The game: 7:30 p.m. EST, ESPN+/Hulu
After losing a frustrating game Friday night in Washington, the Flyers rebounded with a win over the somewhat depleted, nearly continuous post-hitting Ottawa Senators Saturday night. The old saying is they don’t count how, just how many, and that’s exactly how the Flyers should take the last win. Nothing came easy for the Flyers in the final moments before Cam York put in an empty netter. The goal now is to take some “glass half full optimism” (they’ve won two of their last three) and put it to use against the St. Louis Blues.
The Blues are currently coming off a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild but sit on the outside looking in regarding the Western Conference wild card standings. According to ESPN the Blues are tied with Calgary with 65 points. Both have 22 games left while Los Angeles hold the last wild card spot with 70 points and 23 games remaining. Perhaps more troubling is the fact Calgary, Los Angeles and Nashville (who hold the first wild card spot) have winning percentages the last 10 games of .700, .600 and .800, respectively while the Blues have been a lackluster .450 over that stretch.
St. Louis is also in a conundrum of sorts as they’re not completely out of the playoff chase but not a lock to play more than 82 games this season. Given their cap space limitations they don’t look to be huge sellers nor huge buyers at the deadline although pending unrestricted free agent Marco Scandella could be on the move for the right price.
The first matchup between the two was in mid-January, a 4-2 Flyers win that saw Owen Tippett break a 2-2 late in the third before Joel Farabee scored an empty net goal.
Players to watch
Robert Thomas
One of the Blues’ wearing an “A,” Thomas has been one of the few bright spots on the Blues this season, registering 20 goals and 49 assists for 69 points. He’s also one of 11 Blues skaters this year to play in every regular season game so far. While he hasn’t scored a goal yet verus Philadelphia in his career in seven games (thanks Statsmuse), he has four assists but has been a -7 in plus/minus the last three games against the Orange and Black.
Cam York
York continues to be the antithesis of the Cam York who had a shoddy training camp in 2022-23 before being sent down to the AHL for 20 games. York made a strong impression on coach John Tortorella since then, often being a constant paired with Travis Sanheim on the top pairing. York will end the year with career highs in goals and points (and penalty minutes for that matter). How he finishes the year will be another crucial piece whether the Flyers are able to make the playoffs, especially if one or two current blueliners are moved at the deadline.
Torey Krug
Monday night’s game will be the first game at Wells Fargo Centre for Torey Krug since he briefly became a fiend for Flyers fans last summer. Krug was going to be the return in a deal that would see Travis Sanheim (and his eight-year contract) shipped off to St. Louis with Kevin Hayes in exchange for Krug and his remaining three years at $6.5 million AAV. Krug, with a no trade clause in his contract, balked at the idea of moving his family to Philadelphia and stayed put, nixing the size of what looked to be a huge trade.
Fortunately for Flyers fans, the trade that never happened has been a huge blessing this season for the team as Sanheim has been a surprise on the top pairing, eating a lot of minutes that Ivan Provorov once did. Meanwhile the diminutive Krug has three goals and 29 assists this year, making the non-trade probably one of Danny Briere’s best moves since becoming Flyers general manager.
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Joel Farabee — Scott Laughton — Tyson Foerster
Owen Tippett — Morgan Frost — Cam Atkinson
Noah Cates — Ryan Poehling — Garnet Hathaway
Nic Deslauriers — Sean Couturier — Bobby Brink
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler — Sean Walker
Egor Zamula — Marc Staal
Ronnie Attard
Sam Ersson
(Felix Sandstrom)
St. Louis Blues
Pavel Buchnevich — Robert Thomas — Jordan Kyrou
Zachary Bolduc — Brayden Schenn — Jake Neighbours
Brandon Saad — Kevin Hayes — Alexey Toropchenko
Nathan Walker — Oskar Sundqvist — Kasperi Kapanen
Nick Leddy — Colton Parayko
Torey Krug — Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella — Scott Perunovich
Jordan Binnington
(Joel Hofer)
