Happy hump day folks! Welcome to a Wednesday night hockey matchup between the two aviation themed teams, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Winnipeg Jets. This is the second meeting between the two teams this season, with the Flyers grabbing a rare win in the first matchup by a score of 3-1 back on February 1st.
The Flyers certainly have not had the season anyone was expecting. Smothered by injuries, conspiracies, coaching changes, leadership transitions, and everything under the sun, the Orange and Black already have their eyes focused on next year. The recent emergence of Morgan Frost has been a positive note, Carter Hart having an overall solid season, and several prospects earning valuable ice time in all scenarios are all things to build on for next year. However the year is not over yet, there’s still a draft pick to tank for!
The Winnipeg Jets have also had a subpar season. Despite a breakout year from Kyle Connor with 45 goals and 44 assists and Connor Hellebuyck standing on his head, the Jets still find themselves out of a playoff spot in a stacked Central Division. The Jets are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games and average nine penalty minutes per game, which sits them at 5th most in the Western Conference. BUT…the Flyers’ power play almost seems like a handicap at this point, so we’ll consider the Jets penalty woes a moot point.
PHI Record: 25-44-11, 61 pts, 8th in Metropolitan
WPG Record: 36-32-11, 83 pts, 6th in Central
When: 7:30PM ET
Where: Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg, MB
PHI Goalie: Felix Sandström (0-3-1) 3.27 GAA, .914 SV%, 0 SO
WPG Goalie: Connor Hellebuyck (28-27-10) 3.00 GAA, .910 SV%, 4 SO
PHI Projected Lines:
#86 Joel Farabee – #13 Kevin Hayes – #46 Bobby Brink
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #21 Scott Laughton – #11 Travis Konecny
#49 Noah Cates – #48 Morgan Frost – #74 Owen Tippett
#23 Oskar Lindblom – #44 Nate Thompson – #17 Zack MacEwen
#9 Ivan Provorov – #47 Ronnie Attard
#84 Linus Högberg – #6 Travis Sanheim
#3 Keith Yandle – #54 Egor Zamula
#32 Felix Sandström
#35 Martin Jones
WPG Projected Lines:
#81 Kyle Connor – #80 Pierre-Luc Dubois – #12 Jansen Harkins
#27 Nikolaj Ehlers – #25 Paul Stastny – #26 Blake Wheeler
#13 Zach Sanford – #17 Adam Lowry – #22 Mason Appleton
#36 Morgan Barron – #21 Dominic Toninato – #71 Evgeny Svechnikov
#44 Josh Morrissey – #2 Dylan DeMelo
#54 Dylan Samberg – #4 Neil Pionk
#5 Brenden Dillon – #88 Nate Schmidt
#37 Connor Hellebuyck
#1 Eric Comrie
Last Game PHI: 3-1 L vs CHI (4/25)
Last Game WPG: 4-1 W vs COL (4/24)
Broadcast Info: NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic, ESPN+
News and Notes:
- The Flyers have lost the last four games they’ve played in Winnipeg. Since the Jets re-entered the league in 2011-12, the Flyers’ all-time record against them is 13-6-3, with 71 goals for and 68 goals against.
- Speaking of 2011-2012, way back on October 27, 2011 the Flyers and Jets had an offensive explosion of a game with a total of 17 goals! The Flyers dropped the back-and-forth affair by a final score of 9-8. Danny Briere and James van Riemsdyk each potted two goals while Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Matt Read, and Max Talbot covered the other four. Kimmo Timonen recorded four helpers.
- As mentioned earlier, the Jets have been bitten by the penalty bug all year. Despite being 5th in the Western Conference in average penalty minutes, the Jets have scored nine shorthanded goals this year. The Flyers have allowed 11 shorthanded goals this season, so don’t be surprised if that number rises after tonights game.
Injuries:
PHI – Ryan Ellis (lower-body), Sean Couturier (back), Nick Seeler (lower-body), Carter Hart (lower-body), Cam Atkinson (lower-body), Rasmus Ristolainen (upper-body), Cam York (lower-body), Patrick Brown (upper-body)
WPG – Mark Scheifele (upper-body), Cole Perfetti (upper-body)
