Coming off their best game of the season in Buffalo, the Philadelphia Flyers will face off against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Both teams recorded shutouts in their last game and look to run with that confidence boost.
Despite having the Flyers’ first shutout since November 2021, Samuel Ersson will be backing up Carter Hart in tonight’s matchup. Ersson made several exhilarating saves and the offense tacked on 4 goals to help the rookie to his first ever shutout in the NHL. At the opposite end, Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper leads the league in shutouts with 4. One of which came in their last game where ex-Flyer, Erik Gustafsson, scored the Capitals’ lone goal.
The Capitals have the goaltending, and they have the best goal scorer to ever touch NHL ice. Alex Ovechkin will look to score his 810th goal tonight. In the course of his career, Ovi has scored 46 goals against the boys in orange. The only teams he has scored more goals against are the Hurricanes, the Lightning, and the Jets. He also has 31 assists against the Flyers, putting him at 77 points in 69 games against Philly.
Travis Konecny is looking to extend his 9-game point streak, the current longest in the NHL. He had two assists in their 4-0 win over the Sabres Monday night. TK has racked up 9 points over the past 5 games alone with a +5 rating. Joel Farabee has also seemed to find some footing this season. The young player has recorded 8 points in his last 9 games after struggling for most of the season. In the first 32 games of the season, he had a measly 15 points, leaving fans to speculate why he was not performing to the level we were used to.
Carter Hart looks to rebound from maybe his worst game of the season against Toronto. He allowed 6 goals on 35 shots, and some of the goals were questionable at best. Fortunately, for the Flyers, it seems as if they finally found a solid backup who can step in when Hart is not at his best. Hopefully, Hart can find his flow tonight as he will most likely need it when Ovechkin enters his office.
PHI Record: 16-18-7, 39 pts, 7th in Metropolitain
WSH Record: 23-14-6, 52 pts, 4th in Metropolitain
Last Game PHI: 1/9/23, 4-0 W @ Buffalo
Last Game WAS: 1/8/23, 1-0 W vs. Columbus
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (11-12-6, .908 SV%, 2.97 GAA, 0 SO)
WSH Goalie: Darcy Kuemper (12-9-4, .920 SV%, 2.45 GAA, 4 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup:
#86 Joel Farabee – #49 Noah Cates – #11 Travis Konecny
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #48 Morgan Frost – #74 Owen Tippett
#13 Kevin Hayes – #21 Scott Laughton – #57 Wade Allison
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #38 Patrick Brown – #17 Zack MacEwen
#9 Ivan Provorov – #45 Cam York
#6 Travis Sanheim – #77 Tony DeAngelo
#24 Nick Seeler – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#79 Carter Hart
#33 Samuel Ersson
WSH Projected Lineup:
#8 Alex Ovechkin – #19 Nicklas Bäckström – #73 Conor Sheary
#17 Dylan Strome – #92 Evgeny Kuznetsov – #43 Tom Wilson
#15 Sonny Milano – #20 Lars Eller – #77 T.J. Oshie
#90 Marcus Johansson – #26 Nic Dowd – #21 Garnet Hathaway
#56 Erik Gustafsson – #57 Trevor van Riemsdyk
#9 Dmitry Orlov – #3 Nick Jensen
#27 Alexander Alexeyev – #42 Martin Fehervary
#35 Darcy Kuemper
#79 Charlie Lindgren
PHI Injuries: Cam Atkinson (neck), Sean Couturier (back), Ryan Ellis (hip), Tanner Laczynski (lower-body)
Scratches: Justin Braun, Kieffer Bellows
WSH Injuries: Connor Brown (ACL), Carl Hagelin (hip), Beck Malenstyn (upper-body), John Carlson (face)
WSH Scratches: Anthony Mantha, Nicolas Aubé-Kubel, Matt Irwin
News and Notes:
- Travis Konecny extended point streak on Monday to 9 games, the current longest streak in NHL.
- Monday’s game against Buffalo was the Flyers’ first shutout since November 2nd, 2021 against Arizona.
- Joel Farabee has recorded goals in 3 of his last 4 games played.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBCSP, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
