Flyers vs Blue Jackets, Game 18: Notes, Lineups, and How to Watch
Another day, another win for the Philadelphia Flyers as they come into Sunday night’s game riding a four-game win streak. They’ll face a Columbus Blue Jackets team who is trending in the opposite direction lately. But this Flyers team also lost to a winless Sharks team so anything can happen. Ivan Provorov will also return to Philadelphia for the first time since his offseason trade.
This is the second of four meetings between the two teams. The Flyers opened their season against Columbus on Oct. 12. Thanks to two goals from Travis Konecny, Philadelphia came away with the 4-2 victory.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers will play another team from the Metropolitan for five straight games. A good time to separate themselves from their division foes. Only two of those teams (Rangers and Hurricanes) are currently above them in the standings. Games like this one against Columbus are the perfect time for the Flyers to assert themselves in the division and capture points that could be very valuable down the line.
They’ve been able to do that recently thanks to good goaltending and an emphasis on blocking shots as well. Those two were big reasons they recently beat both Carolina and Vegas. They’ll turn things over to Sam Ersson who recently got back on track in his last few outings. Both teams are on the second half of a back to back so it could be a sloppy one. Something that fresh Ersson will have to look out for.
Bobby Brink will reenter the lineup after missing the last three games as a healthy scratch. And it will once again be Morgan Frost coming out, a common theme whenever another players needs to come back in. Frost, while he didn’t have a good offensive outing last time around, had the most blocked shots (4) amongst all Flyers forwards.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Tyson Foerster – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett – Scott Laughton – Cam Atkinson
Joel Farabee – Ryan Poehling – Bobby Brink
Nicolas Deslauriers – Noah Cates – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Sean Walker
Egor Zamula – Louie Belpedio
Samuel Ersson
Columbus Blue Jackets
Everything that could go wrong recently for the Blue Jackets has gone wrong. They are in the midst of an eight-game losing streak in which they had the lead in their last seven games. Six of them were also one-goal losses. They’re facing a Flyers team that has not trailed during their winning streak.
It’s frustrating times in Columbus as Patrik Laine will be a healthy scratch after being benched for the final 6:26 of their last game. It was the second straight game he was benched late in a close game. Laine did miss time with an injury but has just two goals and three total points in nine games. The same happened to Johnny Gaudreau recently as he broke an eight-game goalless drought in their loss to Washington.
It’s not all bad as Zach Werenski and Ivan Provorov lead the Blue Jackets with 11 points apiece. You probably don’t want your defensemen being the ones to lead your team, though. Boone Jenner is right behind them with 10 points while Kirill Marchenko and Adam Fantilli both have nine points. Jenner leads the team in goals with seven thus far.
Claimed off waivers, Spencer Martin has struggled in his last two outings, giving up nine goals. He’s been on the losing end in his last four games. His only win in a Columbus uniform came back on Oct. 20. Martin has a 3.26 GAA and a .905 SV%.
Blue Jackets Projected Lineup
Dmitri Voronkov – Adam Fantilli – Kirill Marchenko
Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Yegor Chinakhov
Alexandre Texier – Sean Kuraly – Justin Danforth
Mathieu Olivier – Cole Sillinger
Ivan Provorov – Damon Severson
Zach Werenski – Erik Gudbranson
Jake Bean – David Jiricek
Adam Boqvist
Spencer Martin
Where, When, and How to Watch/Listen
Time: 5:30 PM
Where: Wells Fargo Center
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia+
Radio: 93.3 WMMR
Live Stream: FuboTV
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