The Philadelphia Flyers face off against the hottest team in the Pacific, the Vancouver Canucks.
Critics could acknowledge a good defense system supported by great goaltending can create a lot of wins, but what many haven’t expected is their lethality on offense. The Flyers will visit them tonight and try to keep them off the scoresheet as best they can and avoid a 3-game losing streak.
Despite dropping two straight games, the Flyers have still won seven out of their last ten games. Vancouver has also had a successful month, winning eight of their eleven games in December so far.
Vancouver 8-1-2, Flyers 7-1-2 in December
Two of the hottest teams this month are facing off tonight, so let’s take a look at how they got here.
There may have been a bit of luck on the Flyers run, taking 4 of their 7 wins of the month in overtime or a shootout. Seven of their last ten games were 1 goal games, and their record was 4-0-3 in that time. The powerplay has been even more worse than usual, going 1/23 in the month of December. Their last power play goal was in Pittsburgh on December 2nd, where they won 4-3 in a shootout. Fortunately, the penalty kill is still very much itself, going 23/26 this month. Two of the Flyers’ losses came in overtime or a shootout.
Vancouver’s special teams are eerily similar. Their power play too has been atrocious, but not as bad as the worst power play in the league (hey, Flyers). The Canucks’ power play has gone 5/35 in the month of December. Their penalty kill however, is very strong as well, running 27/33. This team is 4-1-2 in one goal games. They’ve also scored in bunches, winning in four of eight victories by 3 or more goals. All three losses were decided by one goal.
Beating Vancouver
The Flyers cannot afford to play how they did against Detroit with Vancouver. Thatcher Demko is an incredible goalie and is not going to give up a 5-goal lead. Luckily, the Flyers won’t run into him tonight, but the point still stands with Casey DeSmith.
An interesting stat I pulled from the Canucks’ losses is that all of the game-deciding goals came from a tie game. The Canucks struggle chasing a lead. If the Flyers can get on the board early, this could be a huge momentum shifter. Sam Ersson is also going to have to continue to bring the best version of himself to give the Flyers a chance.
Even though this Flyers power play is historically bad, there is another opportunity to get that puck in the net tonight.
PHI Record: 18-11-4, 40 pts, 3rd in Metropolitan
VAN Record: 23-9-3, 49 pts, 1st in Pacific
When: 10:00pm ET
Where: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 12/22/23, 7-6 SOL at Detroit
Last Game VAN: 12/23/23, 7-4 W vs San Jose
PHI Goalie: Samuel Ersson (8-4-2, .899 SV%, 2.56 GAA, 1 SO)
VAN Goalie: Casey DeSmith (6-2-2, .923 SV%, 2.44 GAA, 1 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#74 Owen Tippett – #14 Sean Couturier – #11 Travis Konecny
#71 Tyson Foerster– #48 Morgan Frost – #89 Cam Atkinson
#86 Joel Farabee – #25 Ryan Poehling – #10 Bobby Brink
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #21 Scott Laughton – #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, #40 Cal Petersen, #49 Rhett Gardner
Injuries: #27 Noah Cates
VAN Projected Lineup
#65 Ilya Mikheyev – #40 Elias Pettersson – #96 Andrei Kuzmenko
#21 Nils Höglander – #9 J.T. Miller – #6 Brock Boeser
#81 Dakota Joshua – #53 Teddy Blueger – #8 Conor Garland
#88 Nils Åman – #24 Pius Suter – #18 Sam Lafferty
#43 Quinn Hughes – #17 Filip Hronek
#91 Nikita Zadorov– #57 Tyler Myers
#82 Ian Cole – #47 Noah Juulsen
#29 Casey DeSmith
#35 Thatcher Demko
Scratches: #34 Phil Di Giuseppe, #51 Mark Friedman
Injuries: #7 Carson Soucy, #55 Guillaume Brisebois
News and Notes
– The Canucks are listed as the betting favorites at -170 while the Flyers are listed at +170 . The O/U is at 6.
– The Flyers are 35-16-12 at Rogers Arena, and won their home opener against the Canucks 2-0 on October 17th.
– Sean Couturier leads all active Flyers players with 13 career points against Vancouver in 17 games. Couturier is also on a 4-game point streak against the Canucks in which he has recorded 7 points (3g, 4a).
– Vancouver is the only team in the NHL to boast 3 players in the top 10 in league scoring (Miller – 48 – 3rd, Hughes – 44 – T-7th, Pettersson – 47 – 10th).
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