Flyers look to sweep road trip with win in St. Louis

The Game : 8:00 p.m. EST on NBCSports Philadelphia, ESPN+/Hulu, and 97.5 The Fanatic

Folks! There is indeed a hockey game happening tonight. For those of us not tuning in to watch the Eagles tonight (a small minority, we suspect), we\'ll be seeing the Flyers wrapping up their road trip in St. Louis and looking to do it with a sweep and a win over the Blues.

To recap: the road trip began with a back-to-back for the Flyers, beginning with a spirited game against a struggling Minnesota Wild team, which the Flyers were able to take in overtime. They followed that up with a pretty commanding win over a much stronger Winnipeg Jets team, and did it without both Sean Couturier and Jamie Drysdale in the lineup (both of whom they\'ll be without again tonight). A clean sweep is a tough thing to manage, but the Flyers are coming into this one with a good bit of momentum.

And the Blues, on their side, are having a not too stellar season. Sitting at fifth in the Central, they\'re still in the mix for a playoff spot, but the standings out West have been tight, and they remain a step behind the teams in front of them, and despite picking up points in seven of their last ten games, they\'re still three points out of a playoff spot. That\'s a determined team, though, and they won\'t be making things easy on the Flyers.

Players to Watch

Noah Cates

We buried the lede! Surprise! After taking an injury all the way back in November, Cates is returning to the lineup slightly ahead of the expected schedule, and that should give the Flyers a much needed boost. As we said, they\'re going to be without Couturier again tonight -- he\'s still out with an unspecified injury -- and while Cates is set to be eased back into things playing on the fourth line tonight, his presence in the lineup is certainly welcome, and he\'ll help the team from looking too depleted for the moment.

Cam Atkinson

That commanding win over the Jets that we mentioned in the introduction? That win was really the Cam Atkinson show, as they won by a 2-0 score, with both coming from Atkinson, breaking a quite lengthy scoring drought for him. It was a big game for him and definitely nice to see, but now the big question is of how is he going to follow it up. Is he going to be able to continue to ride this momentum, or was that just a flash in the pan? The Flyers have needed to get a bit more in the way of offensive production of late, and Atkinson getting himself back up to top form would give them a real boost, that\'s for certain.

Kevin Hayes

For the first time since the trade, the Flyers will be facing off against their old pal Kevin Hayes (and it\'s meeting that, since we know he has not been actively trying to sabotage his former organization, should not be too hostile). Hayes has been having himself a good but not great season -- with 10 goals and 20 points in 41 games, he\'s still fourth in scoring on the Blues, and looks to be settling in nicely enough on his new team.

Projected Lineups

Philadelphia Flyers

Owen Tippett -- Morgan Frost -- Travis Konecny Owen Tippett -- Ryan Poehling -- Cam Atkinson Tyson Foerster -- Scott Laughton -- Garnet Hathaway Nic Deslauriers -- Noah Cates -- Bobby Brink

Travis Sanheim -- Cam York Nick Seeler -- Sean Walker Egor Zamula -- Rasmus Ristolainen

Carter Hart (Sam Ersson)

St. Louis Blues

Pavel Buchnevich -- Robert Thomas -- Jordan Kyrou Jake Neighbours -- Brayden Schenn -- Kasperi Kapanen Brandon Saad -- Kevin Hayes -- Alexy Toropchenko Nathan Walker -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Sammy Blais

Nick Leddy -- Colton Parayko Torey Krug -- Justin Faulk Scott Perunovich -- Matthew Kessel

Joel Hofer (Jordan Binnington)

Gameday Tunes

We need something blue related for today\'s tunes, right? Well, this is the best of the best, if you ask me.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2XFOuxF5xUZ00RaVfaIdw2?si=4e1c4367686b4a18

Talking Points