Flyers vs. Canadiens preview: Shakeup on defense in Montreal

After a tough loss a night ago in Newark, the Flyers are back on the road this evening at Bell Centre in Montreal. And there's really only one major question heading into this one.

Will Kimmo Timonen be in the lineup?

Philadelphia Flyers (6-8-1, 13 pts) at Montreal Canadiens (8-4-1, 17 pts)
7 p.m. | Centre Bell | Montreal, Quebec, Canada
TV: CSN Philly, NHL Net, CBC, RDS | Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Get the Montreal perspective at Eyes On The Prize

As we know, the Flyers defense is brutal with Kimmo Timonen in the lineup. From our game recap last night:

Pretty shoddy defense all-around tonight, on that note. The first goal involved some not-so-good backchecking, the second came off a great pass from Marty (ugh), the third followed a rough turnover from Timonen, and the fourth was a nice deflection after a failed clearing attempt by Read. Not really what you want to see, despite a pretty good job suppressing chances as a whole.

Kimmo didn't play the third period last night, but he's in Montreal and will be a game-time decision. If he's not in the lineup, Bruno Gervais is a second-pairing defenseman, and that's really not a good thing at all. Let's hope Kimmo's in, but ...

ROSTER NEWS: #Flyers have recalled (D) Erik Gustafsson from their AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms.

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 16, 2013

Andreas Lilja has also been sent to Adirondack, so who really knows what the deal is with the defense. I'd guess that Gus is in for Kimmo, but we'll see closer to game time.

Some good news as far as luck of the draw: Carey Price has the flu and will not play tonight. The Habs will turn to backup Peter Budaj in goal. With the back-to-back situation, it'll probably be Brian Boucher in goal for the Flyers.

For more on the Canadiens, check in with our friends over at Eyes On The Prize.