Riding a five-game winning streak, the Philadelphia Flyers are back at it again on Saturday to take on the Colorado Avalanche.
The Flyers are coming off a dominant 5-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night. Owen Tippett nabbed two goals, including a highlight reel goal of the year candidate.
“When everyone’s playing well, it’s fun, it keeps going and gives everyone confidence,” said Tippett after the win. “I think when the team’s playing well, it’s a full group effort, it gives everyone confidence. When you’re winning games it’s a fun time.”
The Flyers certainly are showing that confidence after tying a season-best five games for their winning streak, and they’ll look to show it again with a team they defeated earlier this season waiting on the other side.
The Colorado Avalanche are one of the top teams in the NHL, sitting second in the Central Division and fourth in the entire league. However, they stumbled in the first meeting between these clubs back on December 9th in Denver in a 5-2 thrashing by the Flyers. Led by Travis Konecny’s two goals, Philadelphia never trailed in the contest and dominated pretty much from start to finish, and the Avalanche know they need to play a tighter and more well-rounded game this time around.
A team that employs Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Mikko Rantanen is never easy to go up against, but the Flyers have dug in and bought into how John Tortorella wants them to play and will be up to the challenge again versus a strong Avalanche lineup.
The Flyers have not only become a team that is just hard to play against, but they are outworking and outplaying their opponents in almost every single game they play, and they are no longer a fluke. They are a legitimate playoff contender and are a force to be reckoned with in the NHL.
PHI Record: 25-14-6, 56 pts, 2nd in Metropolitan
COL Record: 29-14-3, 61 pts, 2nd in Central
When: 1:00pm ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, 97.5 The Fanatic
Last Game PHI: 1/18/24, 5-1 W vs. Dallas
Last Game COL: 1/18/24, 5-2 L at Boston
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (12-8-3, .912 SV%, 2.67 GAA, 1 SO)
COL Goalie: Alexandar Georgiev (24-11-2, .896 SV%, 2.95 GAA, 2 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#74 Owen Tippett – #14 Sean Couturier– #11 Travis Konecny
#71 Tyson Foerster – #48 Morgan Frost – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#86 Joel Farabee – #21 Scott Laughton – #89 Cam Atkinson
#27 Noah Cates – #25 Ryan Poehling
#6 Travis Sanheim – #9 Jamie Drysdale
#24 Nick Seeler – #26 Sean Walker
#8 Cam York – #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
#5 Egor Zamula
#79 Carter Hart
#33 Samuel Ersson
Scratches: #10 Bobby Brink, #18 Marc Staal, #44 Nicolas Deslauriers
Injuries: None
COL Projected Lineup
#27 Jonathan Drouin – #29 Nathan MacKinnon – #96 Mikko Rantanen
#94 Joel Kiviranta – #20 Ross Colton – #25 Logan O’Connor
#28 Miles Wood – #12 Ryan Johansen – #11 Andrew Cogliano
#56 Kurtis MacDermid – #22 Fredrik Olofsson – #41 Jason Polin
#7 Devon Toews – #8 Cale Makar
#49 Samuel Girard – #42 Josh Manson
#3 Jack Johnson – #70 Sam Malinski
#40 Alexandar Georgiev
#50 Ivan Prosvetov
Scratches: #82 Caleb Jones
Injuries: #4 Bowen Byram, #62 Artturi Lehkonen
News and Notes
– The Flyers are expected to stick with 11 forwards and 7 defenseman for a second consecutive contest after Thursday’s thrashing of Dallas.
– Sean Couturier picked up his 300th career assist in Thursday’s victory, making him just the 15th player in franchise history to reach that milestone.
– The Flyers also used 7 defenseman against the Avalanche back on December 9th in their 5-2 road victory.
– Philadelphia is 44-31-14-6 all-time against Colorado and 15-17-4-6 against them since the Avalanche moved to Denver in 1995.
– Cam Atkinson leads all Flyers in goals (8) and points (13) against Colorado, while Sean Couturier leads all Flyers in assists (9) against the Avalanche.
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