Flyers at Blues, Game 44: Notes, Lineups, and How to Watch
One more game on the road trip for the Flyers as Philadelphia heads to St. Louis for a matchup with the Blues.
This will be the first of two meetings between the Flyers and Blues. They will meet back in Philadelphia on Mar. 4. Last season, Philadelphia scored three unanswered goals en route to a 5-1 win on Nov. 8. Travis Konecny, Noah Cates, and Owen Tippett each had two points. The Blues got their revenge on Apr. 4. They scored three unanswered and survived a late charge by the Flyers to take the 4-2 win. Alexey Toropchenko and Justin Faulk each had two points.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers got some good news on Monday morning as Noah Cates has been activated from injured reserve. He will make his return from a broken foot that he suffered on Nov. 25. His addition allows Philadelphia to go back to a traditional lineup with 12 forwards and six defensemen. Cates was struggling before his injury, so the rest should've done him some good. He did mention that he was dealing with some other minor issues before the broken foot. He should be refreshed and ready to go.
Philadelphia will still be without Sean Couturier, who is dealing with some minor injury. There hasn't been any word on what happened. He left the morning skate before the Minnesota game early but was able to play that night. He hasn't been able to go since. Couturier had played in every game this season before that after missing almost two season's worth of hockey. Jamie Drysdale will also miss his second consecutive game due to illness.
With a victory, the Flyers would sweep their three-game road trip and move within two points of first place in the division. The Rangers are idle tonight, so now is the time to catch up. New York will have two games in hand after tonight, though.
Flyers Projected Lineup
Owen Tippett - Morgan Frost - Travis Konecny
Tyson Foerster - Scott Laughton - Garnet Hathaway
Joel Farabee - Ryan Poehling - Cam Atkinson
Nicolas Deslauriers - Noah Cates - Bobby Brink
Cam York - Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler - Sean Walker
Egor Zamula - Rasmus Ristolainen
Carter Hart
St. Louis Blues
The Blues have had an up and down season that saw head coach Craig Berube fired just over a month ago. The team had lost four straight and was 13-14-1 at the time. Drew Bannister, the former coach of the AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds, has taken over on an interim basis and has St. Louis playing relatively well. They are 7-4-1 since his arrival.
Youth has led the way for the Blues this season. Robert Thomas is having a strong season since signing his eight-year contract. He leads the Blues with 16 goals and 44 points. Thomas has three points in his last two games and 14 points since Bannister took over. Jordan Kyrou has come alive with the coaching change as well. He is fourth on the Blues with 12 goals, but seven have come under the new head coach. Jake Neighbours is in his second full season with the Blues and already has career highs in goals (13) and points (16).
This will be the first game that Kevin Hayes will play against his former team since the trade this summer. He was off to a slow start with the Blues, as he has 10 goals and 20 points this season, both career lows. His goal in their loss to Boston broke a seven-game pointless drought.
The 23-year-old Joel Hofer is playing in his first full season with the Blues. In 15 games, he has a 7-7-0 record, a 2.87 GAA and .908 SV%. He has lost his last two games, giving up seven combined goals. Before that, he had three straight appearances where he allowed just a single goal in each. He has been off for almost a week, so he will be well-rested for this game.
Blues Projected Lineup
Pavel Buchnevich - Robert Thomas - Jordan Kyrou
Jake Neighbours - Brayden Schenn - Kasperi Kapanen
Brandon Saad - Kevin Hayes - Alexey Toropchenko
Nathan Walker - Oskar Sundqvist - Sammy Blais
Nick Leddy - Colton Parayko
Torey Krug - Justin Faulk
Scott Perunovich - Matthew Kessel
Joel Hofer
When, Where, and How to Watch/Listen
Time: 8:00 PM
Where: Enterprise Center
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Live Stream: FuboTV
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