Tonight will be game 5 of a 7-game homestand for the Philadelphia Flyers, and they will be looking to go above the breakeven threshold against the Minnesota Wild after winning against Buffalo and Florida, and losing to Vegas and Carolina.
Kirill “The Thrill” Kaprizov will not draw in the Minnesota line up after sustaining a lower-body injury on March 8th, and was announced to miss 3-4 weeks. It’s a big blow to the club in the short-term, which can create a better chance for the Flyers at winning tonight’s game.
Despite ranking 13th in the league on the power play, the Wild have gone 1/9 on the power play over their last three games. Minnesota stopped all 3 New Jersey power plays in their 2-1 overtime victory, but they did allow 1 PPG to the Bruins over 4 power plays, and 2 PPGS over 4 power plays to the Capitals.
Their success rate is 70%, lower than their average (80.5%) that also ranks 13th in the league. Their power play has not converted, and Carter Hart will have the opportunity to continue to frustrate Minnesota without their star-talent.
The Flyers’ power play hasn’t been a complete wash over their last 3 games, believe it or not. They scored a power play goal each against Buffalo and Carolina, but didn’t convert on their 1 power play opportunity against Florida on Tuesday evening. Going 2/7 on the power play is a 28.57% conversion rate, which is better than their 70-game average of 15.4%, dead last in the league.
The penalties have still been a problem, and the penalty isn’t absolving their sins. The Flyers allowed 4 power play goals on 9 power play attempts against, which is practically a 50/50 shot at scoring a goal for the other team. They may have gotten a bit lucky in their two victories on this homestand by outscoring the opponent, but teams have began to tally against the Flyers, especially in the Carolina game, despite it being their only power play of the night.
PHI Record: 26-32-12, 64 pts, 8th in Metropolitan
MIN Record: 41-22-9, 2nd in Central
Last Game PHI: 3/21/23, 5-2 W vs Florida
Last Game MIN: 3/21/23, 2-1 OTW at New Jersey
When: 6:30pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (18-21-10, .907 SV%, 2.94 GAA, 1 SO)
MIN Goalie: Marc-André Fleury (23-13-3, .908 SV%, 2.83 GAA, 2 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#86 Joel Farabee – #49 Noah Cates – #74 Owen Tippett
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #13 Kevin Hayes – #57 Wade Allison
#22 Brendan Lemieux – #48 Morgan Frost – #52 Tyson Foerster
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #21 Scott Laughton
#9 Ivan Provorov – #45 Cam York
#6 Travis Sanheim – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#24 Nick Seeler – #77 Tony DeAngelo
#54 Egor Zamula
#79 Carter Hart
#32 Felix Sandström
MIN Projected Lineup
#17 Marcus Foligno – #38 Ryan Hartman – #36 Mats Zuccarello
#90 Marcus Johansson – #14 Joel Eriksson Ek – #12 Matt Boldy
#21 Brandon Duhaime – #89 Frédérick Gaudreau – #70 Oskar Sundqvist
#15 Mason Shaw – #26 Connor Dewar – #75 Ryan Reaves
#5 Jacob Middleton – #46 Jared Spurgeon
#25 Jonas Brodin – #24 Matt Dumba
#3 John Klingberg – #33 Alex Goligoski
#29 Marc-André Fleury
#32 Filip Gustavsson
PHI Injuries: Sean Couturier (back), Travis Konecny (upper-body), Ryan Ellis (hip), Cam Atkinson (neck)
Scratched: Kieffer Bellows, Justin Braun, Tanner Laczynski
MIN Injuries: Kirill Kaprizov (lower-body), Gustav Nyquist (shoulder)
Scratched: Samuel Walker, Calen Addison, Jon Merrill, Sam Steel
News and Notes
– Egor Zamula earned 2 assists in their victory against the Florida Panthers. Check out his heads up play, noticing Noah Cates has space in the middle, quickly taps it to him which is what led to the game tying goal
– The Flyers’ all-time home record against Minnesota is 10-5-0 entering tonight.
– Tonight’s game will be their second and final matchup of the season, with the Flyers dropping their first match on January 26th, losing 3-2 in overtime.
– Travis Sanheim is 1 assist away from 100 career assists. If he achieves that tonight, he will have produced 100 assists over 405 games.
Broadcast Info: TV – ESPN, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
