Preview: Flyers rookie Cam York to make NHL debut vs Caps

Philadelphia Flyers fans will have at least one thing to look forward to in Friday night’s matchup against the Washington Capitals.

Rookie defenseman Cam York — known in some circles as Yam Cork — is making his NHL debut in game 54 suiting up on the right side. York is coming off a fantastic college season, a World Juniors gold medal, and has been quite effective in his small sampling of games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

It’s certainly a nice bright spot for a fanbase that has watched…well…one of the worst single seasons in Flyers franchise history.

York represents the hope that this team still has the tools in the cupboard to have a successful — and ever-exciting — future.

Beyond that, there isn’t much intrigue for the matchup itself. The Flyers are dead and buried and the Caps are coming off an emotionally tumultuous two-game set vs the Rangers. Wouldn’t be shocked if we don’t see the best from either club.

Philadelphia Flyers

Record: 23-23-7 (53 Points)

This season hasn’t been a great one for the Flyers. Despite some big victories at key times during the season, they more often than would immediately drop the ball the following game. In these final games, the most important things to watch for are the development of young players like Wade Allison and now Cam York.

Speaking off, Wade Allison has fit right into this Flyers lineup. The young power forward picked up his second goal of the season a couple of games ago vs the Penguins on a nasty snipe.

Watching Claude Giroux continue to rack up goals and assists in bunches has been pretty fun. The captain has given just about as much as a player can give all year.

On the back end, York will play in place of Shayne Gostisbehere as he serves his suspension. In totally unrelated news, Tom Wilson avoided suspension for his assault on Pavel Buchnevich and Artemi Panarin.

Wouldn’t be surprised to see Alex Lyon start in goal after Brian Elliott got torched last game vs the Penguins.

Forwards

Giroux – Couturier – Konecny

Farabee – Hayes – Voracek

Lindblom – Patrick – Allison

JVR – Laughton – NAK

Defense

Provorov – Sanheim

York – Braun

Morin – Myers

Elliott

Lyon

Washington Capitals

Record: 34-14-5 (73 Points)

The Washington Capitals are tied for first in the Mass Mutual East Division with the Pittsburgh Penguins and after this matchup, it won’t be a shock to see them hang onto that title. The Capitals are a heavy team that uses their physicality to open up the dangerous areas on the ice.

Alex Ovechkin may miss the game with an injury, and Evgeny Kuznetsov will be out as well again as he broke COVID protocol. No word on who will fill in just yet.

One player who is certain to be in the lineup is Tom Wilson. The Flyers will need to be ready to stand up to Wilson should he try anything with the Flyers star or young players.

Flyers will see a familiar face as Michael Raffl is holding down the Caps third line. It’ll be weird to see Raffl in any other color other than orange and black. He was an underrated player for quite some time with the Flyers. JVR also goes head-to-head with his younger brother Trevor.

Sprong – Backstrom – Mantha

Sheary – Eller – Oshie

Carr – Raffl – Wilson

Hagelin – Dowd – Hathaway

Orlov – Carlson

Dillon – TVR

Jensen – Chara

Vitek Vanacek

Craig Anderson

Where, When, and How to Watch

Time: 7 PM EST

Location: Capital One Arena

TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBC Sports Washington NHLN, TVAS, SN1

Radio Broadcast: 97.5 The Fanatic

Live Stream: Fubo TV

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