Atlanta Thrashers Vs Philadelphia Flyers
Arena: Wachovia Center
Time: Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 7:00 PM ET
League: NHL – United States of America
Last 10 matches: Atlanta 5-3-2; Philadelphia 7-3-0.
The Thrashers won, 1-0, in Atlanta on Nov. 28, the fifth loss in six games for the Flyers and one game before John Stevens was removed as coach. The Flyers continued spiraling downward for another two weeks. They are 7-4-1 in January but 3-3 in their last six games. Atlanta had a nine-game
winless streak from Dec. 19-Jan. 5 and is 5-4-4 this month. Flyers defenseman Ryan Parent underwent back surgery Monday and is out six weeks. Defenseman Danny Syvret has a separated shoulder and is day-to-day. Thrashers defenseman Christoph Schubert will miss 2-4 weeks with a lower-body injury. Defenseman Mark Popovic has missed 25 games with a
foot injury and is day-to-day. Lehtonen is on conditioning assignment in the AHL.
The Eastern Conference standings are so tightly packed that the Flyers are in sixth place with 55 points and the Thrashers are in 11th with 54
points, five places separated by one point. Both these teams hit bottom in December and have been playing better hockey this month. Thrashers star Ilya
Kovalchuk’s contract expires at the end of this season and no progress has been reported in talks between the team and his agent. A trade is a possibility, but it would likely reduce the Thrashers’ chances of making the playoffs.
Fact: The Flyers are twice as good as they were in the first few weeks after Peter Laviolette. In the first 10 games, they averaged 1.8 goals per game, surrendered 3.4 goals and were 2-7-1. Since then, they are 11-4-1, have averaged 3.6 goals per game and surrendered 2.6 goals. The Thrashers were 0-for-13 on the power play before Maxim Afinogenov scored against Anaheim Tuesday. They’ve converted only once in their last 17 chances. We will post information about results of this match.. stay tuned.