The Philadelphia Flyers are currently off to a good start in the post-Claude Giroux era. They’ve begun stockpiling draft picks for 2023, a loaded draft class, and even acquired a first-rounder for the following year. Oh, and they also beat the New York Islanders in a great 2-1 win on Sunday after just trading Claude Giroux the day before. Flyers forward Joel Farabee said that with Giroux gone, others would need to step up, and it seems his voice was most certainly heard in the locker room.
Some of the players who got Farabee’s message loud and clear were players like defenseman Ivan Provorov and center Kevin Hayes. Provorov gave the Flyers arguably his best performance all-around on the entire season, but, unless he does this consistently, fans will still have plenty to say in terms of critiquing the Russian defenseman.
Hayes, who has seven points in his last eight games since returning from an infection, also came through in the clutch for the Flyers when he scored two goals in Sunday’s win over the Islanders, the second of which was the game-winning goal.
Other players have been playing very well, too, though, even though they are not always getting to show fans that through the stat sheet. Guys like Joel Farabee, Cam Atkinson, Travis Konecny, and Travis Sanheim have been putting on quality performances throughout the entire year and are finally beginning to reap the benefits of them now, it would seem.
Rallying behind some of their star skaters, as well as Carter Hart, who is still on pace to have a phenomenal season despite Philadelphia’s season-long struggles, the Flyers will look to get their first win against the Detroit Red Wings this year.
Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 20-31-11 (51 pts, 7th in Metro)
While the Flyers were busy at the trade deadline making some moves that–so far– have benefitted the team’s performances and attitude, the future of the club is still unclear to many. Fans will not be seeing the likes of Claude Giroux, Derick Brassard, Justin Braun and Connor Bunnman in the lineup as they have all been traded.
However, Morgan Frost and the newly acquired Owen Tippett are both remaining on the main roster in Philadelphia for the rest of the season and seem to be playing with plenty of energy and hunger to prove themselves. Fletcher said he’s liked what he’s seen from them both and that they have “paid their dues” in the AHL.
The Flyers will be running an 11/7 lineup tonight vs the Red Wings, featuring one extra defenseman and one less forward, as a result of the deadline activity. It will surely make for an interesting lineup, especially when Philadelphia still has so many out due to injury and they’ve traded four players who have consistently been in the lineup when healthy. Fletcher has said that Scott Laughton and Nate Thompson both will be back and playing before the season’s end, so the Flyers will get some center depth back soon enough.
Projected Lineup
van Riemsdyk – Hayes – Atkinson
Farabee – Frost – Konecny
Lindblom – Brown – Tippett
Willman – MacEwan
Provorov – York
Sanheim – Ristolainen
Yandle – Seeler
Connauton
Hart
Detroit Red Wings
Record: 25-30-7 (57 pts, 5th in Atlantic)
The Detroit Red Wings have their fans in a much better mindset than the Flyers do with theirs, even though they are only currently six points apart in the standings. One key reason why that may be is because Executive VP and General Manager of Detroit, Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman, has put a lot of work into building a young core of top talent in Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, and Alex Nedeljkovic.
Raymond and Seider are each in their rookie season, where both of them have made plenty of arguments as to why they should win the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year. Bertuzzi and Larkin both seem to get better each year, though Bertuzzi’s vaccination status is certainly something that has caused some trouble for them this season. Nedeljkovic is a 26-year-old American goaltender who shows signs of pure brilliance at times.
He and the the rest of these players make up what could be an unstoppable young core at times, though they don’t have all of the proper pieces in place in order to have a better-looking push for the playoffs this year. Even without all of the right pieces, the Flyers have been unable to beat Detroit in each of their meetings this year. Do not underestimate this gritty Red Wings roster.
Projected Lineup
Bertuzzi – Larkin – Raymond
Vrana – Zadina – Suter
Rasmussen – Erne – Hirose
Veleno – Gagner – Sundqvist
Oesterle – Seider
Juolevi – Hronek
Staal – Walman
Nedeljkovic
When, Where, & How to Watch
Time: 7:30 pm EST
Where: Little Caesars Arena
TV Broadcast: NBCSP
Radio Broadcast: 97.5 FM
Live Stream: Fubo TV
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