The Philadelphia Flyers travel next door to their ugly neighbor, Newark, New Jersey, to play the New Jersey Devils tonight at 7:00pm ET.
It was another tough loss for the Flyers on Tuesday, but Cam York scoring his first goal of the season and forcing himself to lead offensive pushes was a good thing to see. We already knew he is an NHL player, it has just been a matter of the Flyers’ coaching staff seeking out some more elements in his game that was either in his toolkit that he wasn’t using or leaning into more of an aggressive style of play, a role that may be a bit unfamiliar to Cam. Nevertheless, it’ll be important for him to continue to be active with the puck on his stick with Tony DeAngelo expected to miss more time.
Despite the Devils haughty record, they too are on a losing streak of their own, dropping three straight to the Islanders (6-4 L on 12/9), Rangers (4-3 OTL on 12/12), and Dallas (4-1 L on 12/13). I can’t explain the loss to the Islanders, but the Rangers and Stars are both very good, likely playoff bound teams. In this small stretch, the Devils have been scoring at a pace of 2.66 goals per game, while being outscored at 4.66 goals per game.
Fortunately for them tonight, they are playing against one of the worst teams in the league at scoring goals, where they currently sit at 31st with 2.4 goals per game over 30 games played. What’s better than that? The Flyers are currently scoring 2 goals per game over their 4 game losing streak, and have allowed 3.5 goals per game If Carter Hart can’t lock back into stealing games the way he was for the first 7 games, look out folks. This may get ugly.
PHI Record: 9-14-7, 25pts, 7th in Metropolitan
NJD Record: 21-6-2, 44pts, 1st in Metropolitan
Last Game PHI: 12/13/22, 3-2 L at Colorado
Last Game NJD: 12/11/22, 4-1 L vs. Dallas
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (8-8-6, .909 SV%, 2.84 GAA, 0 SO)
NJD Goalie: Vitek Vaněček (12-2-2, .912 SV%, 2.39 GAA, 2 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#13 Kevin Hayes – #49 Noah Cates – #11 Travis Konecny
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #48 Morgan Frost – #74 Owen Tippett
#21 Scott Laughton – #23 Lukáš Sedlák – #86 Joel Farabee
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #38 Patrick Brown – #17 Zack MacEwen
#9 Ivan Provorov – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#6 Travis Sanheim – #45 Cam York
#24 Nick Seeler – #61 Justin Braun
#79 Carter Hart
#32 Felix Sandström
NJD Projected Lineup
#90 Tomáš Tatar – #13 Nico Hischier – #49 Fabian Zetterlund
#17 Yegor Sharangovich – #86 Jack Hughes – #63 Jesper Bratt
#44 Miles Wood – #56 Erik Haula – #91 Dawson Mercer
#70 Jesper Boqvist – #20 Michael McLeod – #10 Alexander Holtz
#71 Jonas Siegenthaler – #7 Dougie Hamilton
#33 Ryan Graves – #6 John Marino
#2 Brendan Smith – #28 Damon Severson
#41 Vitek Vaněček
#40 Akira Schmid
PHI Injuries: Sean Couturier (back), Bobby Brink (hip), Ryan Ellis (hip), Wade Allison (hip), Tanner Laczynski (upper-body)
Scratched: Cam Atkinson, Max Willman, Olle Lycksell
NJD Injuries: Ondřej Palát (groin), Nathan Bastian (shoulder), Mackenzie Blackwood (knee)
Scratched: Kevin Bahl, Andreas Johnsson
News and Notes:
– Tony Deangelo (family matter) will not draw into the lineup tonight. Zach MacEwen (undisclosed injury) skated on the fourth line and will be a game-time decision.
– Forward Olle Lycksell was recalled from AHL Lehigh Valley earlier today after DeAngelo was placed on non-roster status.
– Joel Farabee is a top forward looking to break a scoreless streak, recording 1 point in the month of December so far.
– Be wary that the Devils’ power play is currently 24th in the league, as they will likely skyrocket back up to respectable numbers after one game against the Flyers.
Broadcast Info: TV- NBCSP, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
