Flyers looking for third win a row as they travel to Florida
By Nick Butler
The Flyers will be headed down to the Sunshine state for their third and final matchup against the Florida Panthers. A lot has changed since the last time these two met back in November and mainly it has been on the Flyers end. The Panthers continue to remain hot and win games as they continue to hold first place in the Atlantic while the Flyers are sitting in dead last in the Metropolitan.
The Flyers will look to get a win in this matchup against the Panthers as they have lost the previous two meetings early on this season. The Panthers will be looking to lock up another two points to continue to stay ahead of Tampa Bay while the Flyers will be playing for pride and to start building for next season.
Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 18-28-10 (46 points, 8th in the Metro)
The Flyers have won two games in a row and are 3-2-0 in their last five. This is a big improvement over what we have seen in the last couple months. These wins come from finally getting help back in the forms of Patrick Brown, Kevin Hayes( a healthy Kevin Hayes that is), Derick Brassard and Joel Farabee. It also helps when, and stop me if you heard this before, you put your best line back together again.
The FAB line once again did it all for the team after being reunited. They have been all over the puck, scoring goals and playing solid defense. This line together helps take some pressure off your top line of Claude Giroux, Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny, who have also been playing well. The fact that these guys have such great chemistry leads me to believe that these three maybe together next year if Brassard doesn’t get moved.
For the first time since December, the Flyers were able to roll four lines without having a majority of AHL talent mixed into their roster. Getting healthy solves a lot of the Flyers’ problems and it is not making an excuse for their poor play. It is simple facts. Losing your top d man, who is also your best puck moving d man, will hurt your breakouts and power plays.
Having your top center, second center, best young forward, fourth line center, back up fourth line center and so on and so forth out has proved to be difficult for the Flyers as their Phantoms roster has also been ravaged by injuries.
We have seen good play from this team the last two games and a lot of fight. Adding pieces and a good coach will propel this team back to where they were two years ago in AV’s first season. The Flyers will most likely miss the playoffs and do it on back to back years for the first time since 1993-1994 when they were on a five season hiatus from the playoffs.
There are positives to take away and this team can only get better. There is a lot of belief in the locker room and adding pieces will only improve that belief. With Ristolainen being locked in for five years, you must get some more help defensively and add another big d man who can compliment Risto when he is off the ice.
Despite some previous success, there were quite a few changes made to the lineup during Wednesday afternoon’s practice. Gerry Mayhew appears to be re-entering the lineup as Cam York makes his return to the NHL as well.
Projected Lineup
Lindblom – Laughton – Konecny
Giroux – Brassard – Atkinson
Farabee – Hayes – van Riemsdyk
Mayhew – Brown – MacEwen
Provorov – Braun
Sanheim – Ristolainen
Yandle – York
Hart
Florida Panthers
Record: 39-13-5 (83 points, 1st in the Atlantic)
The Panthers have remained hot, even after losing Coach Quenville amongst the Chicago allegations. They are currently scoring their opponents with a goal differential of 70. It shows you just how good and legit this team really is.
I expect their to be some scouts in the building tonight as rumors continue to hover around Claude Giroux and his fate for the rest of the season. Rumors have come in with the Panthers reportedly willing to trade Owen Tippet to the Flyers along with picks for Giroux.
Giroux would be a big add for the already stacked Panthers. They are a team that just looks to outscore you. In three of their last nine games, the Panthers put up six goals. They rarely score less than three as well. Adding Giroux and his play making abilities could really throw this team over the top.
There are no big holes on this team and they continue to play great hockey. From being dog water to top in the Atlantic in a span of 3-4 years is truly incredible and says a lot about how the ownership and front office worked to get the pieces needed to put this team in the position that they are currently in.
Projected Lineup
Verhaeghe – Barkov – Mamin
Huberdeau – Bennett – Duclair
Marchment – Luostarinen – Reinhart
Vatrano – Acciari – Hornqvist
Weegar – Ekblad
Forsling – Gudas
Lindbohm – Montour
Bobrovsky
When, Where & How to Watch
Time: 7:00 pm
Where: FLA Live Arena
TV Broadcast: NBCSP
Radio Broadcast: 93.3 WMMR
Live Stream: Fubo TV
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