick Deslauriers and Tanner Laczynski.

Defense 1: Ivan Provorov and Tony DeAngelo.

Defense 2: Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen.

Defense 3: Nick Seeler and Justin Braun.

Senators

Line 1: Tim Stutzle centering Brady Tkachuk and Claude Giroux.

Line 2: Derick Brassard centering Alex DeBrincat and Drake Batherson.

Line 3: Shane Pinto centering Tyler Motte and Mathieu Joseph.

Line 4: Mark Kastelic centering Parker Kelly and Austin Watson.

Defense 1: Thomas Chabot and Jacob Bernard-Docker.

Defense 2: Jake Sanderson and Travis Hamonic.

Defense 3: Erik Brannstrom and NickHolden.

Projected goalies

Carter Hart (2.09 GAA, .941 save percentage) is expected to face his good friend, Cal Talbot (2.91, .897). They have trained together in the summers.

How to watch

The game will be shown at 1 p.m. on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

How to bet

FanDuel (money line): Ottawa is minus-130, Flyers are plus-108.

Pick: Flyers, 3-2.

‘Absolutely Nuts’ Flyers Fans to Welcome Back Claude Giroux