After taking a disappointing loss in overtime on the road in Game 2, the Flyers are back on home ice tonight for the first time in this series, and looking to break out for their first win against the Hurricanes. They’ve been getting things moving in the right direction, but this task is going to be easier said than done, and desperate times are beginning to arrive, as the Flyers look to avoid falling all the way down to 0-3 in the series.
Puck drop: 8:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: TNT/truTV/HBO Max
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- We’ll begin with some housekeeping: the lineup tonight is likely going to be looking a good bit different than last time out. [BSH]
- And while that doesn’t look like it’s going to include a promotion of Sean Couturier up the lineup… maybe it should? [BSH]
- The Flyers are going to need to play a near-perfect game to best the Hurricanes, and that starts with, well, starting on time. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 4-3-1
Goals: Porter Martone/Travis Sanheim/Jamie Drysdale (2)
Assists: Rasmus Ristolainen (4)
Points: Rasmus Ristolainen (5)
Carolina Hurricanes – 6-0-0
Goals: Logan Stankoven (6)
Assists: Taylor Hall (6)
Points: Taylor Hall (9)
Projected lineups
Tyson Foerster
Alex Bump — Trevor Zegras — Porter Martone
Tyson Foerster — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Carl Grundstrom — Denver Barkey — Matvei Michkov
Luke Glendening — Sean Couturier — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Emil Andrae
Dan Vladar
(Sam Ersson)
Andrei Svechnikov — Sebastian Aho — Seth Jarvis
Taylor Hall — Logan Stankoven — Jackson Blake
Nikolaj Ehlers — Jordan Staal — Jordan Martinook
William Carrier — Mark Jankowski — Eric Robinson
Jaccob Slavin — Jalen Chatfield
K’Andre Miller — Sean Walker
Shayne Gostisbehere — Alexander Nikishin
Frederik Andersen
(Brandon Bussi)
Storylines to watch
Building in the right direction
It’s hard to harp too hard on moral victories in the postseason, but it’s worth at least a passing acknowledgement that the Flyers did do a lot well in Game 2 to bounce back from that deeply uninspiring series opening showing, and get their game back on the upswing. Between their energy and their offensive continuity, their cleanness in play making, the Flyers looked a whole new team in the second game of the series. It wasn’t enough to help them secure a win, in the end, but remaining on that upward trajectory will go a long way to making this series, at the very least, competitive. The Flyers have been adept this season at putting lessons into place quickly and keeping the ball rolling well, so we’ll see if they’re able to tap into that same spirit tonight.
Next man up
The task ahead of them, though, is getting even more difficult by the day, as injuries continue to mount for them. They’ve already been without Owen Tippett for the whole of the series (and won’t be seeing him making his return tonight at least), and now they’ve added Noah Cates as well, as he took and injury late in Game 2 severe enough to have him already ruled out for the remainder of the series.
The Flyers have the depth to work around this — Grundstrom will move up into the top-9 and Hathaway will slide back in on the fourth line — but each test of their next man up mentality is a big one, as these new arrangements bear out.
Power play struggles ongoing
And finally, the dreaded power play. It’s been a constant source of angst over the course of the regular season, and the situation really hasn’t improved for the Flyers in the postseason. They’ve been trying desperately to get their power play going, and while they were able to put away a goal in Monday’s game — which is a good step, and certainly more than they can say they’ve done of late — having six more opportunities to add on after that one and failing to do so amounted to a tremendous missed opportunity in a game that was so close and so winnable for them.
In this matchup, the Flyers are going to need as much run support as they can get, and getting their power play going to even a moderate degree would be a huge difference maker for them.
