The Flyers are back in action tonight and ready to kick off the first leg of this midweek back-to-back, and, even more critically, looking to find a way to bounce back from a very tough loss to the Rangers on Monday. They’ll have to get through another divisional rival to do it, as they have a tough Capitals team in front of them, so this won’t be an easy task, but this Flyers team has often flexed their resilience so far this season, and its next test lies ahead.
Puck drop: 7:30 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: TNT
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- As the NCAA seasons are winding down, we can expect to see some player signings made official before too long. The first was announced today, as Noah Powell was signed to an entry level deal. [BSH]
- Also, if you need a break from sports, we’re here to talk A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 29-23-11 (6th in Metro)
Goals: Travis Konecny (23)
Assists: Travis Konecny (34)
Points: Travis Konecny (57)
Washington Capitals – 32-26-7 (5th in Metro)
Goals: Alex Ovechkin/Tom Wilson (24)
Assists: John Carlson* (36)
Points: Alex Ovechkin (50)
Projected lineups
Carl Grundstrom — Trevor Zegras — Owen Tippett
Alex Bump — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey — Noah Cates — Matvei Michkov
Nikita Grebenkin — Sean Couturier — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Noah Juulsen
Sam Reason
(Dan Vladar)
Alex Ovechkin — Justin Sourdif — Anthony Beauvillier
Connor McMichael — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Ryan Leonard
Aliaksei Protas — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Brandon Duhaime — Hendrix Lapierre — Ethen Frank
Rasmus Sandin — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Martin Fehervary — Declan Chisholm
Logan Thompson
(Charlie Lindgren)
Storylines to watch
Ersson gets the nod
Mercifully, at long last, it looks like Dan Vladar is getting a full night off. Ersson came into Monday’s game in relief in the third period, after Vladar gave up six goals across those first two periods, but before that, it had been a hot second since we’d seen him, as Ersson’s last appearance was his start against those same Rangers back on February 26, the second game back from the Olympic break.
That’s certainly a long layoff, even if he was going through his normal backup preparations, but all the same, that single period showing was a good one — he stopped all of the whopping three shots he faced — and that can certainly be something to build on. The Flyers will be hoping that the rest served him well, and he can come up big for a team that really needs it right now.
Can Bump keep it rolling?
It’s been an exciting week for Alex Bump, who got the recall to the Flyers and made his NHL debut on Saturday, and then him debut on home ice on Monday. Things have been going quite well for him so far — he was all over it in that first game, and while Monday was a little quieter for him, he still made some nice plays and a positive impression. The big question looming over all of this, though, is how long he might be able to keep this going. Phantoms watchers might recall that he started his pro career scorching hot when he debuted with the Phantoms last spring, but some of the difficulties caught up to him as that stint wore on. Now, he’s in a different place than he was at this time last year, but it will be interesting to see how he handles his game as the difficulty of the game around him increases. This is all part of the learning experience, and we’ll see how he tackles each new challenge thrown at him, as these Capitals will certainly try to.
Process turning?
Despite the results really not going their way in that one, there was one thing to like in what the Flyers were able to do in that matchup against the Rangers. That game was the first in nine games that the Flyers managed to put more than 25 shots on goal, and while that didn’t immediately turn into an outpouring of goals for them, there is something to be said for the assumption that eventually their scoring would stabilize if they can just continue to generate more chances. Will they actually be able to do this? Who knows. The Flyers have certainly backslid in their process time and again throughout this season, but maybe they can surprise us tonight.
