The Game: 1:00 p.m. EST on NBCSports Philadelphia, ESPN+/Hulu, and 97.5 The Fanatic
We’re nearly there, folks: after today, two more games remain in this gauntlet through the Eastern Conference. The Flyers have managed to scrape a couple points together–a win over the Maple Leafs and an overtime loss to the Canes–but they’re going to need to eke out a few more to hold onto third place in the Metropolitan Division.
The good news: when the Flyers played the Boston Bruins last week, they came oh-so-close to completing the comeback and taking the game to overtime. The bad news: it’s the Bruins, who are leading the President’s Trophy race once again, and David Pastrnak is on eternal hat trick watch any time he plays in the Wells Fargo Center. It’s going to be a tough match for the Flyers, with the Bruins coming in hungry after a decisive loss to the New York Rangers, but the Flyers showed last weekend that they can hang with a team as good as the Bruins.
Can the Flyers do it without their de facto 1C, though? Sean Couturier has been scratched two games in a row, and it remains to be seen whether he’ll crack the lineup this afternoon–the same could be said for Cam Atkinson, Denis Gurianov, and Marc Staal, though Couturier’s absence has been the more glaring. Even if Coots does get into today’s game, it’s anybody’s guess which line he centers: the fourth line, where he was before the scratching? Back to the top, where one would expect? Somewhere in the middle? Something to keep an eye on.
Players to Watch
Travis Konecny
Finally! A TK goal! After going six games without, Konecny scored a greasy net-front goal against Carolina to tie the game at two and force overtime. He’s the closest the Flyers have to a star player, and they need him to come in clutch through these big games and into the playoffs. Hopefully, Thursday’s goal was the team’s Energizer Bunny finding some juice to get through the remainder of the regular season.
Cam York
We are continuing to sleep on Yam Cork. His underlying stats at even strength are nothing spiffy (both his Corsi-for and expected Goals-for percentages at even strength are a hair under 50), but he looks like he’s playing well–and he has 10 points in the last 12 games. He’s consistently around the play (that post he hit against Toronto!) and making sound defensive reads (breaking up a 2-on-1, again against Toronto!). He might not be the flashiest of players, but he may be turning into a steady top-pair defenseman; we’re just all kind of missing it because we’ve been hearing for years how he’s an “offensive defenseman” with a “second-pair ceiling,” and that’s not how he’s been playing. Keep an eye on York, as he shows us more of the kind of player he could be.
David Pastrnak
Who else? If you’re the betting type, a David Pastrnak anytime goal is probably the safest bet of the week–put money on the hat trick too, if you’re feeling extra confident.
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee – Scott Laughton – Bobby Brink
Tyson Foerster – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway
Nic Deslauriers – Sean Couturier – Noah Cates
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Adam Ginning – Ronnie Attard
Egor Zamula – Erik Johnson
Felix Sandstrom
(Sam Ersson)
Boston Bruins
Danton Heinen – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Jake DeBrusk
Jakub Lauko – Morgan Geekie – Trent Frederic
John Beecher – Jesper Boqvist – Justin Brazeau
Matt Grzelcyk – Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo
Parker Wotherspoon – Kevin Shattenkirk
Linus Ullmark
(Jeremy Swayman)
Gameday Tunes
New FKA twigs dropped! And it is a banger.
Stats via Hockey Reference
