Coming off a three-game winning streak, the Philadelphia Flyers are back in Philly to face off against the Arizona Coyotes. It was the first time in Philly’s history sweeping all 3 California teams on a road trip.
The Flyers are looking for 4 straight wins, which they haven’t accomplished since the 2020-2021 season. Yes, it’s been 2 years since we have witnessed 4 fun nights of hockey in a row. However, the Yotes are coming off a 2-game skid after absolutely crushing Toronto and Colorado, out scoring them 12-6. Arizona tends to struggle on the road with a 6-15-3 away record, so the odds for the Flyers are looking decent.
While sitting in 26th place in the league, tonight the Flyers will host a “Throwback” night to the 1990s. They’ll be going back 30 years to when hockey was a bit more fun for Philadelphia fans. The Legion of Doom was crushing it through the league, the Flyers were rocking the greatest jerseys in team history, and we even saw a Stanley Cup appearance in 1997.
Personally, I wish Comcast would have brought back the classic burnt orange jerseys or the beautiful black Reeboks, even just for warmups. They are arguably the cleanest jerseys the Flyers have ever produced, even to younger generations who may not have been able to appreciate them on the ice. Regardless, a lot of fans will appreciate the fun reminiscing of the good ol’ days.
Now for what everyone has been waiting for, Carter Hart returns! After missing 2 weeks and 5 games, the young, star goalie will be back in between the pipes at the Farg. While he was on IR, Samuel Ersson held down the fort. The 23-year-old rookie went 3-0-0 and was seconds away from a shutout, something the Flyers haven’t experienced since 11/2/21. Yeah, 429 days since the Flyers shut out another hockey team, but that’s for another day.
Felix Sandström was sent down to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on a conditioning stint. The goalie has been struggling at the NHL level with a 1-6-1 record and an .889 save percentage. When the time comes to cut down to 2 goalies, Sandström will have to clear waivers while Ersson won’t, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Flyers go forward with the season.
We’re only 5 days into 2023, and it’s already an improvement from 2022. Hopefully the Flyers can keep with the momentum and get the ball rolling. It’s nice watching fun hockey time to time here in the beautiful city of brotherly love.
PHI Record: 14-17-7, 35pts, 7th in Metropolitan
ARI Record: 13-18-5, 31pts, 7th in Central
Last Game PHI: 1/2/23, 4-1 W @ ANA
Last Game ARI: 1/3/23, 3-5 L @ FLA
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (10-11-6, 2.89 GAA, .911 SV%, 0 SO)
ARI Goalie: Karel Vejmelka (11-11-4, 3.23 GAA, .878 SV%, 2 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#86 Joel Farabee – #49 Noah Cates – #11 Travis Konecny
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #48 Morgan Frost – #74 Owen Tippett
#13 Kevin Hayes – #21 Scott Laughton – #57 Wade Allison
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #38 Patrick Brown – #17 Zack MacEwen
#6 Travis Sanheim – #77 Tony DeAngelo
#9 Ivan Provorov – #45 Cam York
#24 Nick Seeler – #55 Rasmus Ristoainen
#79 Carter Hart
#33 Samuel Ersson
ARI Projected Lineup
#9 Clayton Keller – #72 Travis Boyd – #8 Nick Schmaltz
#22 Jack McBain – #17 Nick Bjugstad – #67 Lawson Crouse
#12 Nick Ritchie – #29 Barrett Hayton – #36 Christian Fischer
#3 John Brown – #26 Laurent Dauphin – #53 Michael Carcone
#6 Jakob Chychrun – #14 Shayne Gostisbehere
#4 Juuso Välimäki – #90 J.J. Moser
#2 Patrik Nemeth – #51 Troy Stecher
#70 Karel Vejmelka
#39 Connor Ingram
PHI Injuries: Cam Atkinson (neck), Sean Couturier (back), Ryan Ellis (hip), Tanner Lacyznski (lower-body)
Scratches: Justin Braun, Kieffer Bellows
ARI Injuries: Liam O’Brien (upper body), Matias Maccelli (lower body)
Scratches: none
News and Notes:
– Carter Hart returns after injury.
– Kieffer Bellows was recalled from the Phantoms but will not play tonight.
– Felix Sandström was sent down to the Phantoms for a conditioning stint.
– Happy birthday to Cam York!
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
