The Philadelphia Flyers welcome the Anaheim Ducks into Wells Fargo Center tonight in an interconference battle of reeling orange and black teams.
Anaheim in their last 40 games is a measly 11-23-6 after contending for a playoff spot at one point in a competitive but weaker Pacific Division. When the Flyers visited Anaheim in January, the Ducks were in second place in their division, which tells you how far they’ve fallen since. The Ducks were sellers at the trade deadline as a result, most notably shipping star forward Rickard Rakell to Pittsburgh and trading defensemen Josh Manson and Hampus Lindholm to Colorado and Boston, respectively. The Ducks have lost 13 of their last 14, but they are hoping to get things going in the right direction before the season ends.
The Flyers are even worse than the Ducks in that stretch though, going only 10-25-5 in their last 40. They were also a heavy seller come deadline time, sending captain Claude Giroux to Florida, Justin Braun to New York, and Derick Brassard to Edmonton. They’re coming off an impressive 4-1 road win over Columbus on Thursday and are looking to build on what has been an otherwise forgettable season.
But before both struggling clubs take the ice tonight, the Flyers organization will be honoring longtime public address announcer Lou Nolan for his 50 years of service on the mic with organization. Nolan has spent 55 years in total with the Flyers, beginning as a press box attendant during the team’s inaugural season in 1967-68, but then he moved to ice level and became the PA announcer for the 1972-73 season. He has been here for over 2,000 NHL games in his career, in which he’s announced eight Stanley Cup Finals, including both Flyers championships in 1974 and 1975, as well as two NHL All-Star Games, the famous Red Army game in 1976, the 2012 Winter Classic, and the 2019 Stadium Series. Away from the NHL, he served as the PA announcer for the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and the 2014 NCAA Frozen Four at Wells Fargo Center.
“For more than five decades, Lou Nolan’s voice and presence has been an essential part what it means to experience a Flyers game here in Philadelphia,” said Flyers Governor Dave Scott. “Lou isn’t going anywhere, but we want to celebrate the 55 years he’s spent with the Flyers and the 50 iconic years he’s served as our Public Address Announcer. This will be a special night for the entire Flyers family, and we’re looking forward to sharing it with Lou, his friends and family, and our fans.”
Fans are encouraged to arrive early as the ceremony will begin at 7:25pm, and puck drop will begin at approximately 7:46pm. Flyers players will be wearing commemorative jerseys in warmups with NOLAN and 50 on their backs, and they will wear commemorative patches on their black alternate jerseys during the game.
PHI Record: 23-37-11, 57 pts, 7th in Metropolitan
ANA Record: 28-32-12, 68 pts, 6th in Pacific
When: 7:30PM ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
PHI Goalie: Martin Jones (10-14-3, .904 SV%, 3.29 GAA, 0 SO)
ANA Goalie: Anthony Stolarz (10-7-2, .920 SV%, 2.55 GAA, 3 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#23 Oskar Lindblom – #21 Scott Laughton – #89 Cam Atkinson
#49 Noah Cates – #13 Kevin Hayes – #74 Owen Tippett
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #48 Morgan Frost – #11 Travis Konecny
#42 Hayden Hodgson – #44 Nate Thompson – #38 Patrick Brown
#9 Ivan Provorov – #45 Cam York
#6 Travis Sanheim – #70 Rasmus Ristolainen
#8 Kevin Connauton – #47 Ronnie Attard
#35 Martin Jones
#79 Carter Hart
ANA Projected Lineup
#38 Derek Grant – #46 Trevor Zegras – #19 Troy Terry
#16 Zach Aston-Reese – #14 Adam Henrique – #51 Dominik Simon
#12 Sonny Milano – #21 Isac Lundeström – #39 Sam Carrick
#44 Maxime Comtois – #23 Sam Steel – #26 Gerry Mayhew
#4 Cam Fowler – #34 Jamie Drysdale
#5 Urho Vaakanainen – #22 Kevin Shattenkirk
#86 Simon Benoit – #92 Andrej Šustr
#41 Anthony Stolarz
#36 John Gibson
Last Game PHI: 4/7/22, 4-1 W at Columbus
Last Game ANA: 4/6/22, 4-2 L vs Calgary
News and Notes
– This is the 40th all-time meeting between the Ducks and Flyers since Anaheim’s inception in 1993. Philadelphia leads the all-time series 15-14-5-5.
– Joel Farabee will miss tonight’s game with the flu, and Hayden Hodgson was recalled from AHL Lehigh Valley in his place.
– Zack MacEwen has been cleared to play, but interim head coach Mike Yeo said he doesn’t want to rush him into the lineup just yet.
– There’s some familiar faces on each side of the ice tonight for both clubs. Flyers center Nate Thompson played in Anaheim from 2014 to 2017, while the Ducks’ Derek Grant (2020), Gerry Mayhew (2021-22), and Anthony Stolarz (2016-19) all played for Philadelphia in the past.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, ESPN+, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
Injuries
PHI: Ryan Ellis (lower-body), Sean Couturier (back), Nick Seeler (lower-body), Joel Farabee (flu)
ANA: Max Jones (upper-body), Ryan Getzlaf (lower-body), John Moore (upper-body), Jakob Silfverberg (lower-body)
