The Philadelphia Flyers are back in action and for the second game of the season, are visiting the Carolina Hurricanes as they continue this season-opening stretch up against Stanley Cup contenders.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- Top Flyers prospect Porter Martone had his first two NCAA games this week and his Michigan State Spartans split the series against New Hampshire. Brad gives you everything you need to know. [BSH]
- After a season-opening loss, Rick Tocchet has changed up some forward lines for this visit to Carolina (more on that later). [BSH]
- In the season opener, the established trio of Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, and Bobby Brink were simply dominant. [BSH]
Pregame watching
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Travis Konecny — Sean Couturier — Matvei Michkov
Christian Dvorak — Trevor Zegras — Owen Tippett
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin — Jett Luchanko — Garnet Hathaway
Nick Seeler — Travis Sanheim
Adam Ginning — Jamie Drysdale
Egor Zamula — Noah Juulsen
Sam Ersson
(Dan Vladar)
Carolina Hurricanes
Nikolaj Ehlers — Sebastian Aho — Seth Jarvis
Andrei Svechnikov — Logan Stankoven — Jackson Blake
William Carrier — Jordan Staal — Jordan Martinook
Taylor Hall — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Eric Robinson
Jaccob Slavin — Sean Walker
K’Andre Miller — Jalen Chatfield
Alexander Nikishin — Shayne Gostisbehere
Frederik Andersen
(Brandon Bussi)
Storylines to watch
The new lineup
After a disappointing season opener, Rick Tocchet has decided to shuffle things up slightly. Sean Couturier stays with Matvei Michkov but is now joined by Travis Konecny instead of Christian Dvorak. Dvorak then moves down next to Trevor Zegras and Owen Tippett to form an…interesting forward line. But focusing on the top line first, it’s a trio that we saw throughout last season but was never consistent due to both Michkov and Konecny being natural right wingers. Still, it was the line that saw the second-most minutes last season and while on the ice, they outscored opponents 16-12 and had 52.49 percent of the shots on goal share. It was good!
As for the new second line, there’s a lot of unknowns. Zegras wasn’t perfect in his Flyers debut and getting a more defensively inclined forward in Dvorak next to him is something that has been proposed by many since the summer. Add in Owen Tippett, who could use any consistent linemates whatsoever, to be a potential triggerman and end result of Zegras’s playmaking, then there is a path to this being decently successful.
And there are other changes too.
Grebenkin and Luchanko get in
After so many of us were slightly disappointed to not see the exciting rookies for the season opener in Florida, Tocchet has decided that Saturday night these folks will be making their season debuts. Grebenkin more than earned his position. A standout through training camp and the preseason, amongst the other prospects and roster hopefuls, the 22-year-old winger stood at the top. The way Grebenkin was able to bring physicality with some scoring punch might be key long-term for the Flyers but now he starts in a fourth-line role, and it will be alongside Jett Luchanko. The 19-year-old center is making his season debut and will play in his fifth NHL game Saturday night. And while being a fourth-line center is not something we want to see for beyond a month or two, he should have a prominent role on the special teams to boost his overall minutes.
We’ll have to see just how this line is deployed, but nevertheless it’s nice to see these two actually on the ice.
Sam Ersson getting first start
After Vladar made his Flyers debut for the season opener in a somewhat surprising move, Tocchet is giving Saturday night’s game to Ersson. The 25-year-old netminder was projected to be the main starter for this season (or at least until he shows that he shouldn’t be) but now we might be seeing more of an even split to start. Whether it’s dependent on the opponent or not, at least Ersson is getting a start in before the home opener on Monday.
