Flyers Hope to Exorcise the Devils

The Flyers lost on Thursday night to the Lightning. Their one-game winning streak was snapped. Gotta shake that off. The division leading New Jersey Devils are coming to town.

This is a rivalry that runs deep. Maybe it doesn’t have the same intensity as it had in the 90s during the Eric Lindros/Scott Stevens Era, but it is still there. And the last time these two teams met, it was a 5-2 victory on opening night. But that was before everyone got hurt.

Philadelphia Flyers

Record: 8-11-5 (21 points, 7th in Metro)

Ok, the Flyers lost on Thursday, but to be fair, the Lightning have been one of the best teams in the NHL for the last few years and the are healthy, where we are not. But as Coach Tortorella said, “Sometimes you gotta eat that 💩.”

However, the Flyers are turning a corner. Scott Laughton returned earlier this week and Travis Konecny returned during the Tampa game, scoring the team’s lone goal. Tony DeAngelo also returned for the first time after blocking a shot against Pittsburgh last week.

Reports are also that Cam Atkinson is skating more and that JVR is practicing more with the team. Hopefully by Christmas, we’ll have a team that should more resemble the team that Tortorella had hoped to have when they broke camp in early October

Carter Hart was lit up for four goals on Thursday against a high powered and loaded team of veterans. It is possible he gets a break for Saturday’s game, but on the other hand, he gives this team the best chance at dropping the Devils. The Flyers are one of the few teams to defeat the Devils this season in regulation and it is certain that the Devils will want to seek revenge on the Flyers for that loss.

Projected Lineup

Kevin Hayes – Noah Cates – Travis Konecny

Max Willman – Lukas Sedlak – Owen Tippett

Scott Laughton – Morgan Frost – Joel Farabee

Nicolas Deslauriers – Patrick Brown – Zack MacEwen

Ivan Provorov – Rasmus Ristolainen

Travis Sanheim – Justin Braun

Nick Seeler – Tony DeAngelo

Carter Hart

New Jersey Devils

Record: 19-4-1 (39 points, 1st in Metro)

At the beginning of this year, I made a list of predictions for the upcoming season. Right about now, you can throw all of these out the window. Among those was that the Devils would finish in last place behind the New York Islanders. Funny thing….those two teams are at the top of the division.

Also, the Devils are one point ahead of the Bruins for the top team in the Eastern Conference. That’ll happen when you have a 13-game win streak propelling you forward. And since their winning streak was busted in a 2-1 loss in Toronto, they’ve won three straight before an OT loss to Nashville on Thursday.

The Devils are about as solid as they come. They are second in the NHL in goals scored as well as third in goals given up. They are ninth in penalty kill, but just 19th on the power play.

Jack Hughes has broken out and become the player the Devils hoped he would be. He leads the team with 12 goals and 28 points. Jesper Bratt leads the team with 18 assists and has nine goals to boot. Nico Hischier has 10 goals with 16 assists. Former Hurricane defender Dougie Hamilton is also a top scorer with six goals and 10 assists.

Vitek Vanecek is the top goalie for the Devils. This year, he is putting up great numbers with a GAA of 2.24 (fourth best in the NHL), a save percentage of .918, and one shutout. In comparison, Hart has a GAA of 2.81 and a save percentage of .914 (but most of those numbers dipped during the 10 game losing streak).

This is not going to be an easy game, but any divisional game is going to be tough. A win here will go a long way into building confidence for the Flyers

Projected Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Nico Hischier – Jesper Bratt

Erik Haula – Jack Hughes – Dawson Mercer

Miles Wood – Michael McLeod – Fabian Zetterlund

Yegor Sharangovich – Jesper Boqvist – Alexander Holtz

Jonas Siegenthaler – Dougie Hamilton

Ryan Graves – John Marino

Brendan Smith – Damon Severson

Vitek Vanecek

Where, When, and How to Watch/Listen

Time: 7:00 PM

Where: Wells Fargo Center

Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia

Radio: 97.5 FM

Live Stream: Fubo Tv

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