The Philadelphia Flyers are in the middle of a big skid. Having lost their last three games and with three more ahead of them before the Olympic break, this is a massive week. And, well, it starts with hosting the Los Angeles Kings who are also in a similar position. The Battle of Mid.
Puck drop: 12:30 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- After the embarrassing game that was the Flyers visiting the Bruins during the week, Travis Konecny sounded really fed up with losing. All he wants to do is play competitive hockey and be in the playoffs. [BSH]
- With the Olympic roster freeze coming next week, the trade rumor mill was overflowing. Robert Thomas is a massive name and the Flyers simply have to do everything they can to get him considering the path they chose to try to get a first-line center not in the draft. [BSH]
- Elliotte Friedman named the Flyers as a potential landing spot for Artemi Panarin. [BSH]
- …And here’s why that makes absolutely no sense. [BSH]
- Related to today, the Flyers sent Lane Pederson back to Lehigh Valley. So, does this mean coach Rick Tocchet is trying Trevor Zegras at center for the time being? Certainly seems to be the case. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 24-20-9 (7th in Metro)
Goals: Travis Konecny (21)
Assists: Travis Konecny (29)
Points: Travis Konecny (50)
Los Angeles Kings – 22-17-13 (6th in Pacific)
Goals: Adrian Kempe/Kevin Fiala (18)
Assists: Adrian Kempe (23)
Points: Adrian Kempe (41)
Projected lineups
Nikita Grebenkin — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey — Noah Cates – Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov — Trevor Zegras — Bobby Brink
Carl Grundstrom — Sean Couturier — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Noah Juulsen
Dan Vladar
(Sam Ersson?)
Corey Perry — Alex Laferriere — Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore — Quinton Byfield — Warren Foegele
Kevin Fiala — Joel Armia — Andrei Kuzmenko
Jeff Malott — Samuel Helenius — Taylor Ward
Mikey Anderson — Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson — Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin — Cody Ceci
Darcy Kuemper
(Anton Forsberg)
Storylines to watch
The new center group continues
On Friday, the Flyers officially sent down center Lane Pederson back down to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The veteran minor-leaguer was brought up as a replacement for the injured Rodrigo Abols and simply because he can also play down the middle. So, why would they just send him back down without a replacement? Well, as we saw in Boston, the Flyers are actually going to try Trevor Zegras playing center and then moving down Sean Couturier to the fourth line and despite having a terrible loss, they’re going to keep doing that back at home.
It is at least an encouraging sign that after a bad loss and after Zegras went 1-for-11 on faceoffs, that he’s going to not just immediately give up and revert back to the lineup he’s gone with for most of the season, with the 24-year-old on the wing of Christian Dvorak.
Sam Ersson out injured last game, but no update
At the time of writing (approximately four hours before puck drop, folks), we haven’t seen any injury update regarding goaltender Sam Ersson. The 26-year-old left the game in Boston with an injury and Dan Vladar needed to replace him, but we have not heard anything about him needing to be out of the tandem or them calling up Aleksei Kolosov, or anything like that.
Maybe it’s just that Vladar was going to get this game anyways and Ersson is healthy enough to be a backup, or they just really forgot about that happening. We’ll see.
Quinton Byfield will break out one of these games
Coming into this season, Byfield needed to do something special. The former second-overall pick was given the title of Anze Kopitar’s long-term replacement as the legendary Slovenian announced that it was going to be his final season and retirement was coming. Naturally, the high-skill, big-bodied center was going to take up the mantle.
But, Byfield has struggled. Just nine goals and 28 points in 51 games despite averaging over 20 minutes a game. The 23-year-old hasn’t scored more than two points in a game and hasn’t even scored multiple goals in a game yet. But last season it was a different story with his 54-point campaign — so one of these games he’s going to have a statement game (just like our Matvei Michkov) and reclaim the spot as the future hope for the Kings. And, well, against this Flyers team might just unfortunately be that game.
