After defeating the Washington Capitals by a wonderful score of 4-1, the Philadelphia Flyers are quickly making their way out to Minnesota to face the Wild and face a familiar face. Bobby Brink is going to be on the other side of the ice tonight.
Puck drop: 8:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 93.3 WMMR
Pregame reading
- College seasons around the country are wrapping up and that means undrafted free agents can soon be signed. Here are FIVE possible targets for the Flyers to grab for free. [BSH]
- One prospect that is expected to sign after his NCAA season finished is center Cole Knuble, though. [BSH]
- It’s not just about hockey over here at BSH. Let’s dive into some chatter about the first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms with Steve and Jason. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 30-23-11 (5th in Metro)
Goals: Travis Konecny (24)
Assists: Travis Konecny (34)
Points: Travis Konecny (58)
Minnesota Wild – 38-16-11 (3rd in Central)
Goals: Kirill Kaprizov (37)
Assists: Kirill Kaprizov (41)
Points: Kirill Kaprizov (78)
Projected lineups
Carl Grundstrom — Trevor Zegras — Owen Tippett
Alex Bump — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey — Noah Cates — Matvei Michkov
Nikita Grebenkin — Sean Couturier — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Noah Juulsen
Dan Vladar
(Sam Ersson)
Kirill Kaprizov — Ryan Hartman — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson — Joel Eriksson Ek — Matt Boldy
Vladimir Tarasenko — Danila Yurov — Bobby Brink
Yakov Trenin — Michael McCarron — Nick Foligno
Quinn Hughes — Brock Faber
Jonas Brodin — Jared Spurgeon
Jake Middleton — Zach Bogosian
Filip Gustavsson
(Jesper Wallstedt)
Storylines to watch
Can Owen Tippett follow up his massive game?
Owen Tippett had The Game on Wednesday night against the Washington Capitals. It happens ever so often that the 26-year-old winger just decides to turn on the jets and be able to beat just about every single player in the NHL to loose pucks and stickhandle at those high speeds to get him noticed. It doesn’t happen often enough, but it rejuvenates some love for having him on the Flyers once again.
So, now against the Wild — a team not full of speedsters — can Tippett pull off a similar performance less than 24 hours later?
How will Dan Vladar respond after unfortunate game
After saving the Flyers so many times throughout this season, Dan Vladar had a little stumble against the New York Rangers earlier this week. On Monday, he managed to save just 18 of the 24 shots he faced and showed a little crack in his armor.
Now, can he turn it around and against a high-powered Minnesota offense, sneak out a couple points for his team tonight? This game might solely depend on what version of Vladar is showing up — the Flyers aren’t going to overpower the Wild with shots or possession or anything, so they may just have to rely on their goalie stealing the show and making the likes of Kaprizov and Boldy and Hughes frustrated that they can’t get anything past him.
Where the Flyers can get the advantage over the Wild
While we just mentioned that the Flyers might not have much hope besides Vladar stealing this, there are a couple little holes in the Wild’s lineup. The main line down the middle being manned by Joel Eriksson Ek and then a bunch of role players and an interesting prospect, is something they can at least exploit. It’s not going to match up well against the Flyers’ own centers, but the wingers might just get a little bit of an opportunity to be mismatched in coverage and exploit it.
As we also mentioned earlier, the Wild aren’t a fast team. Of course they have Hughes on the back end to speed things up and handle possession, but Boldy, Kirill, Eriksson Ek, Hartman, etc. — they aren’t burners at all. With the likes of Tippett, and more above-average skaters who can be aggressive like Denver Barkey, the Flyers can maybe get some advantage in races. We’ll see!
