The Philadelphia Flyers (1-2-1) wrapped up a four-game road trip, beginning in Vancouver and finishing in Seattle. Tonight, they will host the Vancouver Canucks (1-1-2) in their home opener at the Wells Fargo Center.
To open the season, the Flyers defeated the Canucks, 3-2, in a shootout. Morgan Frost scored the game-deciding goal in the skills competition. Sam Ersson earned the win at Rogers Arena eight nights ago.
Philadelphia remains without a regulation victory at the end of the season-opening road trip. They are the only team in the NHL Metropolitan Division without a regulation victory, despite taking early leads against the Edmonton Oilers and Seattle Kraken. In Edmonton, the Flyers failed to close out the Oilers in the third period. Most recently, Ivan Fedotov and the defense in front of him unraveled in Seattle.
“It wasn’t the whole second [period]. It was just a few minutes here and there. I thought the first period was probably one of our better periods of the year. [We] lost ourselves for a few minutes, [the] game got away from us, and [we] kept on fighting; tried to crawl back in.” – John Tortorella; 10/17/2024
John Tortorella did not hold a morning skate in Philadelphia, resting his players before the home opener.
On the road, the Flyers experienced a lot of disjointed hockey. They could not get a good feel at five-on-five, especially when each game averages between nine to eleven penalties called. However, on the powerplay, Philadelphia is converting 26.3% (5/19). The penalty kill is successful 84.2% (16/19) of the time. An expanded role at even strength will allow some skaters to establish confidence, meaning disciplined hockey and dictating the pace.
“I just want to see some consistency within the lines, [and] individual players. There’s a couple guys that are really struggling. [We’re] just trying to get some sort of confidence within some guys. So, we’ll just keep banging away.” – John Tortorella; 10/17/2024
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center; Philadelphia, PA
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia; 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 10/17; 6-4 L at Seattle
Last Game VAN: 10/17; 3-2 OTW at Florida
Philadelphia Flyers
With the additional rest, Ersson will start at the Wells Fargo Center versus Vancouver.
While the Flyers were on the road, Nick Seeler began skating with the team, but Tortorella insisted he was day-to-day. He could return to the lineup in time for the home opener, but if not, Erik Johnson is the most likely candidate to assume the role. Emil Andrae still is not back with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-1-0). He is another option to help offset any fatigue after the four-game road trip.
Jamie Drysdale and Bobby Brink are two players to spotlight. Drysdale stepped into his role on the powerplay, scoring in Seattle. Tortorella wanted to see him shoot the puck because penalty-killing units were becoming more privy to Philadelphia working through Owen Tippett and Matvei Michkov on the powerplay. In the attacking zone, Brink is on a four-game point streak. Brink scored a goal and notched three assists, including one on the powerplay in Vancouver.
Projected Flyers Lineup
#74 Owen Tippett – #48 Morgan Frost – #39 Matvei Michkov
#86 Joel Farabee – #17 Jett Luchanko – #11 Travis Konecny
#71 Tyson Foerster – #14 Sean Couturier – #10 Bobby Brink
#21 Scott Laughton – #25 Ryan Poehling – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#5 Egor Zamula – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#77 Erik Johnson – #9 Jamie Drysdale
#33 Sam Ersson
(#82 Ivan Fedotov)
Projected Canucks Lineup
#74 Jake DeBrusk – #9 JT Miller – #6 Brock Boeser
#21 Nils Höglander – #40 Elias Pettersson – #8 Conor Garland
#20 Danton Heinen – #53 Teddy Blueger – #44 Kiefer Sherwood
#24 Pius Suter – #88 Nils Åman – #91 Daniel Sprong
#43 Quinn Hughes – #17 Filip Hronek
#7 Carson Soucy – #57 Tyler Myers
#26 Erik Brännström – #73 Vincent Desharnais
#32 Kevin Lankinen
(#31 Artūrs Šilovs)
