After an emotional win at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon, the Flyers return to continue their winning streak against their old rivalry foes, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Coming into Saturday’s game, they had their season-worst four-game losing streak, and were successful of ridding that at home in a game that celebrated the life of team founder Ed Snider, a beloved Philadelphia figure. Morgan Frost scored a goal and primary assist after being reported to have gone to Tortorella’s office to discuss his most recent benching.
Joel Farabee (5 assists over 5 games), Sean Couturier (1 goal, 3 assists over 5 games) and 2024 NHL All-Star Travis Konecny (5 goals, 3 assists over 5 games) continue to shine and will be heavily leaned upon in tonight’s game.
Replicating Saturday’s Success
Saturday’s matinee had a couple of things that were missing over the Flyers’ 4-game losing streak. For starters, they scored on the power play. Despite going 1-for-6, the units looked good as a whole – getting set up in the zone, cycling pucks, and creating scoring chances. A lot of recent one-goal losses for the Flyers could easily be attributed to their power plays going scoreless for days at a time.
Holding the lead is quite important too. After dropping a 2-0 lead over the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, and eventually losing the shootout, you know Tortorella gave it to them. Well, that must have worked, and I am sure with a big crowd coming up to celebrate the eccentric Ed Snider, that certainly contributed.
Goaltending was strong as well. Both Samuel Ersson and Carter Hart have had a few showings now where you hear in a postgame interview that they “wanted that one back”, usually referring to a stoppable puck. This time, when they had the lead, it wasn’t vanquished, and Hart didn’t allow anything that would have given Calgary the chance to bury him. All of these things will need to return to the Wells Fargo tonight to extend their season series lead to 3-0.
Word on Pittsburgh
The Penguins were an absolute mess when the Flyers ran into them in early December. They had the worst power play in the league, they couldn’t score, and they couldn’t stop goals. A lot of things that usually do not happen on the other side of Pennsylvania. Well for now, it seems like they have begun to right the ship, going 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.
However, while the record looks pretty, they still lost 2 out of the last 3 games they have played. They allowed 4 goals in the first period against a struggling Capitals team, which essentially sealed their fate, losing 4-3 after being held scoreless in the third period. Their one win did come against Boston in a 6-5 final, and they ironically scored 4 goals in the first period. That game would go back and forth until the Penguins remained victorious with the 6-5 final. Their most recent game was a loss to the Buffalo Sabres with a 3-1 final score after being held scoreless for the first 2 periods of the game.
Their power play in this time has gone 3/11, scoring one power play goal each game. The Flyers’ power play has certainly existed, going 1/14 over their last 3. Those numbers are terrible, but they did score in their last game, and the units looked a lot more structured and dangerous than before.
The Penguins’ penalty kill has also been really good, and arguably even better than the power play, going 6/7 over their last 3 games. After allowing a power play goal against Washington, they’ve held their last two opponents scoreless. Funny enough, the same is true for the Flyers, who after conceding a power play goal to the Oilers on January 2nd, have killed 8 straight penalties after that game.
Beating the Penguins
There are a couple things that come to mind, but here are the biggest takeaways for us.
1) Taking the lead. In their last 3 games, the Penguins struggled taking the lead back, and would find themselves scoreless for one or more periods in a game after going down one. This is not a good team at 5v5, and taking an early lead on this club would put on a lot of pressure.
2) Scoring on the power play is going to be important again. The Penguins have been good on the penalty kill, but the Flyers are going to need to find a way to score on special teams. Their power play was one of the biggest contributors to the four-game losing streak. It then became one of the biggest contributors as the game-tying goal that eventually led to the Flyers’ 3-2 win.
3) Strong goaltending sounds redundant, but we talk about it anyways. Carter Hart was sharp on Saturday after Samuel Ersson earned a couple starts. Ersson might earn more games, but Hart is our starting goalie. We’ll see how the game goes, but he can definitely be better than Alex Nedeljkovic, but he isn’t facing future Hall of Famers like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Erik Karlsson.
PHI Record: 20-13-6, 46 pts, 3rd in Metropolitan
PIT Record: 19-5-4, 42 pts, 7th in Metropolitan
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 1/6/24, 3-2 W vs. Calgary
Last Game PIT: 1/6/24, 3-1 L vs. Buffalo
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (10-7-3, .912 SV%, 2.63 GAA, 1 SO)
PIT Goalie: Alex Nedeljkovic (7-3-2, .917 SV%, 2.62 GAA, 1 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#86 Joel Farabee – #14 Sean Couturier – #11 Travis Konecny
#71 Tyson Foerster – #48 Morgan Frost – #10 Bobby Brink
#74 Owen Tippett – #21 Scott Laughton – #89 Cam Atkinson
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #25 Ryan Poehling – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#24 Nick Seeler – #26 Sean Walker
#5 Egor Zamula – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#79 Carter Hart
#33 Samuel Ersson
Scratches: #18 Marc Staal
Injuries: #27 Noah Cates
PIT Projected Lineup
#59 Jake Guentzel – #87 Sidney Crosby – #67 Rickard Rakell
#19 Reilly Smith – #71 Evgeni Malkin – #17 Bryan Rust
#10 Drew O’Connor – #20 Lars Eller – #48 Valterri Puustinen
#43 Jansen Harkins – #55 Noel Acciari – #77 Jeff Carter
#28 Marcus Pettersson – #58 Kris Letang
#73 Pierre Oliver-Joseph – #65 Erik Karlsson
#27 Ryan Graves – #2 Chad Ruhwedel
#39 Alex Nedeljkovic
#35 Tristan Jarry
Scratches: #5 Ryan Shea, #63 Radim Zohorna
Injuries: #7 John Ludvig, #83 Matt Nieto
News and Notes
– The Flyers are 103-37-8-4 against the Penguins at home all-time.
– Carter Hart finally earned his first victory over the Penguins since April 15th, 2021 in theit last meeting on December 4th. Hart backstopped the Flyers as they won an exhilarating game at the Wells Fargo Center. This one ended in a dramatic 2-1 final in overtime, where he stopped 31 of 32 shots and earned a .969 SV% for the night.
– Sean Couturier seems to be back into full form via Dimitri Filipovic on Twitter (I refuse to call it X):
Union Forge Vodka proudly serves as the Official Vodka of Flyers Nation. This partnership celebrates the unyielding spirit of Flyers fans and offers a quality spirit that perfectly compliments the team’s essence. Whether celebrating victories or showing resilience, Union Forge Vodka embodies the winning spirit of both the Flyers and their dedicated fans. Stay connected with exciting giveaways by following @unionforge and @flyersnation across all social media platforms.
