After a thrilling 4-3 shootout victory last night in Boston, the Philadelphia Flyers continue their preseason slate with their first home game tonight.
The Flyers will host the New Jersey Devils at Wells Fargo Center five days after the Devils embarrassed the Flyers 6-0 in Newark. Six different Devils scored in the contest while Vitek Vaněček and Erik Källgren combined for the 21-save shutout for New Jersey.
The Flyers will look to get some revenge tonight, but the offensive star of last night’s contest may not be in action again. Bobby Brink impressed many with his effort last night in which he scored the game-tying goal and one of two goals in the shootout to help the Flyers come from behind and win.
”He has some momentum going right now,” said assistant Rocky Thompson on Saturday morning. “It’ll be a little bit tiring, he played a lot of minutes last night, so it will be good for us to identify how he can do in those situations being a smaller player. He was battling hard, he was strong on pucks and we expect him to be able to do that tonight.”
Thompson was behind the bench as the acting head coach for the Flyers’ victory in Boston while John Tortorella looked on from the press box, and he was impressed by Brink’s complete game.
“He was good on the power play, which we’ve kind of known that, but the 5-on-5 game up until yesterday, some positive moments and some not-so positive. I thought he was good consistently. He played well, he was backchecking hard, those were definitely things we were looking for.”
Thompson said Brink would be in the lineup tonight despite him not skating this morning, but Tyson Foerster was listed on the game roster instead of Brink, so we’ll see who actually skates out for warmups tonight. Those two players are fighting for the final available forward spot in the lineup and after Brink’s performance last night, Foerster will need to make a huge statement against New Jersey if he ends up playing.
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
Last Game PHI: 9/29/23, 4-3 SOW at Boston
Last Game NJD: 9/28/23, 3-2 L at NY Rangers
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (2022-23: 22-23-10, .907 SV%, 2.94 GAA, 2 SO w/Philadelphia)
NJD Goalie: Vitek Vaněček (2022-23: 33-11-4, .911 SV%, 2.45 GAA, 3 SO w/New Jersey)
PHI Projected Lineup
#91 Brendan Furry – #14 Sean Couturier – #11 Travis Konecny
#17 Wade Allison – #27 Noah Cates – #71 Tyson Foerster
#38 Matthew Brown – #58 Tanner Laczynski – #89 Cam Atkinson
#62 Olle Lycksell – #49 Rhett Gardner – #56 Samu Tuomaala
#18 Marc Staal – #26 Sean Walker
#36 Emil Andrae – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#50 Adam Ginning – #23 Ronnie Attard
#79 Carter Hart
#32 Felix Sandström
NJD Projected Lineup
#96 Timo Meier – #13 Nico Hischier – #10 Alexander Holtz
#18 Ondřej Palát – #56 Erik Haula – #91 Dawson Mercer
#46 Max Willman – #11 Chris Tierney – #12 Tyce Thompson
#15 Shane Bowers – #45 Kyle Criscuolo – #42 Curtis Lazar
#71 Jonas Siegenthaler – #7 Dougie Hamilton
#82 Santeri Hatakka – #2 Brendan Smith
#81 Michael Vukojevic – #52 Cal Foote
#41 Vitek Vaněček
#40 Akira Schmid
News and Notes
– Carter Hart, Cam Atkinson, Travis Konecny, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Marc Staal are the NHL regulars making their first appearances in the preseason tonight for the Flyers.
– Hart is expected to go the distance tonight in goal, meaning Felix Sandström will not play.
– Rocky Thompson will serve as head coach again tonight after coaching the Flyers to last night’s victory in Boston.
– 12 players in New Jersey’s lineup tonight appeared in Monday’s 6-0 victory against Philadelphia at Prudential Center.
– Former Flyer Max Willman will visit Wells Fargo Center for the first time as an opponent tonight. He is with the Devils on a Professional Tryout agreement in training camp.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia+, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
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