Samuel Ersson, the Philadelphia Flyers’ “best goalie out of camp”, per John Tortorella, extended his undefeated record this season to 6-0-0 yesterday, giving the Flyers a well needed boost for tonight’s match up.
The Edmonton Oilers are 4-1-5 over their last 10 games after dropping their fourth straight to Colorado in a 6-5 overtime finale. The Flyers are 3-4-3 after overcoming their 4-game losing streak in Calgary that ended in a tight 4-3 finish.
Edmonton, who ranks 1st in the league for goals for per game with 3.75 GPG, have averaged more goals for over their last 3 games, at 4.33 goals per game. The problem? They’ve been allowing a lot of goals, which has always been an issue for a top-heavy club without a true star in net. They already rank 21st in the league for goals against, averaging 3.28 goals against per game. Over their last 3 losses, they have allowed 5.33 goals per game, almost 2 more goals more than their current 3.28 average. The penalty kill is a mess as well, ranking 25th overall in the league. Over the last 3 games, their PK has gone 3/7, an abysmal rate, even for a club that already stinks at this.
Fortunately for them, and unfortunately for us, the Flyers are not only bad at scoring goals (27th in goals for, 2.69 goals per game), but their power play is literally the worst in the league, operating at a 16.1% success rate (Edmonton ranks 1st in this category, weighing at 31.3%, nearly double). The news only hurts more, as the Flyers are going to need to do everything they can to keep the best power play away from the 21st ranked penalty kill, or Edmonton is going to score on them.
Travis Konecny was seen in a sling after the game in Calgary, and not playing will be a huge blow to the already offensively-challenged forward core. Konecny has 5 points over his last 5 games, including 3 goals, snapping a month-long goal drought after scoring a hat trick in January.
Connor McDavid still lives in his own world, scoring 8 points over his last 5 games, 7 of the points coming in the form of assists, will look to get more against the Flyers this go around after being held to 1 assist in a shootout loss against the Flyers in the Wells Fargo Center.
PHI Record: 23-25-10, 56 pts, 7th in Metropolitan
EDM Record: 30-19-8 68 pts, 4th in Pacific
Last Game PHI: 2/20/23, 4-3 W at Calgary
Last Game EDM: 2/19/23, 6-5 OTL at Colorado
When: 9:00 pm ET
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, AB
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (16-17-9, .910 SV%, 2.88 GAA, 1 SO)
EDM Goalie: Stuart Skinner (13-11-4, .913 SV%, 2.95 GAA, 0 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #48 Morgan Frost – #74 Owen Tippett
#13 Kevin Hayes – #21 Scott Laughton – #57 Wade Allison
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #49 Noah Cates – #38 Patrick Brown
#62 Olle Lycksell – #86 Joel Farabee – #20 Kieffer Bellows
#45 Cam York – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#9 Ivan Provorov – #61 Justin Braun
#24 Nick Seeler – #77 Tony DeAngelo
#79 Carter Hart
#33 Samuel Ersson
CGY Projected Lineup
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – #97 Connor McDavid – #18 Zach Hyman
#26 Mattias Janmark – #29 Leon Draisaitl – #56 Kailer Yamamoto
#14 Devin Shore – #71 Ryan McLeod – #37 Warren Foegele
#10 Derek Ryan – #13 Jesse Puljujärvi
#25 Darnell Nurse – #5 Cody Ceci
#27 Brett Kulak – #22 Tyson Barrie
#86 Philip Broberg – #2 Evan Bouchard
#73 Vincent Desharnais
#74 Stuart Skinner
#36 Jack Campbell
PHI Injuries: Sean Couturier (back), Ryan Ellis (hip), Tanner Laczynski (upper-body), Zack MacEwen (jaw), Cam Atkinson (neck), Travis Konecny (upper-body)
Scratched: Felix Sandström, Travis Sanheim
EDM Injuries: Ryan Murray (back), Evander Kane (upper-body), Klim Kostin (illness)
Scratched: None
News and Notes
– The Flyers’ overall road record against Edmonton is 11-21-6-1.
– Joel Farabee appears to be in Tortorella’s cross hairs, only receiving 3:54 of ice time in yesterday’s game against Calgary.
– Wade Allison’s game-winning goal was a great example of what his head coach expects him to do on the ice, let’s see if he continues to build off of it.
– Travis Konecny’s injury will be evaluated when the team returns to Philadelphia.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
