The game: 7:00 PM on NBCSP+, NHL Network, and 97.5 The Fanatic
We’ve officially made it to the midway point of the preseason, and the Flyers are back in action this evening for their first of two meetings with the Bruins. They’re still on home ice, and looking to capture some of the same positive results they found against the Islanders on Thursday — wherein they were able to break through in a tough, tight checking matchup, to come away with a 2-0 win — and keep their momentum going. It’s another mixed bag of a lineup tonight, but we’ll see what they’re able to do with it.
Players to watch
Matvei Michkov
Coming off of a stellar showing in Thursday’s game against the Islanders, Michkov is looking to keep that momentum rolling, still. The Flyers are introducing an interesting wrinkle into that quest this evening as well — shuffling the lineup a bit and moving Michkov over to the left wing to play with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny. It’s an interesting experiment, and while the transition might not be totally seamless, if it works, the extra bit of flexibility for lineup mixing and matching heading into the season would be pretty huge. We want to keep our expectations reasonable, but Michkov has been able to meet every challenge he’s faced so far with ease, and we’re exciting to see how he’s able to rise to meet this one.
Olle Lycksell
The Flyers made their first round of cuts yesterday, and despite something of an up and down showing to date, Lycksell managed to survive. His reward is another game, another opportunity to right the ship and really work himself back into the conversation for a roster spot. It’ll be a bit bigger of a challenge this time around, as he’ll only have fourth line minutes to work with — though he was also taking reps on the first power play unit at this morning’s skate — so he’ll have to find a way to make the most of that somewhat limited time, clean up his details and limit some of the more careless mistakes that have plagued him early on, and more or less hit the ground running right from the jump.
Jett Luchanko
Luchanko also showed well in Thursday’s game, and he’s getting right back at it again tonight, which should be a real treat for the home fans to see. He’s getting a new look line in this one too, and it’s one that has the potential to be a lot of fun — he’ll be centering Travis Konecny (who he showed flashes of good chemistry with on Thursday) and Bobby Brink (who’s been on an absolute tear so far this preseason). To a degree, it still feels like Luchanko is playing with house money, the longer he sticks around in camp, but it’s all amounted to a really entertaining product, and who are we to argue with or fuss about that. He’s building up a lot of excitement for when he’s able to make the jump to this level on a full time basis, whenever that may be.
Hunter McDonald
McDonald has flown a bit under the radar so far through training camp, but his continued presence after the first round of cuts does feel notable. He still feels like something of a long shot to earn a roster spot right out of camp, but that doesn’t mean he’s not taking the opportunity he has in front of him now and running with it. And what an opportunity it is — tonight, he’s penciled in on the Flyers’ top defensive pair, playing alongside Rasmus Ristolainen. This, if nothing else, should be a bit learning experience for him, as he’s able to get a lot of minutes to work with, and to play off of a veteran who the Flyers are likely hoping he can develop to fill a similar role in the future. McDonald has been taking everything in stride so far, and this should be no exception.
The lineup
Philadelphia Flyers
Michkov-Couturier-Konecny
Farabee-Luchanko-Brink
Laughton-Abols-Cates
Lycksell-Poehling-Richard
McDonald-Ristolainen
Ginning-Drysdale
Zamula-Bonk
Fedotov
Makiniemi
