We’ve hit the final game of the month of March, and the Flyers are back in action just down the road in DC, set to face off against the Capitals for the final time this season. Things are getting really exciting around here, as the playoff race heats up and their top prospect steps into it, and we’ll see if the Flyers are able to keep these good vibes going in another major divisional matchup.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- It’s been a weird year for Cam York, but it’s all kind of working? [BSH]
- We’re going to get our first look at Porter Martone as a Flyer tonight, and while we’re trying to keep our expectations manageable, he really could give the team an immediate boost in a number of ways. [BSH]
- And finally: objects in mirror (Tyson Foerster’s return) may be closer than they appear. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 37-24-12 (5th in Metro)
Goals: Owen Tippett (27)
Assists: Travis Konecny (37)
Points: Travis Konecny (63)
Washington Capitals – 37-28-9 (6th in Metro)
Goals: Alex Ovechkin (29)
Assists: Dylan Strome (37)
Points: Alex Ovechkin (57)
Projected lineups
Travis Konecny — Christian Dvorak — Porter Martone
Denver Barkey — Trevor Zegras — Owen Tippett
Carl Grundstrom — Noah Cates — Matvei Michkov
Sean Couturier — Luke Glendening — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Emil Andrae
Dan Vladar
(Sam Ersson)
Connor McMichael — Dylan Strome — Alex Ovechkin
Ethen Frank — Hendrix Lapierre — Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier — Justin Sourdif — Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime — David Kampf — Ivan Miroshnichenko
Martin Fehervary — Rasmus Sandin
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cole Hutson — Matt Roy
Logan Thompson
(Charlie Lindgren)
Storylines to watch
Martone debuts
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for! After something of a surprise early elimination from the NCAA tournament on Saturday, Porter Martone’s collegiate career came to a close, and he signed to his entry level deal on Sunday. And despite the quick turnaround and lack of practice time, he seems eager to get rolling, and he’s set to make his NHL debut tonight. There’s a whole lot of buzz surrounding him right now, and while we’re being careful not to put too much pressure on the situation (how he performs in this debut isn’t going to be make or break), it’s still an exciting one, all the same. Martone’s primed to be an impact player at this level, and it will be cool to see how he does in this introduction. It looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of him, as he skated on the top line and with the top power play unit in the pregame skate, so the coaching staff is certainly giving him a whole lot of runway to show what he can do.
Offense on the rise?
Don’t look now, but it might just be that the Flyers are beginning to really get their offense going. The scoring has been coming together nicely for them of late, but it’s been an even bigger positive to see the underlying process rising to meet that. That is, while it was a real struggle for a while there for the Flyers to even approach the 25 shots on goal mark across the whole of the game, they’ve been able to exceed that in each of their last five games. They’re still not positively pouring on the shots, but they’re generating a bit more, and we’re already seeing that work paying dividends. If they want to keep their offensive game clicking, they were going to need to figure out eventually how to start generating more chances, and that’s just what they’ve been doing, of late. Whether they’re able to sustain that, we’ll see, but things seem to be trending up, for now.
Standings check
And finally, before we go, a quick check-in with the Flyers and their place in the standings. The weekend was kind to them, and the Flyers were able to continue their climb up the standings. As it stands, they’re tied with the Red Wings and Senators with 86 points, and sit just two points behind the Blue Jackets who are just barely clinging to that final wildcard spot. They’ll still need some help, but if everything breaks their way, they could find themselves even with Columbus and within total reach of claiming a playoff spot for themselves. Of course, the biggest need is for them to take care of the business that’s within their control and pick up a win, and we’ll see how they’re able to fare now that the lights are getting brighter again.
