So far, the Flyers have started the John Tortorella Era with three wins. Who would’ve thought that would happen. They take their 3-0 record on the road for the second game of their three game road trip across the South. Their first stop was in Tampa to take on the Lightning. Tonight, the cross over the state to take on the Florida Panthers.
Which is just what Torts wants right now. It’s easy to defeat the New Jersey Devils and the Vancouver Canucks. Nobody expects a lot out of those teams this season. And if the Flyers are going to be anything close to competitive, you need to beat up on the teams you have to beat up on. Taking a “W” against a worthy opponent, that is all the more challenging and all the more appealing.
Philadelphia Flyers
Against Tampa, the Flyers fell down early into a 2-0 hole after Stephen Stamkos scored two power play goals. So, while the penalty killing remains a problem for this team, giving up isn’t. After falling down 2-0 against Vancouver, the Flyers rallied for three goals to win the contest. Last night, they did the same against Tampa. That’s two straight wins after putting themselves in a two-goal deficit. You know how many times that happened last year? Zero times.
Now, we don’t want the Flyers to start every game in a 2-0 hole. However, this is a nice change of pace. They can bounce back. They showed none of the signs of last year where they would simply give up and play sluggish, ho-hum hockey the rest of the game. It actually looks like they care. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the John Tortorella Era! And with the Phillies and Eagles grabbing all of the local sports headlines, the Flyers are trying to grab some of their own.
This team has had to make some adjustments before going on this trip. Blueliner Rasmus Ristolainen has been moved to injured reserve. In his place, the Flyers have called up Zach MacEwen to add a physical presence and Louie Belpedio. Granted, Risto hasn’t played a game yet for the Flyers, so this was more of a formality. Still, the defense has been rather strong with out (and maybe because he’s been out!).
Speaking of playing physical, big props to Nic Deslauriers. He took on Pat Maroon last night in his second fight in as many games. With him and MacEwen on the fourth line, they are creating a physically intimidating force to stymie the opposing offense. It ain’t pretty, but you saw it work against Tampa last night. They didn’t give the Bolts a lot of opportunities to score and attack Carter Hart.
Ristolainen isn’t the only Flyer who will be out. Owen Tippet is still day-to-day with an upper body injury. He will be a scratch tonight. You could expect to see MacEwen in the lineup tonight to use his size and strength to frustrate the opposition, just as he did last night against Tampa.
The team will also be riding the hot streak of Travis Konecny. He has opened the season with three goals in two games, but went scoreless against the Lighting. And while that puts him on pace for around 82 goals this season, we all know that kind of production will be unrealistic. Still, if he can put up some points in Miami tonight, it will greatly be appreciated.
Any other production given by the rest of the team is greatly appreciated as well. Morgan Frost scored two goals in the opener. Scott Laughton scored his second goal of the season last night to get the Flyers rolling. Noah Cates scored an amazing heads up play to clinch the victory for the team.Tony DeAngelo has played steady defense while adding some offense as well.
Projected Lineup
Joel Farabee – Kevin Hayes – Travis Konecny
James van Riemsdyk – Noah Cates – Wade Allison
Scott Laughton – Morgan Frost – Zack MacEwen
Nicolas Deslauriers – Jackson Cates – Tanner Laczynski
Ivan Provorov – Tony DeAngelo
Travis Sanheim – Justin Braun
Egor Zamula – Nick Seeler
Felix Sandstrom
Florida Panthers
The Flyers will be facing a Panthers team that is looking to avenge itself of an early exit from the playoffs last year. Last year they won the President’s Trophy before losing the Battle of Florida to the Tampa Bay Lighting. The Bolts unceremoniously booted the Panthers from the playoffs in a four game sweep.
The Cats started off with a big win over the Islanders before surviving a comeback attempt by the lowly Buffalo Sabres. The Panthers are coming off a 5-3 loss to the Bruins on Monday night. They will want to bounce back against the Flyers.
One of the biggest moves of the offseason was when they traded Jonathan Huberdeau to Calgary for Matthew Tkachuk. While it is still too early to see if that was a good deal or not, Tkachuk has not disappointed fans in South Florida. In three games, he has two goals and two assists.
While most of the focus will be on Tkachuk, for obvious reasons, he’s not the only one to keep an eye on. Colin White also has two goals and two assists. Gustav Forsling is leading the the blueliners with a goal and two assists.
Former Flyer Nick Cousins centers the fourth line. He is paired up with former Penguin antagonist Patric Hörnqvist. This is a line that could cause problems. They can be very physical and Hörnqvist has the ability to score if left unguarded. Radko Gudas, another former Flyer, is a second line defender.
The big question is who’s in net. Florida has former Flyer Sergei Bobrovsky. Bob is a Vezina Trophy winner and a bit of a heartbreaker for Flyers fans who wonder “What if?” The thing about Bob is, no matter how good he is, he can get streaky. He was great against the Islanders but terrible against the Bruins. In game two of the season, the Panthers started Spencer Knight. It will be interesting to see if they will continue to flip-flop goalies or let Bobrovsky rebound in this game.
Projected Lineup
Carter Verhaeghe – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Matthew Tkachuk – Sam Bennett – Rūdolfs Balcers
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Colin White
Ryan Lomberg – Nick Cousins – Patric Hörnqvist
Gustav Forsling – Radko Gudas
Marc Staal – Josh Mahura
Matt Kiersted – Lucas Carlsson
Sergei Bobrovsky
Where, When and How to Watch/Listen
Time: 8 PM
Where: FLA Live Arena
Watch: TNT
Radio: 97.5 FM
Live Stream: Fubo Tv
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