How do you top Saturday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks? That’s going to be a tough act for the Flyers to follow, considering the Florida Panthers don’t have any players that actively spurned the organization. The Flyers will have to find a way to bring that same kind of juice to tonight’s game, considering their opponent is one of the best teams in the league and the reigning Stanley Cup Champions.
The Panthers have faltered a bit lately, and are 5-4-1 in their last 10. They sit at second in the Atlantic Division, between the Toronto Maple Leafs in first and the Tampa Bay Lightning in third, and very much look the part of a contending team that’s realized, “Hey, none of this matters until the post season and the conference stinks–we can coast a bit right now.” Even so, they’ve shown they can turn it on when it matters, like they did on Saturday against the Boston Bruins:
They may’ve lost that game, but this not a team to trifle with and let hang around. If you’re going to beat the Panthers, you need to be decisive. Hopefully, the Flyers can carry the momentum of Saturday’s win over the Ducks into tonight’s matchup and take it to Florida.
The good news from Saturday’s win is that it served as a reminder for how good some of these Flyers players can be: Travis Konecny had a four point night and is now 11th in NHL scoring with 50 points in 43 games; Jamie Drysdale had a goal and an assist on the power play, which is exactly what the Flyers want from him (and he’s been trending up lately too); Morgan Frost, Garnet Hathaway, Owen Tippett and Ryan Poehling each had a goal and an assist as well; Travis Sanheim and Cam York were everywhere. To top it all off–and somewhat lost in the noise–Sam Ersson had a 22-save shutout. Pretty much everyone on the team played to the level they need to if this competitive rebuild is going to succeed, and the extra chippiness was an added bonus.
That after-whistle engagement will be important tonight, too, as the Florida Panthers are one of the most physical teams in the league. The danger here is that their power play is quite good, even with Aaron Ekblad on the sidelines, so the Flyers will have to be careful not to cross the line and end up a man down.
Storylines to Watch
Lineup shakeup?
Looks like Joel Farabee will be scratched again tonight. He didn't run lines in morning skate and is doing extra work with Aleksei Kolosov while everyone else stretches. #LetsGoFlyers
— Siobhan Nolan (@SGNolan) January 13, 2025
For the second game in a row, it appears Joel Farabee will be scratched. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering Torts has, in the past, opted not to change the lineup after a win. One figures Olle Lycksell stays in, though he didn’t show anything particularly special in Saturday’s Duck hunting (46.15 CF%, 26.06 xGF% in 11:46 of 5-on-5 ice time), but it sounds like a few other players are banged up, too. Nick Seeler, in particular, looked down bad by the end of Saturday’s game, so could we see Erik Johnson get a game? Might be a gametime decision.
Goaltending!
Sam Ersson gets the start again tonight and, after posting a shutout against the Ducks, that seems the correct choice. We’ve seen how up and down the Flyers’ netminding has been this season, so we’ll be watching for consistency here. It’s Ersson’s third game back from injury and, hopefully, he’s able to round back into form.
Still in the middle of…something
On the season, the Flyers are 18-20-5, sixth from the bottom of the league in points percentage (the Ducks beat the Canes last night to leapfrog the Flyers), and tied in the standings for dead last in the Metropolitan Division with a game over the New York Islanders. Somehow, with 41 points, they are still only five points back from a wildcard spot–but also less than five points from a top-five draft pick. Parity!
All but two of the Flyers’ games going into Four Nations are against Eastern Conference teams, which presents a clear opportunity to put themselves back in the playoff conversation or fall off completely. We’re two months out from the trade deadline, and the front office still seems committed to the rebuild; the Flyers may not have many players to move, but the next month should tell management all they need to know about this team.
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Travis Konecny
Olle Lycksell – Sean Couturier – Matvei Michkov
Scott Laughton – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Egor Zamula – Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Sam Ersson
(Ivan Fedotov)
Florida Panthers
Evan Rodrigues – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Eetu Luostarinen – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Carter Verhaeghe – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist
AJ Greer – Tomas Nosek – Mackie Samoskevich
Gustav Forsling – Dmitry Kulikov
Niko Mikkola – Nate Schmidt
Tobias Bjornfot – Uvis Balinskis
Sergei Bobrovsky
(Spencer Knight)
Gameday Tunes
Maybe the Flyers sneak a win tonight…?
Stats courtesy Natural Stat Trick