The Game: 7:00 p.m. EST on NBCSports Philadelphia, ESPN+/Hulu, and 93.3 WMMR
Despite a valiant effort late against Boston over the weekend, the Flyers fell short of picking up a point and have lost back-to-back games in regulation. The first of those losses came against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who the Flyers welcome back to the Farg once again.
It’s been tough sledding for the boys in Orange and Black, as their defense appears to be in disarray and goaltending has looked shaky for the first time all season. The good news is that some of the younger players have rediscovered their scoring touch–Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett, in particular. The bad news is that Marc Staal and Erik Johnson have been very not good, each with truly abysmal expected Goals-For percentages in the last two games. If you’d told us in October that the Flyers would be desperately missing Nick Seeler, we probably wouldn’t have believed you–yet, here we are, and his return would do wonders for a defense corps hanging on by a thread.
Since their meeting five days ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs choked a lead over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday and lost in the shootout. Maybe the Flyers can kick ’em while they’re down; putting up five goals like they did against Boston sure would go a long way, as would a bounce back performance from Sam Ersson. Here’s hoping the Flyers Charity Carnival on Sunday refreshed the players and helped them clear their heads from the team’s recent struggles.
For both the Leafs and Flyers, there’s flux in the lineups: Toronto’s still without Mitch Marner (who’s listed as day-to-day), and the Flyers have recalled Olle Lycksell and Adam Ginning from the Phantoms. Whether they actually play remains to be seen, as the Flyers do have six healthy defensemen and a surplus of forwards, but none of Cam Atkinson, Denis Gurianov, Marc Staal, Erik Johnson nor Nic Deslauriers have done enough to warrant being lineup locks–Deslauriers goal notwithstanding.
Quite shockingly though, it is Sean Couturier who is being scratched. Has his play been great? Eh…not really–and in reduced minutes with lesser line mates, he really hasn’t shown much. Scratching the captain during a playoff push is certainly a choice, but a) his play may’ve warranted it and b) Tortorella made Coots the captain because, one must imagine, Torts knows Coots can take this. Also, maybe Couturier needs a small break after playing so much coming off two missed seasons! Still, makes you wonder how the Flyers are going to handle the Leafs’ top competition.
Players to Watch
Joel Farabee
With his two goals against Boston, Farabee now has 21 on the season–which means 14 games remain for him to get to 30–so why not get goals in back-to-back games for the first time since January? The Flyers are going to need Farabee driving play like he was earlier in the season if they want to hang with these juggernaut teams.
Morgan Frost
I mean…sheesh.
More of that against Toronto please, Morgan. With Couturier scratched, Frost is essentially the team’s 1C–let’s see what he can do with that role against a loaded Leafs top six.
Nick Robertson
He’d been sent back to the minors for a while but, due to injuries to the Leafs’ forwards, Nick Robertson (brother of Jason) is back with the big club. Before the trade deadline, there was lots of chatter about Toronto and the Flyers maybe putting together a deal for one of the Flyers’ defensemen–Rasmus Ristolainen’s name came up a few times–and we discussed on the BSH podcast (plz listen, subscribe, and rate five stars) the idea of Robertson being part of the return. It’s a curious case: Robertson hasn’t been able to stick in the Leafs lineup, and injuries have played a role in that, but his points-per-60 rate is intriguing; in 42 games this year, he has 20 points–while averaging about 11 minutes of ice time per game. That’s 2.5 points/60, which is nothing to sneeze at (Morgan Frost, for example, is at 2.4 points/60, and Travis Konecny’s at 2.8). There might be a player there, but it’s becoming clear Robertson won’t hit his ceiling with the Leafs–and at 22 years old and a left wing, he’s exactly the kind of reclamation project a team like the Flyers might want to target.
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee – Scott Laughton – Bobby Brink
Tyson Foerster – Ryan Poehling -Garnet Hathaway
Nic Deslauriers – Noah Cates – Olle Lycksell
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Adam Ginning – Ronnie Attard
Egor Zamula – Erik Johnson
Sam Ersson
(Felix Sandstrom)
Toronto Maple Leafs
Tyler Bertuzzi – Auston Matthews – Pontus Holmberg
Bobby McMann – Max Domi – William Nylander
Matthew Knies – John Tavares – Nick Robertson
Connor Dewar – David Kampf – Noah Gregor
TJ Brodie – Jake McCabe
Morgan Rielly – Ilya Lyubushkin
Joel Edmundson – Timothy Liljegren
Ilya Samsonov
(Joseph Woll)
Gameday Tunes
My Spotify daylist brought this album back to my attention. What a cool riff.
Stats via Hockey Reference
