Flyers Host Columbus in Final Home Game of Season
By Scott Cole
The Philadelphia Flyers have now lost seven in a row, although in their last outing, they did put up a fairly good effort against the best team that has ever taken the ice. But in their last home game of the season, the Flyers host the only team in the Metropolitan Division that’s had a worse season than they’ve had: the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Can the Flyers win one last time at home and give the home fans something to feel good about? Or will the Blue Jackets roll over Philly? This game is a battle for an effort to get a better draft pick for the Connor Bedard sweepstakes.
Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 29-39-13 (71 points, 7th in Metro)
With the season winding down, there are a few records that could be set by some of the Flyers players in the remaining two games of the season. Travis Konecny is one goal away from scoring 30 goals for the first time. Owen Tippett is one away from 25 and Morgan Frost is one away from 20 goals. Kevin Hayes and Scott Laughton are two goals away from 20 goals; for Laughton, that would be the first time he’s ever hit 20 goals.
For a Flyers’ team that has been struggling this year, those are some positives. A few of the guys are close to setting career highs and others are having, statistically speaking (like Hayes), bounce back years of sorts. Many of the younger guys, like Frost, are stepping up to the challenges presented to them. Things like these should give us some optimism as this season winds down and we head into the offseason. This team has a long way to go, but we are trending in the right direction.
Also, as it is the last home game of the season, the Flyers will reveal the their team awards tonight as well. It will be interesting to see who wins some hardware tonight. Only one has been revealed so far: Nick Seeler is the team’s nomination for the Bill Masterton Trophy.
AHL prospect Adam Ginning will make his NHL debut tonight. The 2018 second round draft pick will get his chance to show what he has. Ginning has three goals and 16 assists for Lehigh Valley this season. Ronnie Attard has been sent down to the Phantoms, meaning that the bottom pair of blue liners tonight is Ginning and Justin Braun. Tony DeAngelo is likely scratched for the fourth straight game.
Projected Lineup
Kevin Hayes — Noah Cates — Owen Tippett
Joel Farabee — Morgan Frost — Travis Konecny
James van Riemsdyk — Scott Laughton — Wade Allison
Nicolas Deslauriers — Tanner Laczynski — Brendan Lemieux
Ivan Provorov — Cam York
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Adam Ginning — Justin Braun
Carter Hart
Columbus Blue Jackets
Record: 24-47-8 (56 points, 8th in Metropolitan)
The Flyers have had an up and down, streaky season. It has not been the epic disaster that has been the 2022-23 Columbus Blue Jackets.
After acquiring Johnny Gaudreau in the biggest surprise of this past offseason, Columbus stumbled right out of the gate. Injuries have been bad for Philly, but they have utterly decimated the Blue Jackets. Zach Werenski was injured in the game against the Flyers last fall. Former Flyer Jakub Voracek has missed most of the season and his career is in deep jeopardy. Players currently on injured reserve include: Jake Bean, Elvis Merzlikins, Erik Gudbranson, Nick Blankenburg, Mathieu Olivier, and Patrik Laine. That’s a lot of top quality players to be missing from your lineup.
Even with all of this, the Flyers are 1-1-1 against them this season. It would be nice if the Flyers can close out their final home game with a win against a team that has lost seven of their last eight games. But crazy things have happened this year. The Flyers have had little success against bottom feeder teams this year.
Projected Lineup
Johnny Gaudreau — Boone Jenner — Kirill Marchenko
Kent Johnson — Jack Roslovic — Trey Fix-Wolansky
Eric Robinson — Sean Kuraly — Liam Foudy
Josh Dunne — Hunter McKown — Emil Bemstrom
Gavin Bayreuther — Andrew Peeke
Tim Berni — Adam Boqvist
Jake Christiansen — David Jiricek
Michael Hutchinson
Where, When, and How to Watch/Listen
Time: 7 PM
Where: Wells Fargo Center
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 FM
Live Stream: Fubo Tv
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