After a quick visit to Madison Square Garden, the Flyers are back home this evening as they welcome in the Columbus Blue Jackets. It’ll be the second game of the season series before the teams meet again in two days to wrap things up.
The last time the Flyers and Blue Jackets met up was in January where Philadelphia lost their 10th game in a row for the second time this season. Gerry Mayhew scored the only goal for the Flyers, coming with eight minutes remaining in the third period. Columbus swept the three stars as Oliver Bjorkstrand and Patrik Laine scored in the victory.
The Flyers are coming off their first shootout win of the season against the Rangers. It was also the first shootout in win a scored a goal as Kevin Hayes secured the victory in the third round. Martin Jones made 43 saves, stopping all three shooters he faced in the shootout. Owen Tippett scored his first goal with Philadelphia in the win.
Despite coming away with the win, it didn’t come easy as Philadelphia had a 3-0 lead in the opening stages of the third period. The Rangers stormed back with three unanswered goals, including two in 12 seconds over halfway through the period. While a win is a win, it surely didn’t come easy.
Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 22-36-11 (55 points, 7th in Metro)
The Flyers will get some reinforcements back in their lineup as Scott Laughton returns after missing the last 12 games due to a head injury he suffered against the Panthers on March 10th. He had been medically cleared to play before the weekend and even lobbied to play, but the team took the safe route and held him out.
Joel Farabee will move back to the wing for now. There is a chance the Flyers will put him back at center at some point during the remaining games. But this shows them that Farabee has the versatility to move around, something that will certainly help him and the team moving forward.
While Laughton is back, Philadelphia has likely lost Nick Seeler for the rest of the season. He is week to week after suffering a lower body injury against Toronto on Saturday. Zack MacEwen will also miss his second straight game after a head injury he suffered in his fight against Wayne Simmonds.
Keith Yandle will be making his return to the lineup as well after missing the last two games. His Ironman streak came to an end after he was a healthy scratch on Saturday. The team wants to get everyone involved down the stretch, hence his return.
Projected Lineup
van Riemsdyk – Hayes – Tippett
Farabee-Frost-Atkinson
Cates-Laughton-Konecny
Lindblom-Thompson-Brown
Provorov-York
Sanheim-Ristolainen
Yandle-Attard
Hart
Columbus Blue Jackets
Record: 32-32-6 (70 points, 6th in Metro)
While the Blue Jackets are still technically in the playoff hunt, it’s a long climb up. They sit 14 points outside of the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Their play recently hasn’t been helping them as they’ve gone 0-4-3 in their last seven games.
Columbus is coming off a physical affair against the Boston Bruins. They fell 3-2 in overtime as Jake DeBrusk scored twice for Boston. Jakub Voracek, while picking up two assists, was served with a 10-minute misconduct late in the first period. Andrew Peeke had been left motionless on the ice after a hit from Brad Marchand. The Bruins would end up taking the puck up ice and scoring.
Frustrations have been boiling for Columbus in recent games so they will certainly be fired up for this one. Speaking of Voracek, he’s been having a solid season since the offseason trade. While he only has five goals, he’s racked up 46 assists and 51 points. It’s Laine (25 goals) and Bjorkstrand (24 goals) who have led the way offensively.
Elvis Merzlikins will be appearing in his third straight game. He was in net for the overtime loss against Boston so the Flyers should try to pepper him with shots early and often to see if he’s fatigued.
Projected Lineup
Voracek – Roslovic – Laine
Nyquist – Sillinger – Bemstrom
Danforth – Kuraly – Bjorkstrand
Robinson – Gaunce – Meyer
Werenski – Peeke
Gavrikov – Bean
Christiansen – Boqvist
Merzlikins
When, Where, & How to Watch
Time: 7:00 pm EST
Where: Wells Fargo Center
TV Broadcast: NBCSP+
Radio Broadcast: 93.3 WMMR
Live Stream: Fubo TV
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