Tonight’s matchup is the second leg of a home and home between these two teams. The Philadelphia Flyers were winners on Wednesday by a score of 5-3 thanks in large part to Travis Konecny’s hat trick. That means the Flyers have now won six of their last seven and at the time of writing sit just seven points back of a playoff spot.

The Washington Capitals, meanwhile, sit in the first wildcard spot but have struggled in the beginning of this new year. They have lost three of their first five games, with their only two wins coming over the Columbus Blue Jackets, who currently sit in last place in the NHL. However, the new year also brought the return of some players to the Capitals’ lineup, including Tom Wilson and Nicklaus Backstrom.

Flyers Projected Lineup

James van Riemsdyk-Morgan Frost-Owen Tippett

Joel Farabee-Noah Cates-Travis Konecny

Kevin Hayes-Scott Laughton-Wade Allison

Nic Deslauriers-Patrick Brown-Zack MacEwen

Ivan Provorov- Cam York

Travis Sanheim-Tony DeAngelo

Nick Seeler-Rasmus Ristolainen

Carter Hart

(Sam Ersson)

Capitals Projected Lineup

Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Conor Sheary

Sonny Milano-Nicklas Backstrom-Tom Wilson

T.J. Oshie-Nic Dowd-Anthony Mantha

Marcus Johansson-Lars Eller-Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson-Trevor van Riemsdyk

Dmitry Orlov-Nick Jensen

Alexander Alexeyev-Martin Fehervary

Darcy Kuemper

(Charlie Lindgren)

What to Watch For

Travis Konecny now has points in ten straight games, and 20 total points in that span, including 12 goals. After the game on Wednesday, John Tortorella praised Konecny’s mindset and his ability to move onto the next play after making a dumb mistake. Konecny has been the Flyers best skater this season and this is another reminder to send him to the all star game.

Tonight’s game will be the last matchup of the season between these division rivals. It is just one of the weird schedule quirks for the Flyers this season, much like only playing the Pittsburgh Penguins three times. Regardless, the Flyers have a chance to split the season series with a win tonight.

The Flyers scored another shorthanded goal on Wednesday and now lead the league with eight of them this season. The Flyers also sit 18th in the league in penalty kill percentage. While this may not seem great, compared to years past it is a huge improvement. In this seven stretch the Flyers have killed 14 of the 17 power plays against, good for 82.4%. The Flyers will look to continue this positive trend against the vaunted Capitals power play.