The Game: 7:00 p.m., NBCSP, ESPN+, 97.5 The Fanatic
The Philadelphia Flyers return home for the first of two games this week against the New Jersey Devils.
After not playing the Devils until their 47th game of the season, this is the second meeting in a dozen days against the division rivals. They’ll complete the home-and-home set on Wednesday night in Newark with their fourth and final meeting just after the trade deadline on March 9 in Philadelphia.
The Flyers are looking to bounce back after two straight losses in New York: 6-1 at the Rangers and 3-1 on Long Island. This came after the Flyers had won three straight games and went 5-0-1 during their six-game point streak.
Philadelphia is now back at hockey .500 at 22-22-6 through 50 games. The Devils are quite a bit above them at 28-17-6 for a .608 point percentage, good for third place in the Metropolitan Division. New Jersey has won two straight games to break a four-game losing streak and concludes its short two-game road trip tonight after beating the Canadiens 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night in Montreal.
We saw an extremely low-event game in the first meeting but what’s in store tonight at The Farg?
Storylines to watch
Scott Laughton makes his return
Prayers went up for Scott Laughton when it was announced that he would miss Pride Night last week due to a personal matter. The Flyers’ alternate captain also missed the back-to-back in New York but will return to the lineup on Monday night against the Devils.
Laughton only has 23 points (9 goals, 14 assists) in 47 games this season but he’s an important emotional leader on the team and having his presence back in the lineup should provide some energy, especially with another veteran center out of the lineup.
Second-line centers out
While Laughton returns, the Flyers captain will be out of the lineup due to an illness. Laughton will likely replace Couturier on the Flyers’ third — or second, whatever you want to call it — line with Joel Farabee and Matvei Michkov on his wings.
Farabee has seen an uptick in play since returning from his healthy scratch with Michkov coming along as well. Hopefully, Laughton will be able to step in for Laughton to provide the two-way game that Couturier is known for.
The Devils will also be without their second-line center and 2017 first-overall pick Nico Hischier. HE returned to New Jersey to be further evaluated after suffering an injury last game.
An important stretch for Philadelphia
The Flyers are in the midst of an extremely important stretch leading up to the 4 Nations Face-Off break. They’ve gone 4-2-1 in their last seven games which all came against Eastern Conference teams, including five against divisional opponents. Monday night’s game is the third straight game against a Metro opponent and the Flyers have two more on tap later this week in Newark and at home against the Islanders.
Getting points in this game will go a long way for the Flyers’ playoff hopes. They struggle mightily in the second half of back-to-backs so we should expect much on Thursday night against the Islanders.
It’ll be interesting to see how these new-look defensive pairs perform with Jamie Drysdale joining Travis Sanheim (who slides over to the left side) on the top pair while Cam York moves down to play with Rasmus Ristolainen. Erik Johnson sticks in the lineup with Egor Zamula still out due to an upper-body injury.
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Owen Tippett — Morgan Frost — Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee — Scott Laughton — Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Anthony Richard — Rodrigo Abols — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Jamie Drysdale
Cam York — Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler — Erik Johnson
Sam Ersson
(Ivan Fedotov)
New Jersey Devils
Ondrej Palat – Jack Hughes – Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier – Dawson Mercer – Stefan Noesen
Paul Cotter – Justin Dowling – Brian Halonen
Tomas Tatar – Curtis Lazar – Nate Bastian
Brenden Dillon – Dougie Hamilton
Jonas Siegenthaler – Jonathan Kovacevic
Luke Hughes – Brett Pesce
Jake Allen
(Isaac Poulter)
