We’re back at last! It’s been almost three weeks since we’ve seen the Flyers on the ice for a game, but finally, they’re back at it for the first of two games on the road before they return home again this weekend.
It’s an uphill battle they’re facing, and in front of them tonight will be a tough divisional rival (and a team sitting between them and a playoff spot) in the Capitals, and the Flyers will have to find a way to hit the ground running quickly if they want to regain some of the ground they lost in that race before the break.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- Checking in with Matvei Michkov on his Olympic break and his relationship with his head coach. [BSH]
- Also, checking in with the college prospects, and digging into who we might be seeing turning pro sooner rather than later. [BSH]
- And finally, the Flyers made some changes to their lineup from their last time out, and it sure is… something. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 25-20-11 (6th in Metro)
Goals: Travis Konecny (23)
Assists: Travis Konecny (32)
Points: Travis Konecny (54)
Washington Capitals – 29-23-7 (5th in Metro)
Goals: Tom Wilson (23)
Assists: John Carlson (36)
Points: Tom Wilson (49)
Projected lineups
Trevor Zegras — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey — Sean Couturier — Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin — Carl Grundstrom — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Noah Juulsen
Dan Vladar
(Sam Ersson)
Aliaksei Protas — Dylan Strome — Alex Ovechkin
Connor McMichael — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier — Justin Sourdif – Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime — Hendrix Lapierre — Ethen Frank
Jakob Chychrun — Matt Roy
Martin Fehervary — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Declan Chisholm — Rasmus Sandin
Logan Thompson
(Charlie Lindgren)
Storylines to watch
Shaking off the rust
Of course, the biggest question here as we head into this first game back is of just what Flyers team will we see showing up tonight. While they’ve certainly shown throughout the season how dangerous they can look when they really get their offense going, they really limped into the break on a challenging streak, and now that they’ve had some time to rest and regroup, the next challenge in front of them will be not just shaking off any lingering effects of said challenging stretch, but also any rust that’s come with having no games for nearly three weeks.
Now, perhaps there’s a silver lining here in that while the Flyers will be coming into this one undoubtedly a little bit rusty, the Capitals will be in exactly the same spot, as this will be their big return to action as well. In some ways, this one will come down to who can get up to speed faster, which might pose a particular challenge to this often slow starting Flyers squad, but maybe tonight will see them tap into something special and find an exception. Time will tell.
Lineup shuffle
As we mentioned off the top, the lines are looking a little different heading into tonight’s game, and the choices made here really are a bit curious. The most notable bit is, of course, that the Trevor Zegras at center experiment hasn’t stretched to the other side of the break, and we’ll see him back on the wing on the top line with Dvorak and Konecny, while Carl Grundstrom will move over to center the fourth line.
There’s a lot that can be said about that, but we’ll leave it here — it’s going to take longer than the run they’ve given him to figure out if Zegras can stick down the middle, and that’s a more important question to answer for their rebuild. Maybe the idea here is to stack that top line to finally get more of an offensive spark going, but if they’re prioritizing a mix to help their short-term goal of stringing together wins, this move had better work.
Also, for those keeping track at home, while the lines from practice yesterday made it look like Emil Andrae was primed to return to the lineup tonight, he’ll instead remain a healthy scratch to keep Noah Juulsen in the lineup. It will be sixth straight game watching from the rafters.
Standings check
If you’re feeling a little adrift as we return from this long break, you’re certainly not alone. Nearly three weeks is a long time between games, but before we get back into the swing of things, let’s take a moment to reestablish just where the Flyers are in their push for a playoff spot.
As it stands, the Bruins are occupying that final wildcard spot in the East, sitting with 32 wins and 69 points in the standings, and the Flyers are eight points behind them, with four teams sitting between them. A regulation win tonight wouldn’t afford them too much movement — it would just potentially tie them with the Leafs and Senators, though it would also give them a bit of breathing room from the Panthers who are trailing behind them (also with 61 points, but one more game played)
What a win tonight could do — a little more nebulously — is help kick start them well into what’s going to be quite a meaningful stretch in their schedule. After tonight, the Flyers will play three more games against conference opponents (two of which include teams in the Bruins and Leafs who they’re fighting directly for playoff positioning), then get a little reprieve as the Mammoth come to town on the eve of the trade deadline, and then on the other side of that, the next five games will see four more in-conference games. Their chances of making a run into the postseason have already taken a bit of a hit, but this stretch here could be truly make or break for them, and the Flyers will need to find a way here to get themselves off the ground quickly.
