It’s beginning to look a lot like playoffs! Your Philadelphia Flyers are 4-0-1 in their last five games, on a three-game win streak, and are one point back of the second wildcard spot on the cusp of American Thanksgiving due to a weak crop of Atlantic Division teams. Last year, they were solidly in playoff position at Thanksgiving and ended up missing, so it only stands to reason that this year they do the opposite: out of the playoff picture at Thanksgiving, squeaking in at the buzzer.
Luckily for the Flyers, they get to pad their stats against a nonplayoff team tonight! *checks notes*
What do you mean the Colorado Avalanche aren’t in a playoff position right now!? They have Nathan MacKinnon! Cale Makar! Mikko Rantanen! What fresh hell of the parity era is this!?
Yes, the star-studded Avs are two points back from a wildcard spot right now with a 9-9-0 record–which is just fine for the Flyers, who own the Avalanche’s top-ten protected 2025 1st-round pick. There are two main factors here: a rash of injuries and abysmal goaltending. Now, those things could sink any team that’s supposed to be good (like last year’s New Jersey Devils), it’s just that the Avs have been so good and so well run that it’s weird to witness this. The good news for Colorado is that Artturi Lehknonen returned from injury a couple weeks ago, and Val Nichushkin and Jonathan Drouin have also both returned to the lineup–that makes their top six forward group far more formidable than it had been in recent weeks. Ross Colton and Gabriel Landeskog remain out, but at least some of the core players are healthy.
The bad news? There’s little hope the goaltending will improve. Alexander Georgiev has been placed on injured reserve and will miss an unspecified amount of time, but the Avs probably won’t miss him: he has a 4-5-0 record, a .863 SV%, a 3.56 GAA, and has allowed four or more goals four times this season. Justus Annunen will get the bulk of the starts in Georgiev’s absence, but Annunen’s numbers aren’t much better–he has a 5-3-0 record, an .881 SV% and a 2.92 GAA. Third-string goalie Kevin Mandolese hasn’t played an NHL game since March 2023 with the Ottawa Senators. Yeah, the Avs are drowning in the blue paint.
On the bright side, stars continue to star in Colorado: MacKinnon has picked up right where he left off after last year’s Hart-winning performance, with seven goals and 33 points in 18 games, and Makar has six goals and 25 points in the same number of games–Rantanen’s got 25 points, too. The problem has been a complete lack of support outside the stars which has, for weeks, kept the Avs from outscoring their goaltending issues, so maybe they can get back on track now.
The Flyers, meanwhile, are dealing with their own rash of injuries, the most recent being Emil Andrae. To fill out the defense, the Flyers have recalled Helge Grans from Lehigh Valley for his NHL debut. Grans, you may recall, came over as part of the package that sent Ivan Provorov to Columbus, so it’s worth watching tonight just to see what the organization might have in Grans. Aleksei Kolosov’s been tapped to tend the twine, which is a bit of surprise given how well Ivan Fedotov has been playing (a three game win streak!).
If the Flyers want to have a hope of winning tonight, they’re going to need to absolutely light up Annunen and hope for the best. Easier said than done, given how much this team has struggled to put shots on net. They also probably shouldn’t let the Avalanche get on a power play–their lack of depth at 5-on-5 disappears on the man advantage.
Players to Watch
Helge Grans
Our prospect expert Maddie Campbell wrote up a great article about what to expect from Grans tonight, which you should all read. Grans is in the last year of his ELC, so it’s as good a time as any for the organization to see what they have in a guy who was essentially a bonus for absorbing two years of Cal Petersen. Don’t expect too much offense (or ice time, for that matter), but John Tortorella should be pleased with his defensive chops.
Travis Konecny
Twelve points in six games is impressive stuff–being tied for third in the league in goals scored and tied for ninth in points is even more impressive. Konecny has been on another level this season, and is proving game-by-game that he was worth every penny of his contract extension (especially if the cap goes up as much as some are predicting, but that’s another story). TK has been everywhere, so expect him to get into it and go toe-to-toe with the stars on the Avalanche–especially MacKinnon, considering Nate drafted TK in last year’s All-Star game.
Cale Makar
You could pick any one of the Avalanche’s stars here, but we’re going with Makar because he’s somehow elevated his game once again–he’s pacing for nearly 114 points this season, and has been producing without much help (Devon Toews missed time with injury, on top of all the forwards). His underlying metrics are still sterling, too, and with a healthy team around him shouldn’t have to shoulder quite as heavy a load. Watch for him to skate circles around the Flyers, if they give him the space, and burn them on the power play if they can’t stay out of the box.
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee – Scott Laughton – Bobby Brink
Anthony Richard – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler – Erik Johnson
Egor Zamula – Helege Grans
Aleksei Kolosov
(Ivan Fedotov)
Colorado Avalanche
Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Jonathan Drouin
Valeri Nichushkin – Casey Mittelstadt – Mikko Rantanen
Joel Kirivanta – Ivan Ivan (no that’s not a typo, he actually is Ivan Ivan) – Logan O’Connor
Miles Wood – Parker Kelly – Nikolai Kovalenko
Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Sam Girard – Josh Manson
Oliver Kylington – Sam Malinski
Justus Annunen
(Kevin Mandolese)
Gameday Tunes
It officially feels like autumn, and this is a ripper of an album for the season. Are we fools for believing in this team? Perhaps! But at least it’ll be a fun ride all the same.
Stats via Hockey Reference
