The Game: 7:00 PM EST, NBCSP, ESPN+, 97.5 The Fanatic
The Philadelphia Flyers are heading up to Canada’s capital to go and be with a familiar face. While there are former Flyers scattered all across the NHL (who have probably found more success elsewhere), there is no larger Former Philadelphia Flyer than Claude Giroux. The franchise legend, the face of the franchise, the former captain, is now living it up in Ottawa and on a team that while they have started slow, are beginning to creep up in the standings.
The most obvious addition to this Senators team was in between the pipes. Linus Ullmark was acquired and signed to an extension to be the answer for their goaltending woes. He started the season very poorly, but a couple of winning efforts has now earned him a .904 save percentage 2.51 goals against average in nine appearances for his new team. Not too shabby and he should be the better goaltender between the two teams on Thursday night, if we’re taking historic numbers into account.
But that is just in the crease. Creeping out from the blue paint, the Senators have suddenly found a solid jump in their game. Since earning a victory over the Kraken, they appeared to be dead in the water — consecutive losses to the Sabres and the Islanders can do that to a team — but since earning an overtime win over the Bruins and then a shutout victory against the archrival Maple Leafs in Toronto, they are riding high. Now, they went back home and could be absolutely drooling and ready to pounce and feast on this Flyers team.
Philadelphia is not no slouch either lately. They have earned points in their last three games and considering they were gutsy points earned over the two Florida teams and then they were the much better team over the Sharks at home on Monday (but just slipped for a few minutes and almost lost it all) the Flyers might even have more momentum heading into this matchup north of the border.
It all depends, though, how some key players perform.
Players To Watch
Travis Konecny
Konecny is heading back to his junior home, where he spent his time developing with the Ottawa 67s of the OHL, and each time he plays the team of his former temporary home, he ends up performing well. Through the 19 games he has played against the Senators in his career, Konecny has scored four goals and 14 points, but more importantly, he tries really hard to score some goals. In those 19 games, he has 46 total shots on goal but only 8.7 percent of those shots end up in the back of the net which is one of his lower percentages against a specific team in his career.
Maybe tonight the luck goes in his favor and he pots a couple in the foreign nation. Konecny is certainly capable of it and is not on some cold streak, either. In his last four games, the 27-year-old winger has scored three goals and seven points — almost as a cute reminder that he truly is a fantastic player and could be, this team’s best player on any given night. Let’s see if he continues that momentum.
Emil Andrae
The young blueliner is all we can think about. Finally, we have a defenseman that has just come out of the gate — after having a mediocre cameo early last season — just absolutely flying and playing like a top-tier blueliner. In every zone, Andrae is capable of making the play that leads to the team scoring. Whether it is being able to get physical along the boards in his own zone, making a successful breakout play, carrying the puck through the neutral zone himself, playing the point, or even getting up in the rush or seeing a hole in defensive coverage for him to make a play — he has done it all this season.
Now, he’s getting the top-pairing minutes with Cam York potentially still out of the lineup (we shall see at morning skate) and he certainly deserves it. He has to stay on this team and in Ottawa, he has another chance to show why.
Adam Gaudette
Who? Why? We decided to point out Gaudette just because for some reason he has six goals on the year. Sure, eyes will be on Claude Giroux as he makes another appearance against the Flyers. And maybe we will be watching one of the most underrated defensemen in the league in Thomas Chabot do everything we have ever dreamed a blueliner doing, but Gaudette is shooting 28.6 percent and it is just a hilarious wave of luck that might just screw over the Flyers. He hasn’t scored in a little bit, but you never really know when that will strike again.
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee – Scott Laughton – Bobby Brink
Anthony Richard – Ryan Poehling – Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Garnet Hathaway
Emil Andrae – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Rasmus Ristolainen
Yegor Zamula – Erik Johnson
Sam Ersson
(Ivan Fedotov)
Ottawa Senators
Brady Tkachuk — Josh Norris — Ridly Greig
Claude Giroux — Tim Stutzle — Drake Batherson
Noah Gregor — Shane Pinto — Michael Amadio
Nick Cousins — Adam Gaudette — Zack MacEwen
Jake Sanderson — Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot — Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven — Travis Hamonic
Linus Ullmark
(Anton Forsberg)
