After just barely avoiding a third 10-game losing streak this season with their 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals, the Philadelphia Flyers look to start a more positive streak as they host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night.
This will be the first matchup between these two clubs since they faced-off in Edmonton on October 27th during Philadelphia’s stint on the road in Canada. The Flyers won the game 5-3, but that was a much healthier roster for Philadelphia then.
The Flyers have, however, just gotten back Joel Farabee from injury, who had an assist in the win against Washington in his return, as well as Derick Brassard. It’s also worth noting that forwards Kevin Hayes and Wade Allison could reportedly be back in the lineup by the end of the week.
Veteran Nate Thompson is also said to be gearing up for a return to the lineup. Though his timetable to comeback is not as specific as Hayes and Allison’s, Mike Yeo says he could return before the end of the season.
Healthy bodies returning to the ice could not come at a better time with the NHL’s March 21st trade deadline rapidly approaching. This is a great chance for Philadelphia to quickly build up any last-minute value in some of their roster’s trade value, should they attempt to make a few key moves in order to retain Flyers’ captain, Claude Giroux.
Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 16-26-10 (42 pts, 7th in Metro)
The Flyers will be forced to defend two of the NHL’s top talents on Tuesday night in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. This would normally be a nightmare when taking into consideration just how bad Philadelphia has been. However, the Flyers are coming off one of their best defensive performances all year after their win on Saturday against the Washington Capitals.
Ivan Provorov, Justin Braun, Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen all played a great game on both ends of the ice as blue-liners, and all contributed to keeping one of the NHL’s most prolific scorers in history, Alex Ovechkin, off of the scoresheet. Carter Hart was also brilliant against Washington, stopping 27 of 28 shots and finishing the game with a win and .964 save percentage.
Hart is expected to be between-the-pipes again on Tuesday night against the Oilers. Hopefully, he does everything he did against Washington and then some.
Projected Lineup
Farabee – Giroux – Atkinson
Lindblom – Laughton – Konecny
van Riemsdyk – Brassard – Mayhew
Ratcliffe – Brown – MacEwen
Provorov – Braun
Sanheim – Ristolainen
Yandle – Seeler
Hart
Edmonton Oilers
Record: 29-21-3 (61 pts, 4th in Pacific)
The Oilers are heading into Philadelphia after losing 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes. While there are certainly less dignified losses a team could suffer than a one-goal differential against one of the hottest teams in the league this year, the Oilers should still feel a great deal of dissatisfaction about their performance this season.
Despite being widely considered the favorite to win the Pacific, the Oilers have found themselves outside of the top two divisional spots for a majority of the season. Surely, this is a major disappointment coming from a club that has two of the absolute best players in all of hockey.
The risky signing of Evander Kane has proven to be worth every bit of the negative exposure that the Oilers have received from the media and hockey fans. Kane has recorded five goals and five assists in his first 14 games as an Oiler.
Say what you want about the controversial power forward’s actions off-ice over the years, but his contributions to Edmonton are certainly noticed and appreciated, especially now that they have had to play without forwards Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kailer Yamamoto.
The Oilers could still use some much-needed support on the blue line, and even between-the-pipes since their goaltending depth has been unreliable and injury-riddled, but they have done a great job at getting back into the playoff push after going on several smaller losing streaks just before and after ringing in the New Year.
Projected Lineup
Foegele – McDavid – Hyman
Kane – Draisaitl – Yamamoto
Benson – McLeod – Ryan
Shore – Malone
Nurse – Barrie
Lagession – Ceci
Keith – Bouchard
Niemelainen
Koskinen
When, Where & How to Watch
Time: 7:00pm EST
Where: Wells Fargo Center
TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio Broadcast: 97.5 FM
Live Stream: Fubo TV
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