The Game: 7:30 PM ET, NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic
We’re back again, folks, and isn’t that a good thing. The Flyers had a bit of matinee action yesterday up in Boston, and despite a strong early effort in that game, they couldn’t hold off the Bruins, couldn’t close the deal when they had the opportunity when they had the chance — and did they ever have chances — and ultimately dropped that one in overtime, in pretty heartbreaking fashion. That’s the second time that’s happed in as many games, with the Panthers game on Thursday slipping away from them in similar fashion, and suddenly things are looking dicey for the Flyers.
On the Utah side, things are going reasonably well for them in their first season in their new locale. They got off to a good start, winning their first three games of the season, but they’ve seen things drop off for them a little bit since then. As it stands, they’re cruising with a respectable 11-11-4 record through their first 26 games of the season.
That might not sound world beating, but to contextualize, they have just one less win on the season than our Flyers who we feel pretty optimistic about (at least in spurts), so maybe there’s something there as well. They’re sitting in the sixth position in the Central, but they’re coming into tonight’s game with a nice bit of momentum, coming off of a pretty commanding 5-2 win over the Sabres yesterday. This is sure to be an interesting matchup.
Storylines to watch
Some returns (for real this time?)
Stop us if you’ve heard this one, but it looks like the Flyers might be getting some reinforcements back for this one. Both Sam Ersson and Jamie Drysdale are no longer listed on the NHL’s IR list, suggesting that the two will be, at the very least, options to play tonight.
It still remains to be seen whether either or both of them will get back in tonight, but it would make sense for Ersson to be the one to get the nod for the start for this one. It was understandable that the team would want to ease him back into action even when he was technically healthy — the Panthers or the Bruins would be a tough matchup for his return as well — but with the team now coming off back to back tough losses, it stands to reason that they would want to lean on the goaltender who has proven to be their most dependable — even if he is coming off of an injury — as they look to get things back on track.
Drysdale, though, is the bigger question mark. If Ersson’s track is to be taken as the model, it wouldn’t come as a huge surprise if Drysdale is held out for even one more game, still, but on the flip side, as a skater, it is easier to manage his minutes and sort of ease him back in more on the fly.
Lineups won’t be confirmed until much closer to game time, and we’ll see how this one plays out then.
Getting Farabee going
It’s been, to say the least, a tough stretch for Joel Farabee. It’s been a month since he last netted a goal — that one coming back on November 9 against the Panthers — and he’s only managed to chip in two assists between then and today. He’s getting some looks, but he just cannot seem to get one to go for him, and nowhere was this more evident than in yesterday’s overtime period, when he had a golden chance to win the game, heading in all alone on the breakaway for a shot, and then shot wide. We know how it went after that.
The Flyers seem to be looking for answers, Farabee is looking for answers, but so far, none have come. The hope, of course, is that once he gets one, he’ll be off to the races, but there seems to be a little more at work here. All the same, Farabee finding a way to convert on just one of these chances he’s creating is a huge first step. Will tonight be the night his luck will shift? Time will tell.
Let’s beat the hangover
All in all, this game looks like it could be a real litmus test for this Flyers team. After Thursday’s tough loss to the Panthers, the team seemed pretty downtrodden, but the hope was that they could turn that into energy and motivation and right their ship in short order in their next game against the Bruins. But, of course, while the early returns in that game were very promising, it ended up as another game that they let get away from them, and a situation which they need to find answers to, and to find in short order.
We’ve been here before, and we know how this can go — one of the less resilient teams of (not so) old would have gotten down on themselves and allowed things to spiral on them in a big way. This team, though, is supposed to be different, they’re supposed to be more even, have no quit, and more belief in themselves and each other. Tonight will be a big test of that, of course, and the hope is that the team can come in, clean up, and make a positive statement on where they stand.
The lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Joel Farabee – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Scott Laughton – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae – Rasmus Ristolainen
Jamie Drysdale – Nick Seeler
Sam Ersson
(Ivan Fedotov)
Utah Hockey Club
Clayton Keller – Barrett Hayton – Nick Schmaltz
Jack McBain – Logan Cooley – Dylan Guenther
Matias Maccelli – Nick Bjugstad – Lawson Crouse
Alex Kerfoot – Kevin Stenlund – Michael Carcone
Mikhail Sergachev – Olli Maata
Ian Cole – Michael Kesselring
Juuso Valimaki – Robert Bortuzzo
Jaxon Stauber
(Karel Vejmelka)
