We are going to see a different lineup Monday night when the Philadelphia Flyers take the ice for Game 5 against the Penguins in Pittsburgh and it’s
After suffering a disheartening loss in Game 4 on Saturday night, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet has decided to shake something up voluntarily for the first time in this series. Aside from needing to put in defenseman Noah Juulsen on the bottom pairing because Emil Andrae suffered a minor injury — and kept him there even after Andrae recovered because why change what’s working? — Tocchet has not had to touch the lineup at all, whether it is a different combination of lines or bringing in some new players who have been sitting up in the press box.
At Sunday’s practice, Tocchet revealed a new Flyers lineup as he searches for something to work and kill off the Penguins in Game 5.
Flyers new lineup gives them something else for Game 5
It will not shock anyone a whole lot to look at what the Flyers’ lineup looks like as they prepare to try and knockout the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Monday.
According to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jordan Hall, the Flyers lineup will have a number of changes compared to what they have put on the ice in this series so far:
Denver Barkey — Trevor Zegras — Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny — Christian Dvorak — Porter Martone
Alex Bump — Noah Cates — Tyson Foerster
Luke Glendening — Sean Couturier — Garnet Hathawa
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Emil Andrae
The headliner of this change is obviously who is not included rather than who is.
Matvei Michkov is projected to be a healthy scratch for Game 5 after having a not-so-good series so far and really not being as big of a difference as everyone hoped in his first playoff experience. In the four games, he’s earned zero points and has just four shots on goal, but also to go along with it, has taken three minor penalties and has not really looked like someone who is going to contribute to winning games a whole lot.
The 21-year-old Russian winger has been next to Noah Cates, as he has for the majority of the season, and with Denver Barkey on the other wing. Now he is going to be sitting up in the press box and it won’t make a massive impact on the overall deployment since Michkov has been averaging just 10:06 time-on-ice through his four appearances.
Now, next to Cates it will be Tyson Foerster — who also did not have a fantastic game on Saturday night, and sees himself demoted from the first line. But while it is technically a demotion, Foerster has found immense success next to Cates in the past so it could be a way to re-find his game. And alongside them, rookie Alex Bump will be coming in to make his series (and NHL playoffs) debut. Bump should provide a very interesting dynamic to the lineup as a shooter that likes to get inside, and is not afraid to take on defenders 1-on-1 and knowing just how inept and slow some Penguins defenders are, it could lead to some success.
Taking Foerster’s spot on the first line is Game 4 standout Denver Barkey. After scoring his first goal and really taking the first playoff experience in-stride to bring out his game, the 20-year-old is getting a massive opportunity to shine next to Trevor Zegras and Owen Tippett. Watch for Barkey to lead the forecheck and be a general disruptor all night long as Zegras and Tippett look to grab any loose puck that Barkey wiggles free from the Penguins’ possession and get some pucks in the back of the net.
Emil Andrae draws back in on the blue line
The only change on the blue line sees Emil Andrae come back in on the bottom pairing. He played Game 1 but suffered a minor injury and, as we mentioned, had to be replaced by Noah Juulsen for the following three games. Now back to relatively full health, the 24-year-old is going to get back in there next to Nick Seeler.
Andrae did play just 9:39 time-on-ice during Game 1, so it’s not like he was a massive factor, but he was certainly able to move the puck up the ice and contributed heavily to that first game’s immense shutdown game and didn’t let the Penguins get anything of value all game long.
It’s certainly going to be interesting to see if the Flyers can use this lineup to finish the series Monday night.
Rick Tocchet says lineup not final for Game 5
After practice and running through these lines, head coach Rick Tocchet said that nothing was in stone when it comes to a lineup for Game 5, but they just wanted to get different looks and see what things look like on the ice.
While we don’t want to say it is for sure going to happen, Tocchet saying that nothing is final but then praising Alex Bump and, as PHLY’s Charlie O’Connor mentioned, the winger himself talking like he is for sure going to play Monday night — there are enough real clues and context clues to determine that what Tocchet put out there for practice, is going to be the lineup.
Maybe the Barkey-Foerster switch isn’t set in stone and those two lines will look more similar compared to Saturday night’s lineup, as it will just be a Bump-for-Michkov swap, but it certainly seems like we know for sure that someone is going to be sitting for the first time this series.
