The Philadelphia Flyers host the Florida Panthers tonight for their second bout of the season at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Panthers won their first game against each other last Wednesday by a score of 4-3 to hand the Flyers their first loss of the year. The Flyers went down early, and made a strong push with stallion efforts in the second half of the game to make things close.
They certainly were not showing that same kind of resiliency in Sunday’s dud against the Sharks, losing 3-0. The Panthers are coming off of a tough loss as well, getting rolled over by the Chicago Blackhawks, another team expected to hold down the basement of the league for the Connor Bedard sweepstakes. Despite the organization’s efforts to strip their team apart, Chicago has been on a winning streak, making it four in a row against the Panthers last Tuesday night.
The Flyers will start a red-hot, undefeated Carter Hart, flexing a .949 SV% over 4 games. For team stats, the Flyers have the edge in goals against (4th in the NHL), penalty kill (20th in the NHL), and the power play (17th in the NHL). The Panthers have the edge in goals for (21st in the NHL) and faceoffs (24th in the NHL).
PHI Record: 4-2-0, 8 pts, 3rd in Metropolitan
FLA Record: 4-2-1, 9 pts, 2nd in Atlantic
Last Game PHI: 10/23/22, 3-0 L vs. San Jose
Last Game FLA: 10/25/22, 4-2 L at Chicago
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (4-0-0, .949 SV%, 1.75 GAA, 0 SO)
FLA Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky (2-2-1, .908 SV%, 2.85 GAA, 0 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#86 Joel Farabee – #13 Kevin Hayes – #11 Travis Konecny
#21 Scott Laughton – #49 Noah Cates – #74 Owen Tippet
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #48 Morgan Frost – #57 Wade Allison
#23 Lukáš Sedlák – #17 Zack MacEwen
#9 Ivan Provorov – #77 Tony DeAngelo
#6 Travis Sanheim – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#24 Nick Seeler – #61 Justin Braun
#54 Egor Zamula
#79 Carter Hart
#32 Felix Sandström
FLA Projected Lineup
#23 Carter Verhaeghe – #16 Aleksander Barkov – #19 Matthew Tkachuk
#38 Rūdolfs Balcers – #9 Sam Bennett – #13 Sam Reinhart
#27 Eetu Luostarinen – #15 Anton Lundell – #6 Colin White
#94 Ryan Lomberg – #12 Eric Staal – #70 Patric Hörnqvist
#42 Gustav Forsling – #62 Brandon Montour
#28 Josh Mahura – #7 Radko Gudas
#18 Marc Staal – #3 Matt Kiersted
#72 Sergei Bobrovsky
#30 Spencer Knight
PHI Injuries: Cam Atkinson (lower-body), Sean Couturier (upper-body), Patrick Brown (back), Bobby Brink (hip), Ryan Ellis (lower-body), Artem Anisimov (PTO, lower-body), James van Riemsdyk (finger)
FLA Injuries: Aaron Ekblad (lower-body), Anthony Duclair (Achilles)
News and Notes
– Noah Cates has been placed back in his natural position at left wing.
– The Flyers will skate with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen tonight as Tanner Laczynski is out of the lineup due to a family matter.
– Rasmus Ristolainen makes his debut after being held out through the preseason with a lower-body injury, but all things come at a price, as JVR will be out of the line up long-term with a broken finger.
– Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson are not skating on the ice any more after alleged setbacks. An appearance this season is still up in the air for Couturier.
– Owen Tippett makes his return against Florida and will face his former team for the first time as he has recovered from his collision in the home opener.
– Kieffer Bellows was claimed off waivers by the Flyers from the Islanders earlier today, but he will not suit up tonight.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
