The Philadelphia Flyers will head to Western New York for the first time this season as they visit the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center for a Saturday afternoon matchup between historic rivals.
The Flyers are on the heels of their tenth straight loss on Thursday to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the second time this season the Flyers have lost ten in a row, and all in the last 26 games. The Sabres also last played on Thursday when they hosted the Dallas Stars. Buffalo squandered a 3-1 lead and fell 5-4 in overtime at home to the Stars.
The Flyers will enter Buffalo with some new faces in the lineup after more injury setbacks. Forwards Joel Farabee and Kevin Hayes were placed on injured reserve yesterday, and Farabee is expected to be out four weeks after suffering an upper-body injury. Hayes’ timetable is three to four weeks after having fluid drained from his adductor region on Tuesday morning.
Forwards Wade Allison and Jackson Cates were recalled from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL to the taxi squad, and both will be promoted to the active roster and play today. For Allison, it will be his season debut after playing in 14 games last season, racking up four goals and three assists for seven points in that span. He missed the early portion of this season with an ankle sprain and wasn’t back in action until December 11th with the Phantoms.
PHI Record: 13-19-8, 34 pts, 7th in Metropolitan
BUF Record: 12-21-7, 31 pts, 6th in Atlantic
When: 1:00pm ET
Where: KeyBank Center, Buffalo, NY
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (7-13-5, .912 SV%, 2.90 GAA, 1 SO)
BUF Goalie: Michael Houser (1-0-0, .977 SV%, 1.00 GAA, 0 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#23 Oskar Lindblom – #28 Claude Giroux – #89 Cam Atkinson
#57 Wade Allison – #21 Scott Laughton – #11 Travis Konecny
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #48 Morgan Frost – #20 Gerry Mayhew
#71 Max Willman – #59 Jackson Cates – #17 Zack MacEwen
#9 Ivan Provorov – #6 Travis Sanheim
#45 Cam York – #61 Justin Braun
#3 Keith Yandle – #70 Rasmus Ristolainen
#79 Carter Hart
#35 Martin Jones
BUF Projected Lineup
#53 Jeff Skinner – #72 Tage Thompson – #89 Alex Tuch
#19 Peyton Krebs – #24 Dylan Cozens – #71 Victor Olofsson
#57 Brett Murray – #17 Mark Jankowski – #74 Rasmus Asplund
#96 Anders Bjork – #20 Cody Eakin – #15 John Hayden
#26 Rasmus Dahlin – #10 Henri Jokiharju
#23 Mattias Samuelsson – #13 Mark Pysyk
#78 Jacob Bryson – #8 Robert Hägg
#32 Michael Houser
#80 Aaron Dell
Last Game PHI: 1/20/22, 2-1 L vs Columbus
Last Game BUF: 1/20/22, 5-4 OTL vs Dallas
News and Notes:
– This is the first meeting for the two teams since April 21st, 2021 when Buffalo defeated Philadelphia 5-3 at Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers’ last visit to KeyBank Center before today was March 31st, 2021 in a 6-1 thrashing by the Sabres.
– This is the 190th all-time regular season contest between the two longtime rivals. Philadelphia owns a 97-65-20-7 edge in the series, though the Sabres are on a two-game win streak over the Flyers.
– Today will mark Rasmus Ristolainen’s first game against the Sabres and his first time back in Buffalo since being traded to the Flyers in the offseason. It will also be Robert Hägg’s first game against his former Flyers teammates since the trade as well.
– Hockey Hall of Fame member and NHL legend Clark Gillies tragically passed away last night at the age of 67. Gillies was a part of the Islanders’ dynasty teams in the 1980s and also played in Buffalo for two seasons from 1986 to 1988. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002 and had a fantastic NHL career. Expect a moment of silence before today’s puck drop. R.I.P. Clark Gillies.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, ESPN+, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
Injuries:
PHI – Patrick Brown (MCL), Sean Couturier (upper-body), Kevin Hayes (adductor), Joel Farabee (upper-body), Nate Thompson (shoulder), Ryan Ellis (lower-body), Derick Brassard (hip)
BUF – Kyle Okposo (upper-body), Jack Quinn (lower-body), Will Butcher (upper-body), Zemgus Girgensons (lower-body), Vinnie Hinostroza (upper-body), Colin Miller (upper-body), Casey Mittelstadt (upper-body), Drake Caggiula (upper-body), Malcolm Subban (upper-body), Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (lower-body), Craig Anderson (upper-body), Dustin Tokarski (COVID protocols)
