The start of the Philadelphia Flyers' critical week of games got off to a lousy start, as their redemption bid against the Tampa Bay Lightning fell flat. The good news: they lost 5-1, instead of 7-2; the bad news is they still lost by four goals. That was almost to be expected, considering Jamie Drysdale and Bobby Brink both sat that game due to injury, and Travis Konecny returned after a one-game absence due to injury.
Luckily for the Flyers, it appears that Drysdale will be back in the lineup for their road match against the surging Buffalo Sabres, who've won 13 of their last 15 games and are jockeying for a wildcard spot. In fact, it looks like the whole lineup's getting a shakeup.
Looks like some changes for #Flyers so bear with me (& in no order). Looks like Barkey is out
— Jackie Spiegel (@jackiespiegel93) January 14, 2026
Michkov-Couturier-Gundström
Zegras-Dvorak-Konecny
Grebenkin-Cates-Tippett
Deslauriers-Ābols-Hathaway
Sanheim-Ristolainen
York-Drysdale
Seeler-Andrae
Juulsen-Barkey
Vladař in starter https://t.co/xNyWY1jtPj
Three Storylines
The lineup revamp
As you can see above, Rick Tocchet's putting not just his forward lines in a blender, but mixing up the defense pairs as well (though not quite how we would've done it). It's been quite a while since we've seen Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen together (the vision of Chuck Fletcher, realized at last!), and Cam York with Jamie Drysdale has a lot of potential.
Up front, Tocchet's broken up the Owen Tippett, Sean Couturier, Denver Barkey line, as Barkey's a healthy scratch tonight--that means Carl Grundstrom and Matvei Michkov will be on Couturier's flanks tonight, and Nikita Grebenkin gets a shot with Noah Cates and Owen Tippett.
Can Dan Vladar bounce back?
While no one can point to Vladar as the reason the Flyers lost to the Lightning on Monday, he didn't have his best game, either, allowing four goals and posting an .840 SV%. The Sabres are 14th in goals for this season and playing out of their minds right now, so this is going to be a challenge for Vladar. Watch for him to rebound from Monday's loss.
The power play is still struggling
The Flyers' 15.32% power play is ranked 31st in the NHL, just a hair better than the New York Islanders' 15.22% man advantage. Since November, the Flyers have been below 10 percent efficiency on the power play. It's really bad, and it's costing them games--think the loss last week to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The power play could be the difference between the Flyers making the playoffs and missing by just a few points; they need to get it together, and fast. The Buffalo Sabres' penalty kill is top five in the league, so the Flyers will have their work cut out for them tonight.