The offensively struggling Philadelphia Flyers (7-4-2) return home to the Wells Fargo Center for a three-game homestand starting tonight against the Calgary Flames (8-3-4). The Flyers have played on the road in four of their last five games, including a three-game stretch in four nights in three different cities. The Flyers have alternated between wins and losses since the Western Canadian road trip in a streak that has lasted 8 games, where they’ve gone 4-3-1.
The Flyers look to finish off the season series with the Flames on a positive note as they were shut out 4-0 on October 30th. Jakob Markstrom was barely tested in that game as he only needed 20 saves to record his third shutout of the season. After backing up the last 2 games, he is expected to start tonight. On the season he is 5-3-3 with 4 shutouts but he has struggled since that Flyers win. He is 1-2-2 with a .902 save percentage and 2.40 GAA with a shutout. Vladar has started the last two games, which includes a tight 2-1 loss to Toronto in overtime where he stopped 35 shots.
The Flames come to town on the heels of an Eastern Canadian road trip where they played three games against the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Ottawa Senators in four nights. They lost the first two games to the Leafs and Canadiens but they shut out the Senators 4-0 before heading out to Philadelphia. Dan Vladar recorded the shutout, stopping all 27 shots and improved his record to 3-0-1. The big guns for the Flames came out to play as Andrew Mangiapane, Elias Lindholm, and Matthew Tkachuk recorded goals.
The Flyers come into this game on the heels of a tough 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Prior to the game, they received some good news in the form of Kevin Hayes and Ryan Ellis returning to the lineup. For Kevin Hayes it was his season debut, whereas Ryan Ellis was returning after missing the last 9 games with a mysterious lower-body injury. As expected in the tail end of a back to back, the first period was all Philadelphia as they outshot the Dallas Stars 19-7 but still found themselves trailing. The rest of the game the Flyers looked tired, slow, and sluggish as they were outplayed, outshot, and outscored. Sloppy turnovers in their own zone, anemic offense, a struggling powerplay, and unfortunate deflection goals kept the Flyers at bay.
Alain Vigneault shuffled his lines before the game as well, promoting James van Riemsdyk to the first line with Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier. Kevin Hayes was put in between Joel Farabee and Cam Atkinson. Derick Brassard found himself on the wing with Scott Laughton manning the third line alongside Travis Konecny. Oskar Lindblom was placed on the fourth line with Nate Thompson and Zach MacEwen. There was a lack of chemistry and some of the lines, the third line especially, looked very faulty.
It is confirmed that Vigneault will make at least two changes to his lineup from Saturday. He is prone to making several changes when things aren’t working and now that Hayes is back in the fold, it gives him more ammunition to work with and play around. The Flyers, who desperately needed Ryan Ellis back in the lineup, will once again be without his services tonight. He re-injured whatever was ailing him before and he is currently week-to-week. Oskar Lindblom is going to be a healthy scratch as Vigneault just wants to give him a reset. He has struggled mightily this season with his offensive game, going goalless in 13 games so far. He is getting his chances but his overall game just looks a little off at the moment. This is nothing but a chance for him to rest a little and reset after all the conditioning issues he’s had to deal with since his cancer treatments and a COVID shortened season without any practices.
For the Flames, they have been mired in a mini-offensive slump, but nothing like the Flyers who have been plagued for 10 games. In their last 6 games, Calgary has scored 15 goals, which is an average of 2.5 per game. 6 of those 15 came at the hands of the New York Rangers, giving them 9 goals in the other 5 games. Andrew Mangiapane, who was on fire when the Flyers visited Calgary, has only scored 3 goals in his last 9 games. Sean Monahan, who broke out against the Flyers, continues to struggle with 8 points in 15 games. Johnny Gaudreau has 15 points on the season but only 4 in his last 8, Matthew Tkachuk just ended a three-game mini-slump and has 12 points in 15 games, while Elias Lindholm still leads the team with 16 points and has been the most consistent forward for the Flames.
The Flyers, who have scored 20 goals in their last 10 games, come into this homestand desperately needing to break out in the goal column. Their offense has completely dried up with Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier still leading the team with 12 points but in 13 games. They were the only two that were cooking offensively and both have gone pointless in their last three games. Cam Atkinson has gone eight games without a goal and has only recorded one point in that span. Travis Konecny is pointless in his last four, Joel Farabee has one goal in his last ten games as he just broke an eight game goalless streak against the Hurricanes, and James van Riemsdyk has one goal in his last seven.
The Flyers have been riding hot goaltending and improved defense to post a very respectable 7-4-2 record. Their penalty kill is a lot better as they sit 14th in the league at 82.61%. Their power play is the problem lately as they’ve gone 3 for their last 31, recently ending a long slump with an Ivan Provorov power play goal on Saturday. Before Saturday’s game, the Flyers were tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the best save percentage in the NHL. The Flyers had a .935% which has been the biggest improvement this season after finishing in last place the year prior. Carter Hart will start for the Flyers and he comes in on the heels of a 40-save performance against the Hurricanes. He is 4-3-2 on the season with a 2.32 GAA and a .931% save percentage.
With Ryan Ellis expected to be out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, Nick Seeler is expected to get the call-up today. Oskar Lindblom will sit for Patrick Brown and Wade Allison is still on the mend indefinitely. The Flames are relatively healthy at the moment with the exception of Tyler Pitlick, who missed their last game with a lower-body injury.
Tonight will also be the Flyers Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Rick Tocchet and Paul Holmgren before the game, so make sure to arrive or tune in a little earlier than usual.
Philadelphia Flyers Projected Lines:
Claude Giroux – Sean Couturier – James van Riemsdyk
Joel Farabee – Kevin Hayes – Cam Atkinson
Derick Brassard – Scott Laughton – Travis Konecny
Patrick Brown – Nate Thompson – Zach MacEwen
Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun
Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Keith Yandle – Nate Seeler
Carter Hart
Calgary Flames Projected Lines:
Johnny Gaudreau – Elias Lindholm – Matthew Tkachuk
Blake Coleman – Sean Monahan – Andrew Mangiapane
Dillon Dube – Mikael Backlund – Trevor Lewis
Milan Lucic – Brad Richardson – Walker Duehr
Noah Hanifin – Rasmus Andersson
Oliver Kylington – Chris Tanev
Nikita Zadorov – Erik Gudbranson
Jakob Markstrom
