After a tough loss to the Blue Jackets in Columbus last night, the Flyers are right back at it again tonight, wrapping up a quick road trip with a trip up to Boston to face off against the Bruins for the first time this season.
It’s looking like it will be a once again depleted squad that they’ll be icing tonight, as Rasmus Ristolainen left last night’s game after just two shifts with a lower-body injury, while Travis Konecny’s status remains uncertain after he was hobbled by a blocked shot late in the second period, but all the same, they’ll be hoping that they can rally the group that they do have available to them, and get things moving in the right direction again.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP+
📻: 93.3 WMMR
Pregame reading
- The Flyers are right back at it again tonight and looking to bounce back from last night’s loss in Columbus, which was a real heartbreaker. [BSH]
- One of the high points of that game, though, was seeing the way that Travis Konecny really put the team on his back and willed them into keeping that game close. [BSH]
- And finally, it might be time for the Flyers to pause and take a hard look at how they’re managing Sean Couturier. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 24-19-9 (4th in Metro)
Goals: Travis Konecny (20)
Assists: Travis Konecny (28)
Points: Travis Konecny (48)
Boston Bruins – 31-20-3 (5th in Atlantic)
Goals: Morgan Geekie (30)
Assists: David Pastrnak (47)
Points: David Pastrnak (69)
Projected lineups
Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak – Nikita Grebenkin
Denver Barkey – Sean Couturier – Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Carl Grundstrom – Lane Pederson – Garnet Hathway
Travis Sanheim – Cam York
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae – Noah Juulsen
Sam Ersson
(Dan Vladar)
Morgan Geekie – Fraser Minten – David Pastrnak
Casey Mittelstadt – Pavel Zacha – Viktor Arvidsson
Michael Eyssimont – Matthew Poitras- Marat Khusnutdinov
Tanner Jeannot – Sean Kuraly – Mark Kastelic
Jonathan Aspirot – Charlie McAvoy
Nikita Zadorov – Andrew Peeke
Hampus Lindholm – Mason Lohrei
Jeremy Swayman
(Joonas Korpisalo)
Storylines to watch
Who will score the goals now?
As we alluded to off the top, all of the Flyers’ scoring from last night came from one single source, in Travis Konecny. Now, this was a huge effort from him and showed a lot of resolve, and the hope is that this can serve as an example that others in the lineup can follow — even if not on the way to a hat trick themselves, but just to a greater degree of engagement and offensive creation.
In fact, it might actually be more than just a hope, it might be an outright need. That is, Konecny blocked a shot off his foot last night and seemed to still be feeling it through the very end of the game, and that has his status for tonight’s game feeling very much in the air. So, if the Flyers want to avoid getting shut out for the second time in three games, someone else is going to have to find a way to step up.
Back to Sam Ersson
With Dan Vladar finally returning to action last night after about a two week long absence — and playing quite well in that return, we should add — Ersson was given a much needed night off, but the expectation is that they’ll go back to him for the start tonight in Boston. Ersson’s been bringing some largely quite solid play of late, but this matchup certainly won’t be an easy one for him. The Bruins are dealing with some injuries as well, but they’re still producing nicely, and they’ve scored three or more goals in eight of their last 10 games. And with a still-depleted offense on his own team’s side, Ersson will need to bring his A-game — or very close to it — to lend them the support to best keep them in that game. We’ll see how he looks after that bit of rest and chance to reset.
Returning to the direness of the situation
When we spoke before yesterday’s game, we made a point to highlight the growing desperation of the Flyers’ situation, and it is a situation which, with the Blue Jackets claiming a regulation win over them last night has only grown more desperate. As it stands, the Flyers are one of five teams sitting with 57 standings points, and with the Leafs and Capitals both in action tonight (as well as the Devils, who trail by just one point), wins for any number of those teams and another loss for the Flyers would see them quickly dropping down the standings again.
What’s more, it’s still the Bruins holding on to that final wildcard spot, and while the Flyers don’t have a chance to rise to meet them in this one regardless, another two points in the Bruins’ back pocket would put them 10 points up, and put them quite a bit more comfortably out of striking distance. The margin for error for the Flyers is so thin, and if they want to remain in the hunt before the break arrives, they need to find their footing again, and do it fast.
