The day is finally here. It has been 573 days since the Wells Fargo Center has been at full capacity for the Flyers. This is going to be a homecoming like no other for this team. I know the building is going to be rocking and electric before the puck even drops.
The Flyers are opening their season tonight against the Vancouver Canucks. It is weird to say a team outside of the East since teams only played divisional rivals last year. It is going to be nice seeing teams from outside of the Metropolitan Division.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks come into this game after a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers. They scored two goals in the 3rd to tie it up but ultimately fell short. This will be their second of five road games to start the season.
They made quite a few changes to their lineup coming into this season in the hopes of taking a big step forward, most notably bringing in Oliver Ekman-Larson and Conor Garland in a blockbuster deal. Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes are also back in the fold after signing big contracts.
Projected Lineup
Pearson-Horvat-Garland
Highmore-Dickinson-Höglander
Miller-Pettersson-Podkolzin
Dowling-Lammikko-Chiasson
Ekman-Larsson-Myers
Hughes-Poolman
Rathbone-Burroughs
Demko
Philadelphia Flyers
On the other side of the ice, this will be the Flyers regular season and home opener. This game will be the first of a four game homestand. After tonight, they have Seattle, Boston and Florida coming into town before they head out for a trip to north western Canada.
The Flyers and Canucks are meeting for the first time in 689 days. Both teams are different iterations since the last time they met but the Flyers came out with the win in Philadelphia 2-1. Philadelphia has won the last two meetings over the Canucks.
There were a couple of transactions made by Philadelphia heading into this game:
Zack MacEwen will be under non-roster status until he gets approved for a U.S. Visa. Rasmus Ristolainen will be day to day and unavailable for the opener. Patrick Brown was been placed on the COVID-19 Protocol list
Lastly, Jackson Cates, Nick Seeler, and Max Willman were all recalled from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Cates would end up being sent back to the AHL before the morning skate, however.
Projected Lineup
Giroux – Couturier – Konecny
Farabee – Brassard – Atkinson
Lindblom – Laughton – van Riemsdyk
Willman – Thompson – Aube-Kubel
Provorov – Ellis
Sanheim – Braun
Yandle – Seeler
Hart
Where, When, and How to Watch
Time: 7 PM EST
Location: Wells Fargo Center
TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio Broadcast: 97.5 The Fanatic
Live Stream: Fubo TV
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