It’s homecoming weekend! In that it is the weekend and the Flyers are home!
I mean, technically they’ve been home since Wednesday, but you catch my drift.
Before we dive into the preview, are you coming to the game? Planning on getting there early? Be sure to stop by our tailgate and hang with some of your favorite BSH folks!
Not going to the game? We’ll miss you! But still open the article to see Steph’s art.
Now onto the preview.
The Flyers return to Philly 2-2 after a long trip out West. They hit some high highs and low lows, and in no place was this more evident than in the last game against Nashville. Despite battling back from a three goal deficit to take a two point lead, the Flyers really let off the gas in the last few minutes of the third period, and showed some weakness. Tonight’s game, then, will be all about evening out, getting back on track, in the face of this. Here are three things to look for in tonight against the Capitals.
1. Brian Elliott
Elliott’s been pretty solid through the beginning of the season, but Tuesday’s game was not a particularly strong showing for him. Most striking was his rebound control, which just wasn’t there. He gave up a big rebound straight to Scott Hartnell and, failing to get into position after, allowed for Hartnell’s first goal on the night. Of course, he wasn’t single handedly responsible for the lost game, but his performance wasn’t going to be the thing that salvaged it, either. Signs from practice this week point to Elliott starting tonight, and we can look for him to try to play a little cleaner and more consistently in his Philadelphia regular season debut.
2. Third line holding steady
One of the high points of the game against Nashville was being able to see the third line finally start to get something going. The newly shuffled line of Weise, Patrick, and Konecny was the most productive and consistent on the night, holding up even when the other lines began to struggle. It generated pressure, and brought Patrick’s first NHL goal. It’s what we’ve been looking to see from a line centered by the second overall pick, and it’s exciting to see it finally coming together. The results were there on Tuesday, and they’ll hope that they can keep the momentum rolling into tonight.
3. A return to third period dominance
We’ve talked a lot about how the Flyers have been positively dominant in the third periods of their first three games of the season, and how this was great news. Whatever their goals situation, they had the potential to climb back into the race or extend the lead in their favor. But this didn’t happen in Nashville. After the Forsberg goal, the Flyers looked out of sorts, unable to match the energy and pressure that the Predators were bringing. They let up, and Nashville took control. And this felt distinctly uncharacteristic of the Flyers we had seen, to date. The ability to dominate late in the game still presents as one of their biggest weapons, if only they can get back to it.
And what are the statistical models saying? The projections over at Corsica list the Flyers as the favorites to win this one. Looking at the four models with projections up so far, the Flyers have a low of 51 percent and high of 59 percent chance of winning, averaging out at 54.9 percent. This is the first time all season that the Flyers have been the statistical favorites to win one of their matchups. Let’s hope they can prove the models right.
The game will be broadcast on NBCSP and 97.5 The Fanatic.
You can check out the Flyers’ projected lineup below.
Forwards
Giroux – Couturier – Voracek
Weal – Filppula – Simmonds
Weise – Patrick – Konecny
Leier – Laughton – Raffl
Defensemen
Provorov – MacDonald
Sanheim – Gudas
Hagg – Gostisbehere
Goaltenders
Elliott
Neuvirth
