Flyers vs Canucks, Game 3: Notes, Lineups, and How to Watch

The biggest event in Philadelphia is tonight as the Flyers open the home portion of their schedule against the Vancouver Canucks. Okay…that’s not actually the case. But the New Era of Orange will be debuting officially at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday evening. Fans are asked to be in their seats at 5:45 p.m. for the pregame festivities.

For the second straight season, the Canucks are an early season opponent for the Flyers. In the two-game series against Vancouver last season, each team won their home game. Philadelphia rallied for three straight goals to earn a 3-2 victory on Oct. 15 while Elias Pettersson’s five point performance gave the Canucks an easy 6-2 win on Feb. 18.

Philadelphia Flyers

It was a tale of two games for the Flyers to open their season. They won a back and forth game over the Blue Jackets, dominating most of the play in a season-opening 4-2 victory. And while Travis Konecny continued his hot start against Ottawa, there wasn’t much to like from Philadelphia’s side in a 5-2 loss to the Senators. The differences in their forechecking and transition game showed mightily during the two games.

The Flyers, if they want to compete with a Vancouver team that has scored 12 goals to open the season, they’ll need to find scoring from other places in their lineup. That includes getting the likes of Owen Tippett, Morgan Frost, and Noah Cates going. The three of them have not registered a single point to start the season. It’s only two games into the season so there’s not much to worry about yet, but those are three players who the Flyers need to contribute.

Another potential concern for Philadelphia had been about the status of Sean Couturier. He missed the team’s practice on Monday as John Tortorella only elected to say that the veteran forward was “banged up” and the issue is not related to his back. Not elaborating further and with the Flyers not holding a morning skate, his status wasn’t going to be known until game-time most likely. However, Couturier confirmed pregame that he will be in the lineup for this game. He’s averaged over 20 minutes of ice time to open the season and while he isn’t necessarily back to his pre-surgery form, he has performed quite well after missing almost two years.

Frost was expected to take over top line center duties if Couturier was unable to go. Instead, Frost will be a healthy scratch this evening. That allows both Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster to enter the lineup. And with Rasmus Ristolainen still on IR, Egor Zamula will play.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Joel Farabee – Sean Couturier – Bobby Brink 

Travis Konecny – Scott Laughton – Cam Atkinson

Owen Tippett – Noah Cates – Tyson Foerster

Nicolas Deslauriers – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York – Travis Sanheim

Marc Staal – Sean Walker

Egor Zamula – Nick Seeler

Carter Hart

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks are off to a hot start this season. They swept the opening home and home series against the Edmonton Oilers, outscoring them 12-4 in the two games. But it isn’t all sunshine in Vancouver as despite the two victories, they are still getting outplayed and outworked at times. In their 4-3 win over the Oilers this past Saturday, they were outshot 40-16 and had to rely on sharp goaltending from Casey DeSmith. They lived to tell the tale on the penalty kill as well, giving the Oilers seven power play opportunities.

The Canucks are getting scoring from multiple places in their lineup as nine different players have at least one goal compared to the Flyers having just four players. Brock Boeser leads the way after his four-goal performance to open the season. It’s Elias Pettersson who leads the Canucks with six points as he was recently named the NHL’s second star of the week.

Thatcher Demko, who has been battling an illness, put on a show in his first game. He gave up just one goal to a potent Oilers lineup. He’ll be hoping for a bounce back season after an injury cost him time last year.

Canucks Projected Lineup

Andrei Kuzmenko – Elias Pettersson – Conor Garland

Phillip Di Giuseppe – J.T. Miller – Brock Boeser

Dakota Joshua – Pius Suter – Anthony Beauvillier

Nils Hoglander – Sam Lafferty – Jack Studnicka

Quinn Hughes – Filip Hronek

Ian Cole – Tyler Myers

Carson Soucy* – Noah Juulsen

*Game-time decision 

Thatcher Demko

Where, When, and How to Watch/Listen

Time: 6:00 PM

 Where: Wells Fargo Center

Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia

Radio: 97.5 FM

Live Stream: FuboTV

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