Would you look at that, it’s game day again! After taking a tough loss to the Red Wings on home ice last night, the Flyers are back in action tonight, taking a quick trip up to Long Island to close out their season series against the Islanders. It’s do or die time for the Flyers’ playoff push, and we’ll see soon how they’re able to rise to this occasion.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP+
📻: 93.3 WMMR
Pregame reading
- In case you missed it, the Flyers lost last night. They’ll have to turn the page on that one quickly, but here’s the rundown on how that one went, before we all move on. [BSH]
- It was an unfortunate outcome, but hey, Foerster and Martone both looked good, and we love to see that. [BSH]
- And finally, let’s talk playoff odds. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 37-26-12 (5th in Metro)
Goals: Owen Tippett/Travis Konecny (27)
Assists: Travis Konecny (39)
Points: Travis Konecny (66)
Detroit Red Wings – 42-29-5 (3rd in Metro)
Goals: Bo Horvat (30)
Assists: Mathew Barzal (49)
Points: Mathew Barzel (68)
Projected lineups
Tyson Foerster — Trevor Zegras — Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny — Christian Dvorak — Porter Martone
Alex Bump — Noah Cates — Matvei Michkov
Sean Couturier — Luke Glendening — Carl Grundstrom
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Emil Andrae
Dan Vladar
(Sam Ersson)
Anders Lee — Bo Horvat — Emil Heineman
Calum Ritchie — Brayden Schenn — Mat Barzal
Ondrej Palat — J.G. Pageau — Simon Holmstrom*
Kyle MacLean — Casey Cizikas — Marc Gatcomb
Matthew Schaefer — Ryan Pulock
Adam Pelech — Carson Soucy
Scott Mayfield — Adam Boqvist
Ilya Sorokin
(David Rittich)
Storylines to watch
Can Martone finally break through?
Porter Martone made his home debut last night, playing in his second game since signing his entry level deal, and he just seems to keep getting better and better. He looked a little nervy in the first period of his debut, but he picked up steam well as the game went on, stepping up as a commanding presence, and he was able to carry that nicely into last night’s game against the Red Wings. Martone was around it all night, creating heaps of excellent shots, but unfortunately failing to get one single bounce to go his way. All the same, he’s building up a really sound underlying process, and if he can keep that up, it won’t be long before he’s able to break through on one of those chances. Could tonight be the night? Time will tell.
How will Vladar respond?
As they look to close out the back-to-back, it looks like the Flyers will be going back to Dan Vladar for the start in this one. And this will be a big game for him — not only are the stakes high for the team as a whole, but this is a huge opportunity for Vladar to get things back on track after a less than stellar showing in his last start against the Capitals. He’s gotten a little bit of extra rest, and that should help, but there’s still a bit of a hill to climb to get back to his top form. The Flyers will need it pretty desperately tonight, so hopefully he can deliver.
The must-win game to end all must-win games
The Flyers are running out of runway on this season, and with two losses recorded this week, they’re really getting into desperation time for their playoff hopes. They’re still close to grabbing a wildcard spot, but the outcome of this game will see a pretty significant swing in their chances of getting in, depending on how it shakes out. If they can pull off a win in regulation, per Moneypuck, they’ll stay alive with a 26.5 percent chance of getting into the playoffs, but if they lose this one in regulation too, they’ll drop to a meager 5.1 percent chance. It’s do or die time, and they’ll need to find a way to shake off the disappointment from last night’s loss and get this thing back on track quickly. No pressure.
