Flyers Notes: Voracek in thick of race for scoring title

With their playoff hopes virtually gone, two areas of interest remain in the Flyers' sad-sack season: Where will they land in the draft, and will right winger Jake Voracek become the first player in franchise history to lead the league in scoring?

If the Flyers remain in the No. 8 draft position, they would have a 6 percent chance of landing the top pick - widely regarded to be center Connor McDavid - in the draft lottery. Buffalo is in the No. 1 draft spot and would have a 20 percent chance if it stayed there.

As for Voracek, he began Wednesday with a career-high 73 points, tied for second in the NHL, and one point behind co-leaders John Tavares of the Islanders and Sidney Crosby of the Penguins.

Even with the Flyers out of the playoff hunt, Voracek continues to downplay the battle for the scoring title.

"If I would start thinking about it, I would probably have one point in the next eight games," he said before the Flyers faced Kimmo Timonen and the Blackhawks. "I just try to have fun with it and enjoy it. I think the last couple games, me and [Claude Giroux] really played well together, created a lot of opportunities. We just try to enjoy it and score as many as we can and help the team win games."

The Flyers' Eric Lindros shared the scoring title with Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr with 70 points in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, but Lindros lost the tiebreaker on the number of goals (32-29).

"I'm not going to say I wouldn't like it," Voracek said of the scoring crown. ". . . But I don't want to think about it. . . . I try to play my game the way I did the last 70 games. For me, nothing changes. I try to play good defense, work hard every shift, and if it's going to come, it's going to come."

Voracek, who has received extra defensive pressure from opponents this season, and goalie Steve Mason are the top contenders for the team's MVP award, which will be voted upon by the media and announced before the season finale April 11 against visiting Ottawa.

"He's been very consistent all year," coach Craig Berube said of Voracek. "His work ethic has been remarkable; it seems like he's getting better and better."

If the Flyers change coaches after the season, Chicago assistant Kevin Dineen probably would be a candidate. . . . Luke Schenn missed his second straight game with an unspecified injury. . . . The Flyers announced that defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, one of their top prospects, will not return this season. He underwent knee surgery in November.