After a quick trip out to Minnesota on Thursday (and a huge win collected there), the Flyers are back at it again on home ice tonight. They’re putting together a nice run of play and certainly making things interesting in the race towards playoff contention, but another challenge lies in front of them tonight, as they face off against the Blue Jackets, who sit ahead of them in the standings, and just a point out of the final wildcard spot.
Puck drop: 7:30 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- It doesn’t look like he’s going to get into the lineup tonight, but the Flyers have recalled Garrett Wilson from the Phantoms. [BSH]
- Speaking of the Phantoms, Noah Powell debuted for them last night, and he did pretty well! [BSH]
- The deadline may have come and gone but the rumor mill continues to turn. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 31-23-11 (5th in Metro)
Goals: Travis Konecny (24)
Assists: Travis Konecny (34)
Points: Travis Konecny (58)
Columbus Blue Jackets – 33-21-11 (4th in Metro)
Goals: Kirill Marchenko (24)
Assists: Zach Werenski (48)
Points: Zach Werenski (68)
Projected lineups
Nikita Grebenkin — Trevor Zegras — Owen Tippett
Alex Bump — Sean Couturier* — Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey — Noah Cates — Matvei Michkov
Carl Grundstrom — Luke Glendening — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae — Nick Seeler
Dan Vladar
(Sam Ersson)
Cole Sillinger — Adam Fantilli — Kirill Marchenko
Kent Johnson — Sean Monahan — Connor Garland
Mason Marchment — Charlie Coyle — Mathieu Olivier
Isac Lundeström — Boone Jenner — Danton Heinen
Zach Werenski — Dante Fabbro
Ivan Provorov — Denton Mateychuk
Damon Severson — Erik Gudbranson*
Jett Greaves
(Elvis Merzlikins)
Storylines to watch
Lineup shuffling and question marks
Above you’ll have seen the tentative lineup for tonight for the Flyers, but it’s worth noting that it might look a little bit different by the time we hit warmups. Christian Dvorak got a little banged up in Minnesota, and while it’s promising that he took the pregame skate, he remains officially a game-time decision. If he’s good to go, though, expect him to slide in on the second line, and then for Couturier to drop down to the fourth line, pushing Glendening out.
Elsewhere, of note is Grebenkin’s promotion up off of the fourth line and set to start alongside Zegras and Tippett. It feels, in all, an earned promotion as well — Grebenkin’s been playing with some good jump, and he looked excellent playing up in the lineup last weekend, and given the lateness in the season, it all makes sense that he would get another look with some more meaningful minutes, to see what he can do with them. And soon we’ll see, indeed.
Back to Vladar
The Flyers also announced this morning that Dan Vladar will be getting the start again tonight, and this feels like an interesting choice. He came away with the win on Thursday, sure, but he didn’t look like he was at his sharpest throughout that performance. And maybe that was just a one-off, but one wonders if there’s a bit of fatigue beginning to creep in for a goaltender who’s being used a whole lot lately, coming off of not having an Olympic break. The Flyers need to be mindful of how much they’re leaning on him, but they clearly think giving him the nod tonight it the way to go.
All the same, the Flyers are giving him a chance to bounce back from a fine but not great performance, and to show that he can get this thing moving in the right direction again.
Keeping it rolling
We mentioned it off the top, but it bears repeating, that the vibes are good right now. The Flyers are piling up some wins, and despite selling a bit at the deadline, it’s clear that they’re still truly invested in giving it their all and continuing to throw everything at their desperate push to get into the mix for a wildcard spot. Whether or not they have enough in the tank and can get enough good breaks around them to pull it off, who knows, but the team is fun right now, and it’s just nice to have something to root for beyond losing out for a better draft pick. We deserve that, and hopefully today can at least be some more fun.
