The Philadelphia Flyers are hanging onto a playoff spot by a thread. After dropping three consecutive contests and nine of their last 14, the Flyers are looking for a huge two points on Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Flyers gave a rather frustrating performance in Montréal on Thursday. Their power play remained dismal with an 0-for-4 performance, they had two goals called back, and they couldn’t find a way to beat Cayden Primeau when it mattered most. Owen Tippett tallied the lone goal with 1:01 to go in a 4-1 defeat to the Canadiens while Samuel Ersson made just 13 saves.
That was the definition of a “trap game” in which the Flyers fell victim to an inferior opponent. Now they have to hope they don’t make the same mistake twice against the second-worst team in the league.
The Blackhawks have had an up and down month, going 6-7-0 in March so far. They still have lost 12 of their last 18 games and are right in the hunt for another first overall draft pick.
Rookie phenom Connor Bedard has done Connor Bedard things this season, racking up 21 goals and 35 assists for 56 points in 59 games. He leads Chicago in those offensive categories, respectively, and is the favorite to win the Calder Trophy. If there’s anyone to keep an eye on from the opposing side, it’s clearly Bedard.
Meanwhile in Philadelphia, they have received a first-year player of their own. In a shocking yet welcome development, goaltender Ivan Fedotov had his contract terminated by KHL side CSKA Moscow and joined the Flyers, being welcomed in a press conference on Thursday in Voorhees, New Jersey.
Fedotov’s path to the NHL was far from easy as a seventh-round selection in 2015. After going through with his conscription duties in Russia and being signed by CSKA in the summer of 2023 while still under contract to Philadelphia, he jumped through a lot of hoops to get here and he’s finally a Philadelphia Flyer.
Fedotov will serve as Ersson’s backup against Chicago, but don’t be surprised to see the 6’8” behemoth in goal for a couple contests as the Flyers enter the home stretch of their season.
PHI Record: 36-28-10, 82 pts, 3rd in Metropolitan
CHI Record: 21-47-5, 47 pts, 8th in Central
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 3/28/24, 4-1 L at Montréal
Last Game CHI: 3/28/24, 2-0 L at Ottawa
PHI Goalie: Samuel Ersson (21-15-7, .895 SV%, 2.73 GAA, 3 SO)
CHI Goalie: Arvid Söderblom (4-20-1, .876 SV%, 4.02 GAA, 0 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#74 Owen Tippett – #48 Morgan Frost – #11 Travis Konecny
#71 Tyson Foerster – #25 Ryan Poehling – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#86 Joel Farabee – #21 Scott Laughton – #10 Bobby Brink
#27 Noah Cates – #14 Sean Couturier – #15 Denis Gurianov
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#24 Nick Seeler – #77 Erik Johnson
#5 Egor Zamula – #50 Adam Ginning
#33 Samuel Ersson
#82 Ivan Fedotov
Scratches: #9 Jamie Drysdale, #18 Marc Staal, #23 Ronnie Attard, #44 Nicolas Deslauriers, #62 Olle Lycksell, #89 Cam Atkinson
Injuries: #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
CHI Projected Lineup
#8 Ryan Donato – #98 Connor Bedard – #23 Philipp Kurashev
#17 Nick Foligno – #90 Tyler Johnson – #11 Taylor Raddysh
#58 MacKenzie Entwistle – #89 Andreas Athanasiou – #27 Lukas Reichel
#84 Landon Slaggert – #16 Jason Dickinson – #15 Joey Anderson
#72 Alex Vlasic – #4 Seth Jones
#55 Kevin Korchinski – #24 Jaycob Megna
#44 Wyatt Kaiser – #25 Jarred Tinordi
#40 Arvid Söderblom
#34 Petr Mrázek
Scratches: None
Injuries: #5 Connor Murphy, #22 Nikita Zaitsev, #43 Colin Blackwell, #52 Reese Johnson, #71 Taylor Hall
News and Notes
– The Flyers have won eight of their last eleven meetings with the Blackhawks. They also won the first matchup of the season on February 21st in Chicago, 3-1.
– The Flyers are 68-49-30 all time against the Blackhawks and 46-17-11 at home against them. At Wells Fargo Center specifically, Philadelphia is a commanding 17-2-0 against Chicago.
– Erik Johnson leads all active Flyers in assists (21) and points (29) against the Blackhawks, while Cam Atkinson (11) leads in goals.
– Nick Seeler returns to the lineup after missing the last 11 games with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot on March 4th against St. Louis.
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