After a crushing loss last Sunday that saw a three-goals-down comeback attempt fall short in the third period, the Philadelphia Flyers look to exact their revenge and not only defeat the Winnipeg Jets tonight, but they’ll also try to end a three-game losing streak.
The Flyers are coming off their second overtime loss in as many games after a 3-2 defeat against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. It was an incredibly feisty game that saw four fights between the two teams, one of which featured Zack MacEwen against Marcus Foligno. MacEwen did not return to the game and suffered a broken jaw in the bout. The Flyers announced today that MacEwen underwent successful surgery today and is back in Philadelphia. His recovery is expected to take five weeks.
Kieffer Bellows will draw into the lineup for MacEwen. It will be his first appearance with the Flyers since December 17th against the New York Rangers.
As for the Jets, they’ve only won two of their last games, including the 5-3 win in Philadelphia six days ago. Had it not been for Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg would’ve suffered a much worse fate than the 3-2 loss they took on Thursday against Buffalo to open their three-game homestand.
The Jets are 8-5-0 in the month of January, which is 11th in the league. The Flyers sit just behind them in 12th with a 7-4-2 January record, but they’ve also lost five of their last seven after a great start to the month. Is that a bad thing for the likely-playoff bound Jets? Or a good thing for the Flyers? Maybe it’s both.
PHI Record: 20-21-9, 49 pts, 7th in Metropolitan
WPG Record: 31-18-1, 63 pts, 2nd in Central
Last Game PHI: 1/26/23, 3-2 OTL at Minnesota
Last Game WPG: 1/26/23, 3-2 L vs. Buffalo
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg, MB
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (14-14-8, .908 SV%, 2.97 GAA, 0 SO)
WPG Goalie: Connor Hellebuyck (23-14-1, .924 SV%, 2.40 GAA, 3 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#86 Joel Farabee – #49 Noah Cates – #11 Travis Konecny
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #48 Morgan Frost – #74 Owen Tippett
#13 Kevin Hayes – #21 Scott Laughton – #20 Kieffer Bellows
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #38 Patrick Brown
#9 Ivan Provorov – #45 Cam York
#6 Travis Sanheim – #77 Tony DeAngelo
#24 Nick Seeler – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#61 Justin Braun
#79 Carter Hart
#32 Felix Sandström
WPG Projected Lineup
#81 Kyle Connor – #80 Pierre-Luc Dubois – #91 Cole Perfetti
#26 Blake Wheeler – #55 Mark Scheifele – #27 Nikolaj Ehlers
#36 Morgan Barron – #17 Adam Lowry – #20 Karson Kuhlman
#89 Sam Gagner – #28 Kevin Stenlund – #8 Saku Mäenalanen
#44 Josh Morrissey – #4 Neal Pionk
#5 Brenden Dillon – #54 Dylan Samberg
#64 Logan Stanley – #88 Nate Schmidt
#33 David Rittich
#37 Connor Hellebuyck
PHI Injuries: Sean Couturier (back), Tanner Laczynski (upper-body), Cam Atkinson (neck), Ryan Ellis (hip), Zack MacEwen (jaw), Wade Allison (lower-body)
Scratched: none
WPG Injuries: Mason Appleton (wrist), David Gustafsson (upper-body), Dylan DeMelo (lower-body)
Scratched: Axel Jonsson-Fjällby, Kyle Capobianco
News and Notes
– Wade Allison will also miss tonight’s game after being injured on Thursday, but he has been deemed day-to-day.
– Kevin Hayes is currently on a four-game point streak (2g, 3a).
– Travis Konecny will try to erase an eight-game goal drought. He has not scored since racking up his second career hat trick on January 11th against Washington.
– Carter Hart will be looking for his first victory since January 21st against Detroit.
– Former Flyer Sam Gagner re-enters the lineup for Winnipeg tonight after not playing since January 19th against Toronto.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
