The Flyers are kicking off a weekend back-to-back this evening, as the first of their visitors from the Great White North visit, and the Maple Leafs come to town. It’s been a wild week already, but the Flyers will be looking to keep the good vibes rolling into this busy weekend.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- The saga of Where In The World Is Emil Andrae continues, as after getting in for one game on Thursday, he was sent back down to rejoin the Phantoms. This was, it would seem, a roster size move, as it allowed them to clear up space to call up Jacob Gaucher as a bit of insurance in case Sean Couturier isn’t able to go (more on that later), so it makes sense. But at the same time… man, the whiplash. [BSH]
- Also, before we move into this next run of games, we’re taking a few minutes to pause and reflect on some of the things we’ve learned through these first 10 games of the season. [BSH]
Pregame watching
Projected lineups
Owen Tippett – Trevor Zegras – Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin – Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Rodrigo Abols – Jacob Gaucher – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Egor Zamula – Noah Juulsen
Dan Vladar
(Aleksei Kolosov)
Matthew Knies – Auston Matthews – Max Domi
Matis Maccelli – John Tavares – Bobby McMann
Dakota Joshua – Nicolas Roy – Easton Cowan
Sammy Blais – ??? – Calle Jarnkrok
Morgan Rielly – Brandon Carlo
Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Chris Tanev
Anthony Stolarz
(Cayden Primeau)
Storylines to watch
Finding some momentum
This week has been a weird one for the Flyers. After picking up a big win over the Penguins in a very spirited matchup on Tuesday, Thursday’s game against the Predators saw them looking a little bit depleted, a little bit disorganized, and even though that managed to pull off what would otherwise look like a commanding win (by a 4-1 score), it was far from their tidiest effort. The Flyers have some momentum working for them, in that they’ve now strung together three wins in a row, but now the larger focus will be to tack another Good Win onto that. There are bound to be some “it isn’t pretty, but it works” types of games brought throughout a long season, but as the Flyers are still working to refine their process, their new system, within the beginning of the season, it will be important for them to show some positive progress in this area as they continue on.
Vladar again
Thursday’s game against the Predators was not an easy one for Vladar — while the Flyers struggled to get their offense going as far as the shots total goes, putting up just 18 on the night, the Predators were able to pour 33 on them, making for something of a lopsided possession affair, even if it was the Flyers who got the better of the finishing punch — but he did very well to keep his skaters in that one, only allowing one goal on the night. With a back-to-back on the schedule this weekend, we expected that he would get the night off for one of the games, and it looks like he’ll be called upon again tonight, then likely backing up tomorrow. Two starts in a row isn’t anything terribly laborious, especially for a goaltender playing as well as Vladar has been, but the hope is that he’ll be able to keep that ball rolling here and put up another strong showing. The Leafs haven’t been quite as punchy this season, but they still have some serious firepower in their mix, so this will be another challenge for Vladar to rise to.
Couturier remains a possibility
Adding another interesting wrinkle into this one, of course, is the Sean Couturier of it all. Things weren’t really looking great for him, after he took a shot off the arm in Thursday’s game and didn’t return after the first intermission, and the Flyers’ recall of Jacob Gaucher yesterday suggested that whatever bumps he took from that were going to be lingering a bit.
Now, officially he’s a game-time decision for this one, but considering the fact that he didn’t get any reps on the special teams portion of the morning skate, the writing on the wall would suggest he’s more of a longshot to get into the lineup tonight, but we’ll have to see what happens.
No reunions (officially) yet
This game had the chance to be a particularly meaningful one, marking Scott Laughton’s first game back in Philly after being traded to the Leafs at last year’s deadline, but the full festivities will have to be left on hold for just a while longer. That is, Laughton made the trip down with the Leafs, and skated in practice with them yesterday, but it seems that he’s still not quite ready to get back into game action, as he works his way back from a lower-body injury he sustained in the preseason. So, there’s still a chance for him to catch up with some of his former teammates, but the full welcome back from the fans — one which certainly will be a big one, as he was a long standing favorite in the organization — will have to wait until the next time they’re in town in January.
