After a six day layoff, the Philadelphia Flyers host the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center. They’re coming off a big 3-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at home last Wednesday night, in which they were led by stronger neutral zone play, very good special teams play, and a dominant performance by goaltender Michal Neuvirth.
Steve Mason will return to the Flyers’ net tonight for the first time since the second game of the season, where personal issues clouded his performance in a putrid 7-1 loss. Mason is the team’s starting goaltender, and he should be in the net even despite Neuvirth’s back-to-back shutouts last week. Because there is no goalie controversy.
R.J. Umberger, Luke Schenn and Vincent Lecavalier remain healthy scratches for the Flyers. Umberger was hurt last week when he came out of the lineup — and now he’s going to have to wait some time to get back in, it seems.
For the most part, the Flyers’ lineup is the same as it was against Chicago last week. See it below.
Tonight’s game can be viewed in the Delaware Valley on CSN Philly, or via the NBC Live Extra app. Nationally, the game is on NBC Sports Network and the Live Extra app. Good news: Jim Jackson and the Flyers broadcast crew will be used for the NBC broadcast nationwide.
4 facts about the Dallas Stars
1. The Stars are in the midst of of a four-game East Coast road trip. Tonight’s game three. They took down the Lightning 5-3 on Thursday and the Panthers 4-2 on Saturday. They come into tonight’s game on a three-game win streak.
2. Goaltender Antti Niemi will get the start for the Stars. Kari Lehtonen has won the last three for Dallas but he’s historically terrible against the Flyers, so that must be coach Lindy Ruff’s thinking in playing Niemi.
3. Patrick Sharp, acquired by Dallas from Chicago this summer, is on a deadly Stars top line that includes Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn — both of whom are Art Ross Trophy contenders again this year. Yikes. Stopping these guys is obviously crucial.
4. The Stars have been a pretty solid special teams club so far this season — 33 percent efficiency on the power play, to be specific. The Flyers are looking extremely solid in this department as well so far, so this could be a big battle tonight.
| 2015-16 NHL Season :: Game 5 of 82 | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
at |  |
| 4-1-0, 8 points 2nd in Central |
2-1-1, 5 points 4th in Metropolitan | |
| Tuesday, October 20, 2015 :: 7:30 p.m. ET | ||
| Wells Fargo Center :: South Philadelphia | ||
| Get the Dallas perspective at Defending Big D | ||
| How to Watch / Listen In Philly | ||
    |
||
| Click here for the NBC Sports Live Stream. | ||
| HOW TO WATCH / LISTEN Elsewhere | ||
  |
||
| Click here for the NBC Sports Live Stream. | ||
| Projected Lineups | ||
| Benn – Seguin – Sharp | 1st Line | Raffl – Giroux – Voracek |
| Fiddler – Spezza – Nichushkin | 2nd Line | Read – Couturier – Simmonds |
| Janmark – Eakin – Hemsky | 3rd Line | B. Schenn – Laughton – Gagner |
| Roussel – Faksa – Sceviour | 4th Line | VandeVelde – Bellemare – White |
| Goligoski – Klingberg | 1st D Pair | Schultz – Streit |
| Oduya – Demers | 2nd D Pair | Manning – Del Zotto |
| Jokipakka / Nemeth – Benn / Oleksiak | 3rd D Pair | Medvedev – Gudas |
| Niemi / Lehtonen | Goalies | Mason / Neuvirth |
| Scratches | Umberger, L. Schenn, Lecavalier | |
