The NHL team with the best record over the last month, the Philadelphia Flyers, heads to Music City tonight for a matchup against the Nashville Predators.
The Flyers are red-hot and are currently in the midst of a four-game winning streak. They have won 10 of 14 since their loss to San Jose on November 7th, more than any other team in the league, and are coming together at the right time to build something special.
“We all love each other. We all get along so well,” said goaltender Carter Hart after the Flyers’ 5-2 win in Colorado on Saturday. “We have such a tight group here. Everybody is willing to fight for the next guy standing beside them. That’s crucial right now, and how we’re playing, everybody has each other’s backs.”
Hart will rest tonight with Samuel Ersson taking the reins in goal this evening against the Predators. Ersson is 4-0-0 his last 4 starts with a .932 SV%, 1.92 GAA, and 1 shutout in that span.
The Flyers have stressed the importance of building a winning culture and building an organization that wants to compete for years to come, and so far this team has taken a massive step in that direction when they had virtually zero expectations from the outside.
As of now, Philadelphia resides in a playoff spot. Third place in the gauntlet that is the Metropolitan Division at this point in the season was something Flyers fans, and the Flyers themselves, likely only dreamed of before the season kicked off. But with every passing game, this team continues to outwork their opponents and fight for each other on a nightly basis.
The Predators are going to be a tough challenge for the Flyers. Nashville has won 4 of their last 5 games and Andrew Brunette’s club maintains the first Wild Card berth in the Western Conference after a largely uneventful offseason in terms of acquisitions sans Ryan O’Reilly.
The Predators in their own way have sneakily put themselves in position for a potential playoff push much like the Flyers have. They play hard every night with intense physicality, strong forechecking, and they have a surplus of talent that people have seemed to forget about after a down year last season.
Filip Forsberg has been the main offensive catalyst for Nashville with 31 points (14g, 17a) in 28 games, leading the team in every offensive category. O’Reilly has had a strong showing in his first year with the Predators with 12 goals and 22 points, and captain Roman Josi has racked up 16 assists and 22 points from the blueline. Josi is also averaging 24:44 of ice time per game, serving as Nashville’s leader in that category and the NHL’s 12th-leading minute muncher.
There are a lot of similarities between these two teams and that will make tonight’s matchup that much more difficult as well. Travis Konecny and Filip Forsberg? Both are among the league’s top goal scorers and rank tied for 5th and 7th, respectively. Heavy-minute, Norris hopeful defensemen? Travis Sanheim and Roman Josi will be on the ice against each other all night long. Shorthanded juggernauts? Konecny and Colton Sissons share the league lead with 3 shorthanded goals each. Former Selke Trophy winning veterans? Sean Coututier and Ryan O’Reilly will be battling all game. Impressive rookies? Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink will get to show their mettle over Luke Evangelista.
Nashville has won 6 of their last 8 home games and Bridgestone Arena is known as one of the more intimidating buildings in the league for visitors, but the Flyers won there last season, so hopefully things repeat. However, Philadelphia had lost three consecutive away games against the Predators prior to that and have only won 4 of their last 9 in Nashville.
Can the Flyers sweep their road trip and regain second place in the division? We’ll find out tonight.
PHI Record: 15-10-2, 32 pts, 3rd in Metropolitan
NSH Record: 15-13-0, 30 pts, 4th in Central
When: 8:00pm ET
Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 12/9/23, 5-2 W at Colorado
Last Game NSH: 12/20/23, 2-1 W at Montréal
PHI Goalie: Samuel Ersson (5-3-1, .885 SV%, 2.78 GAA, 0 SO)
NSH Goalie: Juuse Saros (12-10-0, .908 SV%, 2.83 GAA, 1 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#71 Tyson Foerster – #14 Sean Couturier – #11 Travis Konecny
#86 Joel Farabee – #21 Scott Laughton – #89 Cam Atkinson
#74 Owen Tippett – #48 Morgan Frost – #10 Bobby Brink
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #25 Ryan Poehling – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#24 Nick Seeler – #26 Sean Walker
#5 Egor Zamula – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#33 Samuel Ersson
#79 Carter Hart
Scratches: #18 Marc Staal, #37 Louie Belpedio, #62 Olle Lycksell
Injuries: #27 Noah Cates
NSH Projected Lineup
#9 Filip Forsberg – #90 Ryan O’Reilly – #14 Gustav Nyquist
#44 Kiefer Sherwood – #82 Tommy Novak – #77 Luke Evangelista
#13 Yakov Trenin – #8 Cody Glass – #10 Colton Sissons
#36 Cole Smith – #47 Michael McCarron – #75 Juuso Pärssinen
#59 Roman Josi – #57 Dante Fabbro
#27 Ryan McDonagh – #45 Alexandre Carrier
#3 Jérémy Lauzon – #2 Luke Schenn
#74 Juuse Saros
#32 Kevin Lankinen
Scratches: #22 Tyson Barrie, #26 Philip Tomasino
News and Notes
– The Flyers are 15-8-3-6 against the Predators overall and are 6-5-2-2 on the road against Nashville all-time.
– Philadelphia enters tonight with the 5th-best penalty kill in the league as they’re operating at an 86.2% clip. The Flyers have successfully killed their last 21 penalties on the road as well dating back to November 11th.
– Cam Atkinson has more goals (5), assists (8), and points (13) against the Predators than any other active Flyer.
– Travis Konecny has recorded 4 goals and 6 points jn just his last 3 games. He has 8 points in his last 6 games as well.
– Tonight is Samuel Ersson’s first start since December 2nd when he stopped 29 shots and 3 more in a 4-3 shootout victory over Pittsburgh.
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