The Game: 5:00 p.m. EST on NBCSports Philadelphia, ESPN+/Hulu, and 97.5 The Fanatic
Huh. Well, how ’bout them Flyers? They went into Madison Square Garden and took apart the President’s Trophy frontrunner New York Rangers to snap an eight-game losing streak. Elsewhere in the league, the Pittsburgh Penguins won an overtime game against the Detroit Red Wings (a disaster for the Flyers’ wildcard hopes), the Buffalo Sabres beat the Washington Capitals (hooray!) and the Islanders won in overtime against the Montreal Canadiens (boo!), more or less putting the third spot in the Metropolitan Division out of reach of Philadelphia. To claim the final wild card spot, the Flyers will need some help: the teams around them will have to lose out.
Tonight, the Flyers face another Metro rival in the New Jersey Devils, who are coming off a wild 6-5 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The big story for the Devils is that superstar center Jack Hughes is done for the season, as he undergoes shoulder surgery. Even without him, the Devils are not a team to be trifled with: they still have firepower up front in Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and a red-hot Timo Meier who’s been on fire since the firing of Lindy Ruff as head coach. On the back end, Jack’s brother Luke has been pretty good in the absence of Dougie Hamilton, notching nine goals and 48 points in his rookie season (pay no attention to his minus-25).
The Flyers, meanwhile, have gotten past the injury bug for the most part, with Rasmus Ristolainen’s continued absence the only glaring issue. Players may be banged up–Nick Seeler hasn’t looked right since returning, Travis Konecny’s only just started scoring like he was prior to missing a few weeks, and Jamie Drysdale is…well, he’s trying–but they’re getting their minutes. Head coach John Tortorella threw the lines in a blender against the Rangers, so it’s hard to predict who will be playing with who, but these last two games of the season–both at home–would be a great opportunity to get some young players a few more reps before the summer begins.
However, this hockey game doesn’t matter too much, in the grand scheme of things–what tonight is actually about is honoring Wayne Simmonds, who is officially retiring from hockey as a Philadelphia Flyer. We’ve compiled six highlights that define Wayne Simmonds’s time with the Flyers; they may not be the flashiest or most career defining moments, but they really capture how deeply Simmonds aligned with the mercurial “Flyers way.” Grit, determination, never-say-die attitude–Simmonds had it in spades and then some, and was one of the faces of the 2010s Flyers franchise.
Simmonds was also a power play whiz–maybe the Flyers can get him on the ice to give their anemic special teams a boost. They’ve got Scott Laughton on the second unit; what have they got to lose by replacing him with a 35-year old Wayne Simmonds? Make it happen, Torts.
Players to Watch
Sean Couturier
After an eight-game pointless drought, Sean Couturier finally got back on the scoresheet with a fantastic assist on a Noah Cates goal (more on him in a minute). Couturier looked fantastic for the first half of the season, but by the All-Star break his game had started to slip–likely due to exhaustion, as he missed nearly two years of hockey and was back to playing 20ish minutes a night in a top-line role. Finishing strong would alleviate a lot of the unease we feel about his ability to contribute to the team in the coming years.
Noah Cates
Did you know Noah Cates is riding a five-game point streak? I didn’t until they mentioned it on the broadcast; he has three goals and two assists in that span. After an impressive rookie year that saw Cates learn to play center on the fly, the 2023-24 season was quite a letdown: Cates’s offense disappeared, he missed several weeks with a broken foot, and he never quite looked comfortable out there–despite leading the team this season with a 60.63 expected-Goals For percentage. Hopefully this end of season hot streak carries over to next year and his offense remains intact.
Timo Meier
It was a rough first season with the Devils for Meier, who New Jersey acquired at last year’s trade deadline. Under Lindy Ruff, Meier’s usage was questionable at best–and an injury that kept him out for several weeks didn’t help matters. Since Travis Green’s taken over the bench, though, Meier’s been on a tear: he’s got 14 goals and 23 points in the 19 games Green’s been the head coach. The Flyers will have to keep the power winger marked or pay the price.
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Tyson Foerster – Ryan Poehling – Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Bobby Brink
Noah Cates – Sean Couturier – Garnet Hathaway
Joel Farabee – Scott Laughton – Cam Atkinson
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Egor Zamula – Erik Johnson
Ivan Fedotov
(Sam Ersson)
New Jersey Devils
Graeme Clark – Nico Hischier – Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier – Erik Haula – Dawon Mercer
Ondrej Palat – Shane Bowers – Alexander Holtz
Kurtis MacDermid – Chris Tierney – Nolan Foote
Luke Hughes – John Marino
Kevin Bahl – Brendan Smith
Jonas Siegenthaler – Simon Nemec
Jake Allen
(Kaapo Kahkonen)
Gameday Tunes
This one’s for you, Simmer: “There’s this empty space you left behind” on the power play.
Stats via Natural Stat Trick
