The Philadelphia Flyers are finally returning home after a tough Western Canada road trip where they went 2-1-0. They beat the Oilers and Canucks on a back to back but ended up falling to the Flames. Overall, the Flyers played very well on a trip that they historically play terrible on.
Tonight, they are welcoming in the Arizona Coyotes who are currently 0-8-1. Even with adding more talent, the Coyotes have been worse than they ever have been but this doesn’t mean the Flyers can just sleep on this game.
Philadelphia Flyers
4-2-1 (9 Points) 5th in the Metro
The Flyers are coming home after a long three game road trip to Western Canada. They played some of their best hockey so far this season, keeping the Oilers to only three goals and the Canucks to one. Goaltending has been their best strength so far this season. Even though the Flyers lost 4-0 against Calgary, Carter Hart kept them in it all game to try to help them win. The team was tired and it was easy to see that.
Depth scoring needs to show up if the Flyers want to start winning these close games. You can not rely on guys like Claude Giroux and Cam Atkinson to score on a nightly basis to win games. When Hart or Jones are standing on their heads, we need other players to score. Players like JVR, Laughton and Lindblom need to start scoring and giving this team more chances to win. This third line may be more effective when Hayes returns but JVR and Lindblom need to get it going if the Flyers want to be real threats.
With this Coyotes team being 0-8-1, the Flyers can go out and score some goals early and get some of these guys going who haven’t been scoring. That third line has been buzzing a bit in the last couple games and JVR was finally able to get on the score sheet. Lindblom will net one tonight along with Provorov getting his first of the season as well.
We will still see Ryan Ellis out of the lineup tonight, but he did skate with Danny Briere yesterday alongside Kevin Hayes so hopefully he will be back sooner then later. The Flyers also NEED to stay out of the box. They have been taking some really bad penalties at costly times. Although they are above league average with an 80% penalty killing percentage, they still need to help their goalies out and stay on even strength.
Projected Lineup
Giroux – Couturier – Konecny
Farabee – Brassard – Atkinson
Lindblom – Laughton – van Riemsdyk
Aube-Kubel – Thompson – MacEwen
Provorov – Braun
Sanheim – Ristolainen
Yandle – Seeler
Hart
Jones
Arizona Coyotes
0-8-1 (1 point) 8th in the Central
This will be the Coyotes fifth game of their six game road trip. They haven’t had it easy, playing the Hurricanes, Lightning, Panthers, and Capitals. Coming into tonight, the Coyotes enter this game with the worst record in the NHL.
Currently, Gostisbehere is leading the team in points with five with Kessel and Keller following behind him with four points each. Keller’s three goals leads the team. Behind him are Lawson Crouse and Christian Fischer with two each. The Coyotes have also been shut out two times this season as well.
The Coyotes have a 58.62 penalty kill percentage. Their power play runs at a measly 8% as well. This team is not good and reminds me of the Sabres from the last five years. You have players who can play but ultimately not play together.
Still, this isn’t one of those easy games, they are still an NHL team. Tonight is what you call a trap game and in the past, the Flyers have played down to the teams that they should beat but didn’t. Points are very valuable when playing in a division like the Metro and as such the Flyers need to walk away with two points tonights.
Projected Lineup
Crouse – Hayton – Keller
Jaskin – Larsson – Kessel
O’Brien – Beagle – Ladd
Roussel – Fischer – Erikkson
Chychrun – Mayo
Gostisbehere – Stralman
Lyubushkin – Soderstrom
Vejmelka
Prosvetov
When, Where, and How to Watch
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Where: Wells Fargo Center
TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio Broadcast: 97.5 The Fanatic
Live Stream: Fubo TV
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