The game: 7:00 p.m. EST, NBC Sports Philadelphia and 97.5 The Fanatic
While the Flyers were escaping with two points in Boston thanks to a total team effort, the St. Louis Blues found themselves on the wrong end of an 8-1 thrashing at the hands of the Ottawa Senators. Although the game started approximately 30 minutes later than anticipated, the Blues apparently used their coach’s timeout five minutes into the game. They were definitely in a coma it seems. And it never got better. After goalttender Joel Hofer got pulled the former boy wonder Jordan Binnington didn’t far much better allowing three of the eight in relief. He was equally as much a failure in trying to pick a fight with Sens goaltender Linus Ullmark. A rather boring schtick from a goalie whose contract is looking worse and worse by the day.
The Blues currently stand at .500 through nine games and nobody is really leading the way with the club. They made headlines in the summer when they managed to successfully offer sheet two Oiler players in Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. But outside of those moves they didn’t add an awful lot. The fact they lost key forward Robert Thomas to a broken ankle last week certainly didn’t help. And they look miles removed from the Stanley Cup Champions they were back in 2019. Regardless, it’s another home game for the Flyers to try and get two points out of and maybe dig themselves out of the hole they find themselves in. And it’s never great facing an opponent after they got pasted in the previous game. Look for a bit of moxie from the Blues Thursday night in what could be a spooky, eerie affair.
Players To Watch
Morgan Frost
Morgan Frost is looking for anything to get his game going, much like his linemate Owen Tippett. Frost at times looks like he’s ready to break out but the skeptics are still out there. And for darn good reasons! First off, the Boston game Tuesday night was the first time all season Frost found himself on the plus side of the plus/minus column. Overall he’s -11, which is an ugly stat especially if extrapolated for an 82-game season. He also hasn’t scored a goal, which is getting to be more of an issue the longer the streak continues.
The minutes have also decreased the last three games. He was often somewhere between 16 to 18 minutes of ice time but since the second game of the home-and-home against the Caps he’s seen his time drop to less than 14 minutes, including a season-low 11 minutes on the dot against Minnesota. Four of his five points have come on the power play, so he needs to start doing something at even strength if the Flyers are to be in the playoff race into 2025.
Philip Broberg
It’s hard to say that losing a young blueliner when you were one game away from winning the Stanley Cup is a setback. But the Oilers might rue the day when their current cap hell prevented them from keeping Philip Broberg. Evan Bouchard is making a lot of people forge about Broberg as well as Darnell Nurse and his contract, but Broberg would probably have been a key part of an Oilers team with McDavid and Draisatl in two or three years’ time. Broberg has two goals and six assists for St. Louis and is second on the team in total points. He’s made an impact on a team that like a lot of teams in the West will be life and death to make the playoffs.
It’s a great add by the Blues even if the AAV might be a bit rich for some folks ($4.58M). Look for Broberg to be a good addition for St. Louis moving forward and a bonus given most Oilers fans expected very little changes or tinkering to ensure Edmonton (now missing McDavid for two to three weeks) gets back to the dance in 2024-25.
Sean Couturier
You were hoping that Couturier could turn a corner and make people forget about last season. With a trying season and all the stuff that went on, the Flyers captain was looking to put a lot of crap behind him. It’s been a mixed bag so far, although he’s starting to look like himself again (the pre-injured Couturier). He’s not the fastest player, but by being one of the smarter players on the team he can keep up and anticipate where Matvei Michkov might be doing with the puck. Most people believed Frost would be the center for Michkov but thus far it’s been Couturier’s winger to lose.
After the five-point breakout against Minnesota, the center is becoming more of a force at both ends of the ice. It’s rare that he’s caught on a long shift in his own end. Not taking faceoffs in his own zone is even rarer, often taking the draw and then heading to the bench after winning it. Whether he ends up back in the conversation of a Selke nomination is probably a long shot, but even if he was just good it would be a huge bonus to a Flyers team that remains, outside of Jett Luchanko in a few years, in need of help down the middle. Another multi-point effort against his former team mate Brayden Schenn would be another good step in the right direction.
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Travis Konecny — Sean Couturier — Matvei Michkov
Owen Tippett — Morgan Frost — Tyson Foerster
Joel Farabee — Scott Laughton — Bobby Brink
Noah Cates — Ryan Poehling — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae — Erik Johnson
Sam Ersson
(Aleksei Kolosov)
St. Louis Blues
Alexandre Texier — Pavel Buchnevich — Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad — Brayden Schenn — Jake Neighbours
Zack Bolduc — Dylan Holloway — Kasperi Kapanen
Alexey Toropchenko — Radek Faska — Oskar Sundqvist
Ryan Suter — Colton Parakyo
Philip Broberg — Justin Faulk
Pierre-Oliver Joseph — Matthew Kessel
Jordan Binnington
(Joel Hofer)
