Amid a four-game losing streak highlighted by an absolute gong show Saturday night against Chicago, the Philadelphia Flyers look to be switching a few lines and personnel for tonight’s game against the New York Islanders. Notably, defenseman Jamie Drysdale is returning after almost five weeks away with an injury.
Drysdale will be a more than welcomed addition to the depleted back end, giving the Flyers a bit more speed on the blueline. He should also be able to eat some of the minutes both Travis Sanheim and Cam York have been playing the last few weeks, giving them a slight breather as the playoff race intensifies and they can slightly recover from their nagging injuries. His addition will see Adam Ginning coming out of the lineup for their Monday night battle against the New York Islanders, as well as taking top power-play duties from Cam York.
The 21-year-old should be a welcome addition for the Flyers. With him being re-introduced into the team after missing a significant amount of time, the coaching staff has also decided to go with a lineup that looks more like what we saw during this season’s best times.
Projected lineup
Tyson Foerster — Sean Couturier — Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett — Morgan Frost — Cam Atkinson
Joel Farabee — Scott Laughton — Nic Deslauriers
Noah Cates — Ryan Poehling — Garnet Hathaway
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Egor Zamula — Erik Johnson
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Ersson
(Fedotov)
Perhaps the biggest surprise (disappointment?) is the decision in goal, going again with Sam Ersson over the newcomer Ivan Fedotov. Ersson’s start tonight will be his 46th of the season and his third start in the last five nights. The most logical conclusion is that Fedotov is still getting used to the NHL style, and John Tortorella prefers him to get a solid amount of practices in before making his debut. Most likely, we could see him suit up for one of the games in the back-to-back this upcoming weekend against the Sabres and Blue Jackets.
Drysdale has two goals and two assists in 17 games for Philadelphia since being acquired (along with a 2nd round pick in 2025) in the trade with Anaheim for Cutter Gauthier. Drysdale was injured in a Feb. 25 game against Pittsburgh (a 7-6 loss) on a clean hit by Jansen Harkins.
