The Philadelphia Flyers (1-1-0) travel to Rogers Place to battle against the Edmonton Oilers (0-3-0) at 10pm.
A back-to-back did not result in as many wins for the Flyers. They began the season victorious at Rogers Arena against the Vancouver Canucks, but dropped the following decision in the Scotiabank Saddledome against the Calgary Flames.
In Calgary, another comeback situation presented itself. Philadelphia went down 2-0 but battled back to enter the third period down 3-2. Tyson Foerster missed a chunk of the game, standing up for his teammate, Jamie Drysdale. John Tortorella said Foerster did it for the right reasons, but it did play a role in the losing effort.
“Losing Tyson [Foerster] hurt. [He] does it for the right reason, but losing him for that amount of minutes screwed things up.” – John Tortorella; 10/12/2024
Mikael Backlund scored the game-winner, sealing a loss for the Flyers with 5:16 remaining in regulation. However, Philadelphia had chances to level the game. Before the bottom fell out, Travis Konecny was on the crease after Matvei Michkov dangled to create a scoring chance but missed the mark.
“We’re all thinking the same things. It’s just a matter of executing. A lot of it goes through me, just these little bump plays, and we’re thinking the same things, and I’m just not executing at the level I want to, and I’m sure they could all say the same.” – Travis Konecny; 10/14/2024
Konecny did score twice, a shorthanded goal and a powerplay goal. Excellence is the expectation, not exclusive to goal scoring. The amount of penalty minutes is not helping their goaltending. Ivan Fedotov never looked comfortable against the Flames. Comparably, it made the performance by Sam Ersson against the Canucks seem even more impressive.
Tonight, the Flyers must mitigate the Oilers, who, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, scored three total goals in as many games.
When: 10:00pm ET
Where: Rogers Place; Edmonton, Alberta
Broadcast Info: ESPN; 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 10/12; 6-3 L at Calgary Flames
Last Game EDM: 10/13; 4-1 L vs. Calgary Flames
Philadelphia Flyers
Jett Luchanko will check back into the lineup tonight in Edmonton. It is uncertain if he will replace Noah Cates. Those two flipped in and out during the back-to-back. Luchanko was not in the lineup in Calgary, a healthy scratch when Cates made his season debut.
Luchanko reviewed game tape at practice, and Tortorella alluded to his intelligence and maturity. When posed with the option of matching him up against McDavid, Tortorella said he is ‘not afraid of it.’ Tortorella is not afraid to play Luchanko anywhere in his lineup.
Rasmus Ristolainen and Scott Laughton were not among the lines and pairs in the morning skate. Both are likely to be available against the Oilers. If not, Cates will likely fill in for Laughton, and Emil Andrae will make his season debut in place for Ristolainen.
Michkov began at LW in the back-to-back, on the top line with Sean Couturier and Konecny. Throughout the preseason, it seemed Michkov developed chemistry with Morgan Frost at RW, but there is no denying a newfound chemistry with Konecny. Tortorella wants to jumpstart Michkov but has not ruled out moving him to RW.
“I thought him [Michkov] and TK [Konecny] had really good chemistry. Well, they do. They do have good chemistry. TK is not a left-winger, and I’m not going to screw around with his game. I think Mich can play both sides, but I want to get him as comfortable as possible early on to get his game going, and we’ll put him on the right side. You may see him with TK along the way because I think they do have some chemistry. We’ll see where it goes.” – John Tortorella; 10/15/2024
Ersson will start. He won his first start of the season in a shootout in Vancouver. His stat line reads 1-0-0 with a 92.3%SV (24/26) and a 1.85GAA.
Projected Flyers Lineup
#74 Owen Tippett – #48 Morgan Frost – #39 Matvei Michkov
#71 Tyson Foerster – #17 Jett Luchanko – #11 Travis Konecny
#86 Joel Farabee – #14 Sean Couturier – #10 Bobby Brink
#27 Noah Cates – #25 Ryan Poehling – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#77 Erik Johnson – #9 Jamie Drysdale
#36 Emil Andrae – #5 Egor Zamula
#33 Sam Ersson
(#82 Ivan Fedotov)
#29 Leon Draisaitl – #97 Connor McDavid – #18 Zach Hyman
#92 Vasili Podkolzin – #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – #33 Viktor Arvidsson
#53 Jeff Skinner – #19 Adam Henrique – #28 Connor Brown
#13 Mattias Janmark – #10 Derek Ryan – #90 Corey Perry
#14 Mattias Ekholm – #2 Evan Bouchard
#25 Darnell Nurse – #51 Troy Stecher
#27 Brett Kulak – #49 Ty Emberson
#74 Stuart Skinner
(#30 Calvin Pickard)
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