Fresh off a dominating victory over the Minnesota Wild, the Philadelphia Flyers will play host to the Anaheim Ducks in a Saturday matinee matchup.
The Flyers swept the Ducks in the two-game season series last year, out scoring them 9-3. Sam Ersson came within 40 seconds of a shutout in a 4-1 victory on Jan. 2. 15 days later, Kevin Hayes recorded his first NHL hat trick in a 5-2 win over Anaheim.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers aren’t even 10 games into the season yet, but year two of John Tortorella is off to a strong start. It’s too early to say that Philadelphia is ahead of schedule in their rebuild process. It is fair to say that this team has bought into the process and are all aiming toward the same goal.
The Flyers have shown that they can out will and out work even the best of teams. And with some of the other teams in the division struggling out of the gate, this is the time that Philadelphia can take advantage of early season struggles.
It has also helped that they are getting contributions from multiple places. Travis Konecny is off to a red-hot start with three goals in the last five games and nine points overall in seven games. Back from almost a two season absence, Sean Couturier is beginning to look like his old self. Travis Sanheim, averaging over 26 minutes of ice time, is having a huge bounce back year. These are the veteran players that the Flyers need contributions from.
The youth is also finding ways to help. Bobby Brink potted his first two career goals, Owen Tippett finally found the back of the net as well. And Tyson Foerster, while he hasn’t scored yet, is finding other ways to help out.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Cam Atkinson
Travis Konecny – Scott Laughton – Tyson Foerster
Joel Farabee – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nicolas Deslauriers – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Egor Zamula – Sean Walker
Nick Seeler – Louie Belpedio
Samuel Ersson
Anaheim Ducks
Another young team in the NHL, the Ducks have already shown improvement over their bottom three finish last season. They handed the Bruins their first loss of the season in an overtime victory just a few days ago. They’re coming off two straight victories after dropping three straight.
Frank Vatrano, coming off a career year with the Ducks last season, already has six points in seven games. His five goals lead the team. Ryan Strome, also coming off a strong season with Anaheim, leads the team with seven points. Trevor Zegras hasn’t found the back of the net yet and he only has one assist thus far. But he could break out at any moment.
Goaltending has been rather strong for the Ducks. Lukas Dostal is still in the early stages of his career with just 26 games under his belt. But he’s giving Anaheim strong play in net. He’s rocking a .929 SV% to go along with a 2.34 GAA. John Gibson is still hanging around and is now in his 11th year in the organization. The 30-year-old has just one win in four games played.
Ducks Projected Lineup
Trevor Zegras – Leo Carlsson – Troy Terry
Frank Vatrano – Mason McTavish – Ryan Strome
Max Jones – Adam Henrique – Jakob Silfverberg
Ross Johnston – Sam Carrick – Brett Leason
Cam Fowler – Jackson LaCombe
Urho Vaakanainen – Radko Gudas
Pavel Mintyukov – Ilya Lyubushkin
Lukas Dostal
Where, When, and How to Watch/Listen
Time: 1:00 PM
Where: Wells Fargo Center
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Live Stream: FuboTV
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