Puck drop: 5:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: Flyers website
Pregame reading
- The Rookie Series kicked off last night, and while it wasn’t the most polished affair, it still saw the Flyers manage to come away with the win (in overtime, because of course).
- Nikita Grebenkin really had himself a game, and it’s pretty impossible not to be won over by him, at this point.
Pregame watching
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Alex Bump — Jack Nesbitt — Samu Tuomaala
Devin Kaplan — Jacob Gaucher — Alexis Gendron
Nikita Grebenkin — Karsen Dorwart — Nathan Quinn
Sawyer Boulton — Matthew Gard — Tucker Robertson
Hunter McDonald — Luke Vlooswyk
Austin Moline — Ethan Samson
Ty Murchison — Spencer Gill
Carson Bjarnason
(Joey Costanzo)
New York Rangers
Gabe Perreault — Noah Laba — Brennan Othmann
Nathan Aspinall — Dylan Roobroeck — Jaroslav Chmelar
Adam Syroka — Carey Terrance — Kalle Vaisanen
Bryce McConnell-Barker — Rico Gredig — Raoul Broilard
Jackson Dorrington — Scott Morrow
Artem Gonchar — Case McCarthy
Corbin Vaughn — Evan Passmore
Callum Tung
(Hugo Ollas)
Storylines to watch
Lineup updates
There’s been a big sort of “will they, won’t they” thing unfolding over these last few days with regards to Oliver Bonk and his status for these games, and while it looked like he might be able to get in for tonight’s game after being held out from Game 1, per the Inquirer’s Jackie Spiegel, Bonk will now not be taking part in Game 2. Along with that, Denver Barkey comes out of the lineup after his big showing last night — we can’t imagine that this is injury related, but someone had to come out to give Nathan Quinn a look, and Barkey likely already showed them all that they need to see, so he’s earned himself the night off. It will be our first proper introduction to Quinn since he was drafted this summer (and after showing some nice flashes in Development Camp, but still flying a bit under the radar, relative to some of the older and bigger name players), and, if nothing else, it will be interesting to see what he’s able to do with this opportunity.
Bjarnason getting settled
Last night saw Bjarnason get the start, and it was certainly an up and down showing. The start was a little rocky, as he let in two goals early in the first period and seemed to be struggling some in his reads and timing, and it looked like things might be ready to go sideways on him in a big way. But credit to him, he was able to settle in nicely through the final two periods, and while he did allow one more goal, it came on a play when he was pretty well hung out to dry, his play beyond that was much more settled, and he gave the team the chance they needed to mount their comeback.
It was an imperfect showing, sure, but it was all part of the process. After all, it’s been months since Bjarnason has played in any games, and the practice settings just aren’t as vigorous, can’t completely replicate these game settings, so it was bound to take him a little while to get back up to speed. But he got things moving in the right direction, and as he’s slated to play the first half of today’s game, he has a chance to keep that building upwards.
Energy check
The first game of this series was, without a doubt a pretty high-octane, physical one, and it’s something that we’ve more or less come to expect from this matchup — the Flyers and Rangers’ rookies have been facing off for several years running now, and just like their big clubs, these prospect teams do not like each other. There was a physical tone set, but the Flyers also had to expend some serious energy to play their uptempo style that was being asked of them, and to come back from that early deficit. It was a good effort, altogether, but it does bring into question how much they’ll have left in the tank for this evening’s game. We might expect a crisper effort, given that these guys have a few more reps of playing together, but the energy level will be a big one to maintain. The sweep is up for grabs, and they’ll want to keep their momentum rolling to grab it.
