The Philadelphia Flyers stood tall and gave up just one goal against the NHL’s top offense. They don’t have a lot of time to rest on their laurels. The Nashville Predators are in town. They are battling for a spot in the playoffs and are hoping the Flyers could be easy pickins for them. However, with the Eagles in the Super Bowl this weekend (have you heard about this), you can expect a hyped-up, raucous crowd to rock the Wells Fargo Center and cheer their Flyers on.
Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 22-22-9 (53 points, 7th in Metro)
This team continues to surprise and confound us. A few weeks ago, they dropped a bomb against the Chicago Blackhawks and came out lifeless. Then, in their last game, they hold the best player in the league scoreless and limited him to just five shots. C’est la vie!
A big part of that victory was Carter Hart. Including the 2-1 loss to the Islanders earlier this week, Hart has stopped 63 of 66 shots in his last two games. In the two games since the All-Star break ended, he has been stellar. Not only that, he had a shutout victory just before the Flyers went on that break. He has recaptured some of that energy he had before the break.
This is important as the team has someone to rally behind. While it would be really nice if the offense woke up a bit, the players can do everything they can to help him these upcoming games. The schedule this month is rough and the Flyers need to bring their A-game. Hart is bringing his. The rest of the team needs to follow.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Kevin Hayes — Scott Laughton — Owen Tippett
James van Riemsdyk — Noah Cates — Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee — Morgan Frost — Wade Allison
Nicolas Deslauriers — Patrick Brown — Kieffer Bellows
Ivan Provorov — Cam York
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler — Tony DeAngelo
Carter Hart
Nashville Predators
Record: 24-19-6 (54 points, 5th in Central)
How good is the Metropolitan Division? Can you believe that if the Flyers were in the Central, they’d be in fifth place and just three points from a playoff spot instead of the seven points they are now?
The Preds have won five of their last seven games, but got blown out by Vegas 5-1 after dropping Winnipeg, New Jersey, and Los Angeles in their previous three games. Much like the Flyers, they are inconsistent. They are a good defensive team, ninth best in goals against.
However they are 27th in goals scored, having tallied just 136 goals this season. The Flyers, by the way are 26th at 144. So, this is a pretty even matchup and if you put both teams in the mirror, you will see a a lot of similarities. Both teams are fighting to make the playoffs, but time is running out for both of them.
Nashville is led by Filip Forsberg. He has 19 goals and 23 assists. Tied with Forsberg for the team lead in points is Roman Josi with 12 goals and 30 assists. Their starting goalie, Juuse Saro, has numbers that are similar to Hart’s (GAA of 2.78 to 2.80 and Save Percentage of .918 to .913).
Predators Projected Lineup
Filip Forsberg — Cody Glass — Matt Duchene
Nino Niederreiter — Ryan Johansen — Mikael Granlund
Cole Smith — Juuso Parssinen — Colton Sissons
Yakov Trenin — Tommy Novak — Tanner Jeannot
Ryan McDonagh — Roman Josi
Mattias Ekholm — Jeremy Lauzon
Kevin Gravel — Dante Fabbro
Juuse Saros
Where, When, and How to Watch/Listen
Time: 12:30 PM
Where: Wells Fargo Center
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia, ESPN+
Radio: 97.5 FM
Live Stream: FuboTV
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