The Philadelphia Flyers are playing hockey again (threatening). Just 24 hours after getting embarrassed so badly that you almost have to laugh about it, they are traveling up to New Jersey to face the Devils in a season-opening back-to-back. It is the perfect chance to wipe away that disgusting result against the Penguins and start to maybe get some hope instilled in us again. If they look good tonight, we’ll be willing to never think about 7-0 again.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: ESPN+
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- Well, if you actually want to read further on the 7-0 disaster that was the Flyers’ season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins, we have some takeaways from that game. [BSH]
- After the game, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet had a lot of choice words about the team and the result. A lot of talk about how it was the worst defensive work he’s ever seen since he’s been in Philadelphia. [BSH]
- 3 centers the Flyers could maybe get to recover from losing out on Leo Carlsson. [BSH]
Pregame watching
Projected lineups
Owen Tippett — Trevor Zegras — Porter Martone
Tyson Foerster — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Alex Bump — Noah Cates — Matvei Michkov
Carl Grundstrom — Sean Couturier — Noel Acciari
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Simon Benoit
Joseph Woll
(Dan Vladar)
Timo Meier — Nico Hischier — Luke Evangelista
Anthony Mantha — Jack Hughes — Jesper Bratt
Arseny Gritsyuk — Evan Rodrigues — Dawson Mercer
Amadeus Lombardi — Cody Glass — Stefan Noesen
Luke Hughes — Brett Pesce
Jonas Seigenthaler — Dougie Hamilton
Brendan Dillon — Declan Chisholm
Jake Allen
(Nico Daws)
Storylines to watch
Can they recover from being absolutely embarrassed?
The Flyers desperately need to put in a good performance here. Maybe the biggest must-win game this early in a season that has ever happened in Philadelphia sports history. The worst part of it is that we can’t even think of the possibility of one player being able to shine against the Devils. With every single Flyer having a terrible night that led to that disaster, it’s extremely hard to think of them making any noise.
It would be one thing if someone like Owen Tippett scored a goal and maybe continued that playoff physicality — he did finish the game with six hits so it’s there a little bit — then we could justifiably hope that he continues playing well and the Flyers can lean on him for some offense. But with absolutely no one putting in solid work on either side of the puck, it’s a barren wasteland of expectations. Let’s just hope that the 24 hours proceeding the season opener features some heightened focus.
How will the defense work? Will they prevent anything at all?
We can perfectly accept the Flyers having just 19 shots on goal in their season opener. We’re used to it. Rick Tocchet is the coach. It is the absence of any defense that really surprised us and completely ruined the game. The fact that the Flyers gave up a total of 38 shots on goal, and 21 high-danger chances is the thing that is absolutely appalling and might have us hit the big red button in a blind panic.
To not go into an absolute meltdown, we need to see an improved defense that is focused on preventing scoring chances. Unfortunately, they are up against a way better roster in the Devils who have scorers on all four lines and a pretty good blue line who is capable of moving the puck up the ice. It’s going to be a massive test.
Facing a stronger opponent and we’re worried
While the Devils did not make the playoffs last year, it’s not like they’re not a talented team. Led by the duo of Hischier and Hughes, their forward group can be big and play a speed game if they want to. On the blue line, they’re not the rushers up the ice but they play a very solid game with some underrated offensive players like Hamilton, and some supreme defense-first defensemen like Pesce and Siegenthaler.
Their skaters are what will take them to places that they want to be. It’s now on the Flyers to be that more stingy defensive presence to soften those skaters and then maybe take advantage of them having a horrible situation in between the pipes.
