December 12, 2016
As the wins keep on coming, so do the hits.
If the Flyers are going to push their winning streak to 10 games in Colorado on Wednesday night, they’re going to have to do it without the services of 39-year-old defenseman Mark Streit.
On Monday night, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall announced that Streit will miss two weeks with an upper-body injury. CSN Philly’s Tim Panaccio is reporting that the injury is a sprained left shoulder.
The Orange and Black have managed to stay on the winning track without the services of Sean Couturier and Matt Read, banking points while playing short-handed. Where Streit’s (five goals, 11 assists) injury could become a major factor is on the man advantage, an area in which the Flyers rank second in the NHL at 24.1 percent.
The veteran normally quarterbacks the second PP unit from the blue line, but he was bumped up to the dynamic first group (with some guys named Giroux, Voracek, Simmonds, and Schenn) on Sunday in Detroit with Shayne Gostisbehere out of the lineup. Ghost is day-to-day after injuring his hand in Saturday’s win over Dallas.
If Gostisbehere is back for Wednesday’s game, then expect him to slide back into his normal spot with Michael Del Zotto taking Streit’s place in the lineup. If he isn’t able to go, then Nick Schultz would be back along with Del Zotto with perhaps Ivan Provorov stepping up to the first power play.
There are tons of moving pieces here that will make getting a win in Colorado difficult, but hey, that hasn’t stopped the Flyers yet. Good thing, too. The entire top of the division in en fuego:
These are the streaks that the top five teams in the Metropolitan Division (Rangers, Pens, Flyers, Blue Jackets, Caps) are on. Seems good. pic.twitter.com/JCKkLe2dRQ
— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) December 13, 2016
(That was before the Penguins won tonight, too.)
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
