The Flyers come into tonight’s tilt missing three of their top six forwards and two of their top four defensemen due to Covid Protocols. They will be facing a red hot Pittsburgh Penguins team who are currently on a nine-game winning streak while Philadelphia comes in on a two-game losing streak. The next man up mentality will be on full display as the Flyers look to gain some ground in a playoff race in the hardest division in hockey.
While there is still a lot of hockey to be played, clawing out a win versus a good Penguins team would be huge. While Pittsburgh have been good, the biggest question surrounding this team is, can they keep this style of play going?
Both teams have had their share of injuries and COVID issues and unfortunately for the Flyers, they are dealing with it extremely heavily right now. As Interim Head Coach, Mike Yeo, says, “We can not make excuses”, and I will agree with him. The Flyers will not have their best players out on the ice tonight, but they still need to compete and play good hockey.
Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 13-14-6 (32 points, 5th in Metro)
While the Flyers haven’t been playing great hockey over their recent stretch, it is not something new. Flyers after dark has always been a circus ride for when Disney on Ice tends to show up. They were spared last season from it thanks to the divisions being split up due to Covid. This should not define them, however.
When healthy, this team can play with the best of them. The Flyers will be without Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim and yes, Ryan Ellis. This will be an extreme test for this young team tonight. It gives players like Cam York, Egor Zamula, Morgan Frost and even Scott Laughton chances to really step up and show what they can do.
The reason I say Scott Laughton is because he is currently slotted in as the Flyers number one center, playing between Joel Farabee and Cam Atkinson. With Kevin Hayes still looking a step slow, it makes sense to have Laughton lead the way as your top guy. He had an assist against the Ducks in his first game back from protocol and looked good.
Morgan Frost has also been very impressive over this last stretch of games. While still trying to find the balance of being a playmaker and a goal scorer, Frost is just scratching at the door to break out. While he has a goal in these last four games, Frost has been getting to the hard areas and fighting hard for the puck. If Quick and Gibson were not robbing Konecny, Frost would’ve had a couple of assists in these last two games with the way he has been moving the puck.
Cam York and Egor Zamula are the two kids to watch tonight. York was okay in his season debut while playing alongside Braun. He got some good pucks to the net and worked hard his own zone. There is still a lot of growing for York but eventually, he will be a nice piece. Egor Zamula will make his season debut. I was surprised York was the first call up considering Zamula has been the better player between the two.
In 25 games, Zamula has three goals and 11 assists with a +/- of 1. York had 21 games with one goal and seven assists with a +/- of -5. Zamula is also the bigger defenseman standing at 6’3″. In the morning skate, he was paired with Ristolainen. That is for sure the pair you are going to want to watch tonight.
Overall, the Flyers need to get some goals tonight from their big guys. Atkinson, van Riemsdyk, Farabee, Hayes and Lindblom are going to have to step up tonight. These are the guys that they need to really get going and with Konecny, Couturier and Giroux being out, this gives those guys that opportunity to step up. If the depth can add some goals tonight, more power to them, but this will be a stretch of games relying on these guys.
Projected Lineup
Farabee – Laughton – Atkinson
Brassard – Frost – van Riemsdyk
Bunnaman – Hayes- Willman
Lindblom – Brown – MacEwen
York – Braun
Zamula – Ristolainen
Yandle – Connauton
Hart
Pittsburgh Penguins
Record: 19-8-5 (43 points, 4th in Metro)
The Penguins have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL currently and come into Philadelphia tonight on a nine-game winning streak. They also come into tonight’s game off a back to back against the St. Louis Blues. While it was a home game for Pittsburgh, they still had to travel into Philadelphia.
While the win streak is impressive, six of those nine were teams not even close to playoff contention. That shouldn’t matter though. They have not played down to their opponent and it has showed. In those nine games, the Penguins have score 39 goals with one shutout to boot as well.
Sidney Crosby comes into tonight for his 21st game of the season. He has been no where near the Crosby we have all come to dislike, though he has missed some time. He has five goals and 17 assists. Jake Guentzel is leading the team with 16 goals and 15 assists for 31 points. Evan Rodrigues is right behind Guentzel with 14 goals and 14 assists.
The Penguins will be missing Jeff Carter, Evgeni Malkin and Jason Zucker. That won’t matter though as the Penguins are still icing a full NHL roster while the Flyers will have basically a Lake Tahoe roster all over again.
Projected Lineup
Guentzel – Crosby – Rust
Heinen – Rodrigues – Kapanen
Aston-Reese – Blueger – McGinn
Bjorkqvist – Boyle – Simon
Dumoulin – Letang
Pettersson – Marino
Matheson – Ruhwedel
Jarry
When, Where, and How to Watch
Time: 7:00 pm
Where: Wells Fargo Center
TV Broadcast: ESPN+/Hulu
Radio Broadcast: 97.5 The Fanatic
Live Stream: Fubo TV
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