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Ivan Provorov A Player To Watch For Flyers vs Capitals

By Benjamin Gabrych

PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 19: Ivan Provorov #9 of the Philadelphia Flyers skates the puck behind the net against the Buffalo Sabres on December 19, 2019 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 19: Ivan Provorov #9 of the Philadelphia Flyers skates the puck behind the net against the Buffalo Sabres on December 19, 2019 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Philadelphia Flyers will have their final home matchup with the Washington Capitals this evening.

Suffering their fourth straight loss after losing to the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in overtime, the Philadelphia Flyers will turn their attention to another Metropolitan Division foe as they’ll play host to the Washington Capitals at the Wells Fargo Center. The Caps took the first meeting between the two sides earlier in the season, defeating the Flyers by a score of 2-1 in a shootout. Philadelphia will hope to earn that second point this time around and tie the season-series up at one when all is said and done.

In order to snap this losing skid with a win over the Capitals, Philadelphia needs guys to elevate their level of play on both ends of the ice. One of them who needs to do so happens to be Ivan Provorov, who’s hit a cold streak in the scoring department recently. Though he’s performed well for the Flyers through most of the 2019-20 campaign so far, Provorov has had some clunkers thrown into the mix, and last night was no exception. The Russian defenseman had the worst Corsi and Fenwick For Relative to his teammates at 5-on-5 against the Canes and was responsible for a giveaway that led to one of the two goals Carolina scored in the second period. Philadelphia can’t have their Number One blueliner play at that low of a level if they want their best shot at beating the Caps, especially with how dangerous their offense has been this season.

Luckily, Provorov has usually followed up a bad performance with a good one throughout the year, showing his ability to put weak efforts behind him and move forward with his play game-in and game-out. He also had a solid showing in the Flyers’ first meeting with Washington back in November, assisting on the lone goal Philly scored that evening. Taking that into account, I’d put my money on Provorov having a rebound performance for the Orange and Black if I were a betting man.

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Puck drop is set for 7:30 pm EST. You can watch the game on NBCSN.

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