The red-hot Florida Panthers are the final team to visit the Wells Fargo Center as the four-game homestand comes to an end. The Philadelphia Flyers (2-0-1) face their most daunting test of the early season as the unbeaten Panthers (4-0-0) try to win their 5th game of the season.
The Philadelphia Flyers are coming off back-to-back wins at the hands of the Seattle Kraken and Boston Bruins. What was even better was how comprehensive the victories were, outscoring their opponents 12-4 and getting brick wall-type goaltending from both Carter Hart and Martin Jones.
After a rough start to the first period, the Flyers dominated the Kraken all the way to final buzzer. The Flyers got goals from Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny, Derick Brassard, Ryan Ellis, Justin Braun, and Joel Farabee, while Carter Hart stopped 23 of 24 shots he faced in the 6-1 victory. Brassard finished the game with 3 points (1 goal and 2 assists) to continue his red-hot start with his new club.
The Boston Bruins have been a thorn in the side of the Flyers for years and the first 2 periods were no different. The Flyers were opportunistic but also a little lucky to still be in the game, as Martin Jones had to stand on his head. The Bruins outshot the Flyers 28-17 but received goals from Cam Atkinson, Joel Farabee, and Scott Laughton. The third period was a much better and the game opened up for the Orange and Black as they got goals from Atkinson, Travis Konecny, and Sean Couturier to close out the 6-3 victory.
Two important early-season victories have the Flyers feeling confident but the visiting Panthers will provide them with a measuring stick game to really see where they stand with the best of the best.
Not only is it impressive that the Panthers are 4-0-0 to start the season, but they’ve beaten the Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders, and Colorado Avalanche. On top of beating 4 of the best teams in hockey, they’ve outscored their opponents 18-7 and have received stellar goaltending from both Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight.
Bobrovsky’s tenure in Florida has been far from stellar since signing his mega 7-year, $70 million dollar deal back in the summer of 2019. There were rumblings all summer about parting ways or trying to find a trade partner but his $10 million AAV made things nearly impossible. It’s so far, so good for the former Flyer as he currently sports a 3-0-0 record with a 1.99 GAA and a .944 save percentage.
His rookie counterpart, Spencer Knight, has only appeared in one game but he stopped 30 of 31 Tampa Bay Lightning shots, as the Panthers cruised to a 4-1 victory over their intrastate rival.
The Panthers boast a very dangerous offense with players like Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Sam Reinhart among others. Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe lead the team with 5 points, while Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, and rookie Anton Lundell have 4 points in 4 games. Anthony Duclair, Huberdeau, Mason Marchment, and Reinhart all have 3 points. The offense, in other words, is very deep and balanced.
So far the Flyers seemingly have the offense to counteract most teams in the NHL, so it will be very interesting to see if they can bring the same energy against the vaunted Panthers. Joel Farabee leads the team with 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points in 3 games, Derick Brassard and Keith Yandle each have 5 points, while Cam Atkinson, Sean Couturier, Ryan Ellis, and Travis Konecny all have 4 points.
Carter Hart has been confirmed as the starter for tonight and he comes into the game with a 1-0-1 record, a 2.44 GAA, and a .921 save percentage. After a rough second period against the Vancouver Canucks in the season opener, he stopped 22 consecutive shots in the third period and overtime. He added another 23 saves on 24 shots against the Kraken and received a well earned rest as Martin Jones took care of business against the Boston Bruins, stopping 37 of 40 Bruins shots.
An interesting matchup to look out for in tonight’s game will be top line vs top line. Couturier, Giroux, and Konecny are going to be tasked to not only score goals but to also stop the other team’s top lines. They were up against the Bergeron-Marchand-Pastrnak line last game and most likely will be tabbed to stop Barkov’s line tonight. Mackenzie Weegar and Aaron Ekblad will also pose as a very difficult matchup on the blueline, as both are very stout defensively.
Ryan Ellis is will miss tonight’s game as he missed Friday’s practice, and he is listed as day-to-day and isn’t expected to miss much time. Ellis was originally thought to be on a maintenance day until head coach Alain Vigneault said that Ellis was dealing with some “bumps and bruises.” Cam Atkinson also skipped out on practice for a maintenance day but Vigneault mentioned that he was less confident about the status of Ellis. Atkinson will suit up tonight and Nick Seeler will draw into the lineup in Ellis’ place after being recalled from AHL Lehigh Valley.
Patrick Brown returned to practice for the first time since coming off the COVID list. He was spotted alongside Kevin Hayes, who has been practicing regularly with the team. They both remain out for the foreseeable future, but Brown has a chance to crack the lineup sometime next week. He is still feeling the residual effects of the virus and needs to get acclimated to game speed through practices.
The Florida Panthers line-up will unsurprisingly remain unchanged. They have a few players on injured reserve like Noel Acciari, Markus Nutivaara, and Olli Juolevi, but outside of that they are a healthy bunch.
Philadelphia Flyers Projected Lineup:
Claude Giroux – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee – Derick Brassard – Cam Atkinson
James van Riemsdyk – Scott Laughton – Oskar Lindblom
Zach MacEwen – Nate Thompson – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun
Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Keith Yandle – Nick Seeler
Carter Hart
Florida Panthers Projected Lineup:
Carter Verhaeghe – Aleksander Barkov – Anthony Duclair
Jonathan Huberdeau – Sam Bennett – Owen Tippett
Sam Reinhart – Anton Lundell – Mason Marchment
Frank Vatrano – Eetu Luostarinen – Patric Hornqvist
Mackenzie Weegar – Aaron Ekblad
Gustav Forsling – Radko Gudas
Kevin Connauton – Brandon Montour
Sergei Bobrovsky
