Flyers at Blue Jackets, Game 78: Notes, Lineups, And How To Watch

The Flyers are close to must-win territory as they face the Blue Jackets in the second half of a back to back. 

This is the fourth and final matchup this season. The Flyers won the first two games, outscoring Columbus 9-4. The Blue Jackets rallied in the third period to take a close 3-2 shootout win the last time out. Travis Konecny has scored in every game against Columbus, including two in the loss. 

Philadelphia Flyers 

It’s been said for the last few weeks but wins are needed right now. For the first time since December, the Flyers are out of the playoffs. With a win against the Lightning, the Penguins hold the final wild card spot with the tiebreaker over Philadelphia. The Islanders, who are third in the Metro, face the Predators tonight. The East has been a mess this season as no one has taken advantage. 

The Flyers cannot afford to look past this game, however. They’ve lost six straight, three coming against opponents far below them in the standings. Columbus is in the bottom-five of the league and should be an opponent Philadelphia easily handles. But as we’ve seen lately, no one can be taken lightly. The Blue Jackets are the fresher team, so getting the legs going right away will be important.

With Ivan Fedotov facing Buffalo on Friday, it should be Sam Ersson’s net. He is well rested as he played just one period against the Islanders on Monday. Ersson was showing signs of burning out, something that affected him last season as well. The Flyers need their goaltending to show up for them in these final few games. Hopefully the time off did Ersson well.

Flyers Projected Lineup

Tyson Foerster - Morgan Frost - Travis Konecny

Owen Tippett - Scott Laughton - Bobby Brink

Olle Lycksell - Ryan Poehling - Garnet Hathaway

Joel Farabee - Noah Cates - Cam Atkinson

Cam York - Travis Sanheim

Nick Seeler - Jamie Drysdale

Adam Ginning - Ronnie Attard

Sam Ersson

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets are a mess at the moment. They are ravaged by injuries and will have an AHL goaltending duo this weekend. The injury list is long as seven players are out for this one. Boone Jenner also remains out for personal reasons. If the Flyers cannot take advantage of this situation, maybe they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs.

Kirill Marchenko has followed up an impressive rookie season with an equally solid second year. He has matched the 21 goals he scored and has a new career high with 39 points. He looks to be a key part of the Blue Jackets future. Dmitri Voronkov is putting together a good rookie season. His 33 points are fifth on the team while his 18 goals are third. Yegor Chinakhov has 16 goals and Cole Sillinger has 13. The Blue Jackets appear to have a good young core in place moving forward.

Jet Greaves will make just his fifth start of the season and sixth start of his career. He came in relief of Daniil Tarasov in the last outing and ended up taking the loss to the Islanders. Greaves has one win in his career, coming against the Blues back in December when he made 43 saves. Overall, he has a 3.04 GAA and a .917 SV% this season. He has never faced the Flyers in his short career. Malcolm Subban was called up, but he will take the net on Sunday.

Blue Jackets Projected Lineup 

Johnny Gaudreau - Dmitri Voronkov - Alex Nylander

Alexandre Texier - Cole Sillinger - Kirill Marchenko

James Malatesta - Justin Danforth - Carson Meyer

Mikael Pyyhtia - Brendan Gaunce - Mathieu Olivier

Zach Werenski  - Damon Severson

Ivan Provorov  - Erik Gudbranson

Nick Blankenburg - David Jiricek

Jet Greaves

When, Where, and How to Watch/Listen

Time:  7:00 PM

Where: Nationwide Arena

Watch: NBCSP

Radio: 93.3 WMMR

Live Stream: FuboTv

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