The Philadelphia Flyers face-off against the St. Louis Blues tonight in their second game of a season-long 5 game road trip. The Flyers lost to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday by a score of 6-3 and are set to go head-to-head against the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators, and Minnesota Wild to close out the trip. The Flyers are winless on the road in 2022 and have lost 13 straight games away from Philadelphia, which is the third longest streak in franchise history.
Against the Red Wings on Tuesday night, the Flyers set out with a lineup that consisted of 11 forwards and 7 defensemen after making several moves at the NHL’s trade deadline. The St. Louis Blues were in the same boat with players like Tyler Bozak, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Robert Thomas missing their last game against the Washington Capitals. Fortunately, they will get Tarasenko and Thomas back in the lineup for tonight’s tilt but they will still be without Torey Krug, who is sidelined with an upper-body injury. The Flyers are also expected to revert back to the 11/7 split as Hayden Hodgson is expected to make his NHL debut tonight in place of Oskar Lindblom, who is slated as day-to-day for the time being.
The Blues are 3-4-3 in their last 10 games but currently sit 2nd in their division, only one point ahead of 3rd place Minnesota and 4th place Nashville, who the Flyers will play in short order. They are 5th in the NHL in goals (3.55), 17th in shots on goal (30.7), have the 3rd-best power play (26.3%), and have the best shooting percentage (11.6%). They are tied for 8th in goals allowed (2.77), 15th in shots on goal allowed (31.5), and have the 7th-best penalty kill (82.5%). Conversely, the Flyers are 31st in goals (2.52), 18th in shots on goal (30.6), have the worst power play (13.7%), and are 31st in the league in shooting percentage (8.2%). Defensively they aren’t any better as they sit 24th in goals allowed (3.43), 28th in shots on goal allowed (33.8), and have the 7th-worst penalty kill (75.6%).
The Blues have a very balanced scoring table as Jordan Kyrou leads the team with 22 goals, 39 assists, and 61 points, Tarasenko is second in goals and points with 20 and 54 respectively, and Pavel Buchnevich and Robert Thomas are tied for third in points at 48. Ivan Barbashev has 44, David Perron is tied with Kyrou in goals at 22, Brayden Schenn has 42 points as well, and Ryan O’Reilly has 40. it’s a different story for the hapless Flyers as Cam Atkinson leads the tea with 23 goal and 48 points, Travis Konecny is second with 40 points and a team-high 30 assists, and Joel Farabee rounds out the top 3 with 29 points in 45 games.
The Blues have performed very well this year in large part because of the resurgence of Ville Husso. He represents half of the goaltending tandem in St.Louis as he shares the twine with Jordan Binnington. Husso is 16-5-4 with a 2.33 GAA and a .925 SV%, whereas Binnington has struggled a little with his 13-12-4 record, 3.11 GAA and .903 SV%. Carter Hart on paper has a disastrous record of 13-20-7 but his peripherals show how strong he’s been for a very bad defensive team as he carries a .910 SV%.
PHI Record: 20-32-11, 51 pts, 8th in Metropolitan
STL Record: 35-18-9, 79 pts, 2nd in Central
When: 8:00pm ET
Where: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MO
PHI Goalie: Martin Jones (7-12-3, .902 SV%, 3.36 GAA, 0 SO)
STL Goalie: Jordan Binnington (13-12-4, .903 SV%, 3.11 GAA, 2 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #86 Joel Farabee – #89 Cam Atkinson
#71 Max Willman – #13 Kevin Hayes – #11 Travis Konecny
#42 Hayden Hodgson – #48 Morgan Frost – #74 Owen Tippett
#38 Patrick Brown – #17 Zack MacEwen
#9 Ivan Provorov – #45 Cam York
#6 Travis Sanheim – #70 Rasmus Ristolainen
#3 Keith Yandle – #24 Nick Seeler
#8 Kevin Connauton
#35 Martin Jones
#79 Carter Hart
STL Projected Lineup
#20 Brandon Saad – #90 Ryan O’Reilly – #57 David Perron
#25 Jordan Kyrou – #10 Brayden Schenn – #89 Pavel Buchnevich
#49 Ivan Barbashev – #18 Robert Thomas – #91 Vladimir Tarasenko
#26 Nathan Walker – #22 Logan Brown – #65 Alexei Toropchenko
#4 Nick Leddy – #55 Colton Parayko
#6 Marco Scandella- #72 Justin Faulk
#77 Niko Mikkola – #41 Robert Bortuzzo
#50 Jordan Binnington
#35 Ville Husso
Last Game PHI: 3/22/22, 6-3 L at Detroit
Last Game STL: 3/22/22, 5-2 W at Washington
News and Notes:
– This is the second and final meeting between these two clubs this year after the Blues defeated the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center on the 22nd of February, 4-1.
– This is their 156th meeting all-time, with the Flyers holding a 90-45-17-3 advantage in the series.
– Cam Atkinson has 5 goals and 18 points in 21 career games against the Blues, while Martin Jones is 6-6-2 in 14 career games with a .926 SV% and a 1.97 GAA.
– Former Flyer Brayden Schenn has 3 goals and 5 points in 6 career games against the Flyers, Ryan O’Reilly has 8 goals and 21 points points in 20 games, while Jordan Binnington is 3-0-1 in 4 career starts with a .924 SV% and a 1.97 GAA.
– The Flyers are expected to give to Joel Farabee another crack at the whip as a centre after his great performance against the Red Wings.
– Oskar Lindblom will sit tonight as Mike Yeo has alluded that the young forward is a little banged up at the moment.
Broadcast Info: TV – ESPN+, Hulu, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
Injuries:
PHI – Sean Couturier (back), Nate Thompson (shoulder), Ryan Ellis (lower-body), Scott Laughton (concussion), Oskar Lindblom (undisclosed)
DET – Tyler Bozak (lower-body), Torey Krug (upper-body)
