For the final stop of their Western Canadian road trip, the Philadelphia Flyers take on the Calgary Flames tonight with a 10pm ET puck drop. The Flyers are riding high after two fantastic wins so far on the road trip, including handing Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers their first loss of the season, and beating the Vancouver Canucks in a revenge game from the thrilling season-opening loss.
This has been the Flyers’ best start to a season record-wise since the 2011-2012 season, a very promising statistic heading into Calgary. However, the Flyers are not the only team in this matchup that’s come out of the gates hot. The Flames have gotten off to a 5-1-1 start to their 2021-22 campaign, and currently sit at the top of the Pacific Division. The Flames’ hot start has been a bit surprising to some, as many expected the Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights to control the division, however the Golden Knights have gotten off to a very slow start.
Similarly to the Flyers, the Flames’ depth has been a huge reason for their success so far this season. Their leading scorers are first line center Elias Lindholm and second line left winger Andrew Mangiapane, both averaging a goal per game to start the season with 7 goals. Their point distributions are very spread across their four lines, as even our good ole friend Milan Lucic has picked up a goal and two assists from the fourth line this season.
The Flames’ most dynamic scorer, left winger Johnny Gaudreau, has had a slow start to the season scoring-wise, picking up his first goal of the year with an absolute snipe against the Penguins on Thursday night. Despite his lack of scoring, “Johnny Hockey” still leads the team in assists and points with 9 and 10 respectively.
Goaltending from the Flames has been fantastic to start the year, again very similar to the Flyers. Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom has been very impressive in the 5 games he’s started, with a 1.59 GAA and a .952 SV%. Backup Daniel Vladar has been decent as well in his two appearances, with a 2.93 GAA and a .891 SV%. The Flames are a very physical team as well, led by the infamous Matthew Tkachuk, who is always very involved in the physical play and forecheck. The Flyers also get to play a familiar face in this game, as former Flyer Tyler Pitlick has made 5 appearances this year for Calgary.
The Flames are coming into this game red-hot (no pun intended), having won 5 straight, including wins over other Metropolitan Division teams such as the Capitals, Rangers, Devils, and Penguins. The Flyers will be looking to build off their two wins this week before they head home to take on the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday.
Philadelphia Flyers Projected Lineup
#28 Claude Giroux – #14 Sean Couturier – #11 Travis Konecny
#86 Joel Farabee – #19 Derick Brassard – #89 Cam Atkinson
#23 Oskar Lindblom – #21 Scott Laughton – #25 James van Riemsdyk
#44 Nate Thompson – #38 Patrick Brown – #17 Zack MacEwen
#9 Ivan Provorov – #61 Justin Braun
#6 Travis Sanheim – #70 Rasmus Ristolainen
#3 Keith Yandle – #24 Nick Seeler
#79 Carter Hart
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
#13 Johnny Gaudreau – #28 Elias Lindholm – #19 Matthew Tkachuk
#88 Andrew Mangiapane – #29 Dillon Dube – #24 Brett Ritchie
#20 Blake Coleman – #11 Mikael Backlund – #18 Tyler Pitlick
#17 Milan Lucic – #23 Sean Monahan – #22 Trevor Lewis
#55 Noah Hanifin – #4 Rasmus Andersson
#58 Oliver Kylington – #8 Chris Tanev
#16 Nikita Zadorov – #44 Erik Gudbranson
#25 Jacob Markstrom
