The Philadelphia Flyers, after falling to the Carolina Hurricanes, have now lost two straight games. They’ll look to right the ship against the Buffalo Sabres in the first of a home and home series. The two teams will meet again on Friday in Buffalo.
The Flyers took two out of three games the teams played last season. Sam Ersson recorded his first NHL shutout in a 4-0 win over the Sabres on Jan. 9. Owen Tippett registered his first NHL hat trick in a 5-2 win on Mar. 17. The Sabres flipped the table as Alex Tuch scored his own hat trick on Apr. 1.
Philadelphia Flyers
The biggest thing for the Flyers in this matchup is to not let a special teams inefficiency hurt them again. That was their undoing against the Hurricanes as they went 0-5 on the power play and 0/1 on the penalty kill. The Sabres boast the sixth best penalty kill so getting one through them may be time if the opportunity comes. But they hold one of the league’s worst PP’s at a measly 11%. That’s not far off from the Flyers, who are clicking at just 12%. Could Philadelphia use an aggressive penalty kill to score yet another shorthanded goal?
Despite the loss, there will be no changes to the Flyers lineup. Morgan Frost, who entered for the first time in six games, didn’t necessarily stand out against the Hurricanes. He helped generate some scoring chances, but also showed the inconsistency in his game that has plagued him. It’s why many go back and forth on whether or not the Flyers should keep him or look to move him. He’ll get some more time to get back into a groove.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Cam Atkinson
Travis Konecny – Morgan Frost – Tyson Foerster
Joel Farabee – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nicolas Deslauriers – Scott Laughton – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Egor Zamula – Sean Walker
Nick Seeler – Louie Belpedio
Carter Hart
Buffalo Sabres
A lot of the Sabres young talent is locked in through the 2028-29 season. They have tremendous belief in what these players can become, but it’s been a mixed bag of results so far. Buffalo has just eight points in nine games, but are coming off an impressive 4-0 shutout over the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche.
Jeff Skinner, coming off a career season, already has five goals and nine points in nine games. Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka each have four goals apiece while Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittelstadt each have seven points.
Goaltending has been an issue, mostly due to the injuries in net. Devon Levi is day to day with a lower body injury. Eric Comrie was recently placed on IR with his own lower body injury. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is the man right now and has a decent 2.45 GAA and a modestly impressive .914 SV% in three total game.
Sabres Projected Lineup
Jordan Greenway – Tage Thompson – Brandon Biro
Jeff Skinner – Casey Mittelstadt – JJ Peterka
Tyson Jost – Dylan Cozens – Alex Tuch
Zemgus Girgensons – Peyton Krebs – Kyle Okposo
Rasmus Dahlin – Mattias Samuelsson
Owen Power – Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson — Erik Johnson
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Where, When, and How to Watch/Listen
Time: 7:00 PM
Where: Wells Fargo Center
Watch: TNT/MAX
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Live Stream: FuboTV
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