In the final home game of the season for the Philadelphia Flyers, some feel-good news will churn out for once.
Defenseman Adam Ginning will make his NHL debut tonight, sporting #50. In his first North American professional season, Ginning has posted 3 goals and 16 assists for 19 points to accompany a remarkable +25 rating in 63 games for the Calder Cup Playoff-bound Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL.
Ginning is slated to skate on the third pair with Justin Braun, as Nick Seeler remains out of the lineup with an illness and Tony DeAngelo will be a healthy scratch for a fourth consecutive contest.
Head coach John Tortorella was asked about DeAngelo before the game and said, “I’m not gonna discuss it with you guys. He’s out, and I’ve talked to him. He knows where he stands with me, and that’s where we’re going to go with it.”
He was also asked about the defenseman’s status for Thursday’s season finale in Chicago and would not go into conversation about it.
While things along the Flyers’ blueline are far from ideal at the moment, certain members of the group have played better this season than expected, and there were a few names up for consideration for the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team’s best defenseman, along with the rest of the Flyers’ annual awards tonight – whose winners have been announced.
Ivan Provorov takes home the Barry Ashbee Trophy, the fourth of his career. Provorov has scored 5 goals and 19 assists for 24 points in 81 games so far and has posted 156 blocked shots, good for second on the team and 15th across the NHL.
Owen Tippett receives the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy as the team’s most improved player. Tippett’s 2021-22 run with the Flyers after being acquired from Florida in the Claude Giroux trade saw him appear in 21 games, racking up 4 goals and 3 assists for 7 points. After that stretch that left a lot to be desired, Tippett came out firing this season and has been fantastic. He has set career-highs in goals (24), assists (21), points (45), power play goals (7), and power play points (10).
Justin Braun has earned the Yanick Dupre Class Guy Award for best illustrating character, dignity, and respect on and off the ice. Braun has carried himself well in a veteran role this season despite little playing time and has shown grace and class along the way during a tough season for the Flyers.
Carter Hart has wrapped up three awards to bring home, the Bobby Clarke Trophy (Team MVP), the Gene Hart Memorial Award (Most Heart), and the Toyota Cup (Most 3 Stars of the Game points). Hart has recorded a 21-23-10 record along with a .907 SV%, 2.94 GAA, and 2 shutouts in 54 appearance this year. He recently played in his 200th NHL game on Saturday as well, becoming just one of 5 Flyers netminders to reach that number.
After the awards presentation wraps up tonight, we’ll get some hockey underway for the final team on South Broad Street this season against South Jersey’s Johnny Gaudreau and the also-struggling Columbus Blue Jackets. Hopefully the Flyers can end their home slate in front of their fans the right way, with a victory.
PHI Record: 29-38-13, 71pts, 7th in Metropolitan
CBJ Record: 24-47-8, 56 pts, 8th in Metropolitan
Last Game PHI: 4/9/23, 5-3 L vs. Boston
Last Game CBJ: 4/8/23, 4-0 L vs. NY Rangers
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia PA
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (21-23-10, .907 SV%, 2.94 GAA, 2 SO)
CBJ Goalie: Michael Hutchinson (1-6-2, .868 SV%, 4.53 GAA, 0 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#13 Kevin Hayes – #49 Noah Cates – #74 Owen Tippett
#86 Joel Farabee – #48 Morgan Frost – #11 Travis Konecny
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #21 Scott Laughton – #57 Wade Allison
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #58 Tanner Laczynski – #22 Brendan Lemieux
#9 Ivan Provorov – #45 Cam York
#6 Travis Sanheim – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#50 Adam Ginning – #61 Justin Braun
#79 Carter Hart
#32 Felix Sandström
CBJ Projected Lineup
#13 Johnny Gaudreau – #38 Boone Jenner – #86 Kirill Marchenko
#91 Kent Johnson – #96 Jack Roslovic – #64 Trey Fix-Wolansky
#52 Emil Bemstrom– #7 Sean Kuraly – #19 Liam Foudy
#41 Hunter McKown – #21 Josh Dunne – #72 Carson Meyer
#75 Tim Berni – #27 Adam Boqvist
#23 Jake Christiansen – #55 David Jiricek
#31 Michael Hutchinson
#32 Jon Gillies
PHI Injuries: Cam Atkinson (neck), Sean Couturier (back), Ryan Ellis (hip), Nick Seeler (illness)
Scratched: Kieffer Bellows, Tony DeAngelo
CBJ Injuries: Patrik Laine (triceps), Nick Blankenburg (ankle), Mathieu Olivier (leg), Erik Gudbranson (shoulder), Elvis Merzļikins (lower-body), Jake Bean (shoulder), Lane Pederson (upper-body), Eric Robinson (undisclosed)
Scratched: None
News and Notes
– Rocky Thompson will coach the Flyers tonight and John Tortorella will watch from afar again. Darryl Williams will get his turn to coach in Thursday’s season finale at Chicago.
– This is the 47th all-time meeting between the Flyers and Blue Jackets since Columbus entered the league in 2000. Columbus owns the advantage in the series at 25-16-3-2.
– The Blue Jackets have a 2-1-0 lead in the season series on Philadelphia, with a chance to clinch the series in the final meeting tonight.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
