The Philadelphia Flyers are officially in dangerous territory after losing six straight games , including some to non-playoff bound teams.
On the back-end of a back-to-back, the Flyers will continue to play without Sean Couturier, who suffered an injury along the boards on Monday in the first period. Samuel Ersson steps back into net after needing some time off due to how hard he got played in the last 20 games. Tonight is another winnable hockey game for a club in disarray and lackluster offense.
Beating Columbus
It doesn’t matter how they win now, they just need to get two points. Firstly, forwards like Joel Farabee and Travis Konecny need to find ways to step up in this game. Sam Ersson desperately needs a bounce back game. Additionally, forwards need to backcheck better, the defense needs cleaner zone exits, but ultimately all that matters is getting the win.
Columbus has given up 4 goals in their last 2 games. They too do not have a great record, going 3-6-1 in their last 10, compared to the Flyers’ 2-5-3. Columbus also has a stinky power play (30th) like the Flyers (32nd), but their penalty kill is also a mess (25th), unlike Philadelphia (3rd).
The next-largest disparity is goals against average, where the Flyers rank 18th in the league with 3.12 GAA, compared to the Blue Jackets’ 31st-ranked 3.62 GAA. In other words, Ersson may not have to be at his best, and the forwards may not have to be at their best either to outplay the Blue Jackets in these key areas.
With so many players injured for Columbus, they are playing an unproven netminder in Jet Greaves, who has gone 1-3-0 in his last 4 starts. Tonight is all about seizing the opportunity, and we will see if the Flyers have it in them later this evening.
PHI Record: 36-30-11, 83 pts, 5th in Metropolitan
CBJ Record: 25-39-12, 62 pts, 8th in Metropolitan
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 4/5/24, 4-2 L at Buffalo
Last Game CBJ: 4/4/24, 4-2 L vs. NY Islanders
PHI Goalie: Samuel Ersson (21-16-7, .891 SV%, 2.81 GAA, 3 SO)
CBJ Goalie: Jet Greaves (1-3-0, .917 SV%, 3.04 GAA, 0 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#71 Tyson Foerster – #48 Morgan Frost – #11 Travis Konecny
#74 Owen Tippett – #21 Scott Laughton – #10 Bobby Brink
#62 Olle Lycksell – #25 Ryan Poehling – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#86 Joel Farabee – #27 Noah Cates – #89 Cam Atkinson
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#24 Nick Seeler – #9 Jamie Drysdale
#50 Adam Ginning – #23 Ronnie Attard
#33 Samuel Ersson
#82 Ivan Fedotov
Scratches: #5 Egor Zamula, #15 Denis Gurianov, #18 Marc Staal, #44 Nicolas Deslauriers, #77 Erik Johnson
Injuries: #14 Sean Couturier, #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
CBJ Projected Lineup
#13 Johnny Gaudreau – #10 Dmitri Voronkov – #92 Alex Nylander
#42 Alexandre Texier – #4 Cole Sillinger – #86 Kirill Marchenko
#67 James Malatesta – #17 Justin Danforth – #72 Carson Meyer
#82 Mikael Pyyhtiä – #16 Brendan Gaunce – #24 Mathieu Olivier
#8 Zach Werenski – #78 Damon Severson
#9 Ivan Provorov – #44 Erik Gudbranson
#77 Nick Blankenburg – #55 David Jiříček
#73 Jet Greaves
#32 Malcom Subban
Scratches: #19 Liam Foudy, #27 Adam Boqvist, #91 Kent Johnson
Injuries: #7 Sean Kuraly, #11 Adam Fantilli, #22 Jake Bean, #27 Adam Boqvist, #38 Boone Jenner, #40 Daniil Tarasov #59 Yegor Chinakhov, #90 Elvis Merzļikins
News and Notes
– The Philadelphia Flyers have a 21-16-3-10 record against the Blue Jackets all-time.
– The Flyers look to avenge themselves over the Blue Jackets after giving up a 2-goal lead in the 3rd period and losing in a shootout on January 4th.
– The Flyers are 2-0-1 so far this season against the Blue Jackets, with tonight being the final meeting in the season series.
– Travis Konecny has scored 5 goals vs Columbus in 3 games this season, and Joel Farabee has scored 5 points as well (2g, 3a).
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