The Game: 7:30 p.m. EST on NBCSports Philadelphia, ESPN+/Hulu, and 93.3 WMMR
After a victorious weekend on the West Coast, the 7-7-1 Flyers return to the east for a matchup against the 9-6-0 Carolina Hurricanes. The Flyers are coming in hot after a dominant win over the Anaheim Ducks and a closer win over the LA Kings, and the Canes come in tonight after shutting out the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The last time the Flyers faced the Canes, they gave the Stanley Cup hopeful team a run for their money until a late third period goal put Carolina up 3-2; from there the Canes smothered the Flyers for the final few minutes. If the Flyers want to win games this season, they’ll have to work harder than whatever team they’re up against–unfortunately for them, the Carolina Hurricanes have built their system on outworking other teams (and are really, really good at it).
There are two major changes to the Canes since the last time we saw them: first and foremost, goalie Frederik Andersen has been placed on injured reserve as he deals with blood clotting issues. It sucks to see a player’s career be put in jeopardy by something like that, but as a result, Antti Raanta and Pyotr Kochetkov are sharing the goaltending load in Carolina. If neither of those two can remain steady in the crease or another injury happens, the Canes have signed Jaroslav Halak to a PTO as insurance depth.
The second big change is on the blue line: Brett Pesce is back and healthy, which leaves the Canes with seven defensemen. Jalen Chatfield stepped up onto the second pair with Brady Skjei, but it’s likely Pesce reclaims that spot; that puts Chatfield in competition with our old friend Tony DeAngelo for a spot on the third pair with Dmitry Orlov. It’s well known that the Canes are seeking trade partners for TDA, but until a deal actually gets done, head coach Rod Brind’Amour may just rotate Chatfield and DeAngelo on the third pair.
Since their win over LA, the Flyers: have reassigned Victor Mete and Cal Petersen to the Phantoms, Carter Hart got over his food poisoning, and Rasmus Ristolainen and Marc Staal are skating in non-contact practices. That third element is intriguing: with the returns of Ristolainen and, in particular, Staal looming, how will John Tortorella manage the blue line? Louie Belpedio has been surprisingly solid in his handful of NHL games, and Egor Zamula should continue to get minutes for development purposes. Neither Ristolainen nor Staal are expected to return for tonight’s game in Raleigh, but there’s a chance they’ll be ready to go by the weekend.
Players to Watch
Tyson Foerster (Consecutive games we’ve used this bit: 6)
Tonight’s the night. I (sentient blog) can feel it in my HTML-coded bones: Tyson Foerster will score a goal. It will be a gorgeous wrister. It will ping so loud you can hear it from Raleigh. It will go in the net. We will rejoice.
Morgan Frost
Look alive, Morgan Frost has arrived. Frost rejoined the lineup last Friday against the Anaheim Ducks and recorded his first point of the season, then followed it up on Saturday against the Kings with two goals–one of them was a bit fluky, but the other was a result of Frost establishing a net-front presence, which is something Torts has been preaching for weeks. Look for Frost to carry that scoring momentum into tonight’s contest; if he wants to stick in this lineup and a creative offense generator, then he needs to score.
Andrei Svechnikov
Svech missed a few games to start the year due to an injury he sustained late last season, and he’s up to seven games now with four assists. One thing missing? Goals. The 23-year old is meant to be the finishing talent for the puck possession oriented Canes, but he’s yet to find the back of the net. Watch for him to get his goal scoring mojo back against the Flyers.
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Cam Atkinson – Sean Couturier – Tyson Foerster
Travis Konecny – Morgan Frost – Owen Tippett
Joel Farabee – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nic Deslauriers – Scott Laughton – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Sean Walker
Egor Zamula – Louis Bepedio
Carter Hart
Sam Ersson
Carolina Hurricanes
Andrei Svechnikov – Sebastian Aho – Seth Jarvis
Michael Bunting – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook – Jordan Staal – Teuvo Teravainen
Stefan Noesen – Jack Drury – Jesper Fast
Jaccob Slavin – Brent Burns
Brady Skjei – Brett Pesce
Dmitry Orlov – Tony DeAngelo
Pyotr Kochetkov
Antti Raanta
Gameday Tunes
It’s Wednesday, the middle of the week. The air is cool and crisp, and the lights around you seem clearer than usual. It’s already dark as you walk home, but you walk with purpose: there is a Flyers game to watch tonight.
Stats via Natural Stat Trick
