After overcoming thr Florida Panthers with a 2-1 victory on Thursday, they dropped a clunker with a 7-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
The Flyers will need more scoring from their top players like Joel Farabee, Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, and Owen Tippett. Tonight should be a gift to them that they take seriously. The San Jose Sharks, aside from an average power play (18th in the NHL), are 31st in scoring and 32nd in goals against average, including a 31st-ranked penalty kill. This team is simple not good, and the Flyers know they need to avenge themselves from their abominable loss against the Sharks in November. Cam Atkinson and Nicolas Deslauriers will sit tonight.
They did beat a Senators team they’ve struggled against, and found a way to beat the Panthers. Dropping games against the Capitals and Blues were not acceptable. The Washington game was arguably worse. They had a 2-0 lead heading into the 2nd period, and then allow 5 straight goals. There were sloppy mistakes and bad habits rearing their heads again. John Tortorella was very vocal about it, including ripping into Bobby Brink for a lackadaisical shift that cost the Flyers a goal (who’s scratched tonight). At least in the St. Louis Blues game, they were facing a hot goaltender, as was Samuel Ersson, but they couldn’t find a way to beat them (alas, losing in the shootout). Losing to Tampa Bay was probably expected, but for a team that prides themselves for being “ready” to play hard, they sure looked flat-footed against a fired up Lightning squad. It also had eerily similar vibes to previous seasons, where the Flyers regularly dropped massive clunkers like these.
You can take a bet that Tortorella has made it clear to the players that if he sees his standards slip, and players get comfortable because Brad Shaw is leading the bench, there will be repercussions. Combining their recent loss to Tampa Bay and their last matchup against the Sharks, there is more than enough reason the Flyers should come out tonight with ferocity and intensity at puck drop.
Bury the Sharks
The Sharks are 1-7-2 in their last 10 games, and have won 1 in their last 5 games in March. In their last 3 three games, their penalty kill has gone 4/8, and their power play has gone 5/9. Again, outside of their power play, they stink at everything else. Now with Tomáš Hertl and Anthony Duclair being moved, their scoring ability has regressed even more. This is a classic trap game. The Sharks beat the Senators 2-1 on Saturday via two power play goals. Be mad if the Flyers take unnecessary penalties tonight, because right now this is the only avenue the Sharks have to score goals.
PHI Record: 33-24-8, 74 pts, 3rd in Metropolitan
SJS Record: 16-40-7, 39 pts, 8th in Pacific
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 3/9/24, 7-0 L at Tampa Bay
Last Game SJS: 3/9/24, 2-1 W vs. Ottawa
PHI Goalie: Samuel Ersson (18-13-5, .898 SV%, 2.62 GAA, 3 SO)
SJS Goalie: Magnus Chrona (1-2-1, .864 SV%, 4.59 GAA, 0 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#71 Tyson Foerster – #14 Sean Couturier – #11 Travis Konecny
#86 Joel Farabee – #21 Scott Laughton – #74 Owen Tippett
#27 Noah Cates – #25 Ryan Poehling – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#15 Denis Gurianov – #48 Morgan Frost
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#18 Marc Staal – #23 Ronnie Attard
#5 Egor Zamula – #77 Erik Johnson
#50 Adam Ginning
#33 Samuel Ersson
#32 Felix Sandström
Scratches: #10 Bobby Brink, #44 Nicolas Deslauriers, #89 Cam Atkinson
Injuries: #9 Jamie Drysdale, #24 Nick Seeler, #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
SJS Projected Lineup
#18 Filip Zadina – #72 William Eklund – #11 Luke Kunin
#94 Alexander Barabanov – #64 Mikael Granlund – #20 Fabian Zetterlund
#17 Thomas Bordeleau – #7 Nico Sturm – #62 Kevin Labanc
#10 Klim Kostin – #22 Ryan Carpenter – #90 Justin Bailey
#38 Mario Ferraro – #4 Kyle Burroughs
#3 Henry Thrun– #44 Marc-Édouard Vlasic
#9 Jacob MacDonald – #33 Calen Addison
#30 Magnus Chrona
#1 Devin Cooley
Scratches: #41 Vitek Vaněček
Injuries: #5 Matt Benning, #6 Ty Emberson, #29 Mackenzie Blackwood, #39 Logan Couture, #54 Givani Smith, #68 Mike Hoffman, #84 Jan Rutta
News and Notes
– John Tortorella was fined $50,000 and suspended for two games for refusing to leave the bench after being ejected from the bench in the 7-0 loss to the Lightning.
– The Flyers should be primed to be beat the Sharks after being embarrassed by a previously winless Sharks team in the beginning of the year.
– Sam Ersson will also be locked in to redeem himself after stopping 17 of 19 shots in their loss against the Sharks this season, finishing the game with a .892 SV% and 2.05 GAA.
– The Flyers are 2-2-1 in their last 5 games against the Sharks.
– Egor Zamula is expected to play after missing Saturday’s game with an illness.
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