Flyers looking for revenge against the Flames
By Nick Butler
The Flyers are coming home from their two-game back to back road trip. They beat the red hot Carolina Hurricanes but ultimately came up short and tired to the Dallas Stars. The Flyers come into the game tonight 7-4-2. They will face off against the Calgary Flames who are currently 8-3-4. This will be their second and final meeting of the season.
Get to the game early tonight as well as Rick Tocchet and Paul Holmgrem will be inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame. The pre-game ceremony is expected to take place at 6:30.
I was also worried coming into tonight that the game might be postponed due to the Flames recently playing the Ottawa Senators who had to have games postponed due to Covid. But the game will be played as none of the Flames have come out positive but this will be something the Flyers will be monitoring as well after this game.
Philadelphia Flyers
7-4-2 (16 points, 5th in the Metro)
Just as fast as reinforcements came, we lost half of them. Ryan Ellis has been announced as week to week after suffering a setback in the Dallas game. The Flyers and Chuck Fletcher were smart and brought in a bunch of veteran talent for these situations, and since Sam Morin has been a no go for this long in the season, Nick Seeler has been the go to guy and the seventh defensemen for the team.
Justin Braun has also been the team’s best defenseman as of late and he continues to play the best hockey of his career. The slack is being picked up but hopefully Ellis can return soon.
Kevin Hayes was not 100% on Saturday in his return but he looked good. He walked away with a beautiful assist on the powerplay to Ivan Provorov. The new look lines didn’t do a ton and will need a little time to gain chemistry and I think breaking up the FAB line was a bad idea but we will see down the road what happens. Chemistry needs to be built and the new look lines are something they will most likely be toying with over these next couple games.
Speaking of next couple games, the Flyers start a three game home stand tonight starting with the Flames. Reigning back to back Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lighting will be here on Thursday and the Flyers will round out the week with the Boston Bruins. Some big points that can be earned in this week at home and it all starts tonight.
Expect some goals tonight from the Flyers. The last time they played the Flames, they were coming off a back to back to Edmonton and Vancouver. They were shut out in that last matchup and will look to get two points against this speedy Flames team.
The Flyers need to find a way to get their powerplay moving. It has been very, lack luster, over their last four to five games. Special teams play a big role in a teams success. They were shutout against the Maple Leafs two games ago and a big part of them not scoring was just how awful their powerplay looked. This will be the deciding factor tonight for the Flyers.
Get the Flames hemmed into their zone and take a ton of shots on Markstrom. Looking to be aggressive and not passive has seemed to leave the Flyers offense all together and they need that mindset back if they want to be the team who scored over 20 goals in their first 5 games.
Projected Lineup
Giroux – Couturier – van Riemsdyk
Farabee – Hayes – Atkinson
Laughton – Brassard – Konecny
Brown – Thompson – MacEwen
Provorov – Braun
Sanheim – Ristolainen
Yandle – Seeler
Hart
Calgary Flames
Record: 8-3-4 (20 points, 3rd in the Pacific)
The Flames come into tonight’s tilt after shutting out the Ottawa Senators on the road 4-0. This will be their fourth road game out of a total of seven. They are currently 1-1-1 on this road trip. They just finished off their Eastern Canada trip with losses to the Canadians and Maple Leafs but beat the Senators. After playing in Philadelphia, they will be headed up to Buffalo.
The Flames, since playing the Flyers, have had issues putting the puck into the back of the net more often than not. The Flyers will look to keep that trend going but the speedy offense of this Flames team will still be another test for this team.
Markstrom has been unbelievable for the Flames this season. In 11 games played, he is 5-3-3 with a SV% of .935 and GAA of 1.81. He also has posted four shutouts on the season. Looking at his losses as well, he has still been very good between the pipes.
Andrew Mangiapane currently leads the Flames with 10 goals. He has 12 points on the season. Elias Lindholm is currently leading the team with 16 points. He has eight goals and eight assists on the year and is just over a point per game player. The Flames have some talent this year and could most likely make the playoffs in the weak Pacific Division.
Projected Lineup
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk
Coleman – Monahan – Mangiapane
Dube – Backlund – Lewis
Lucic – Richardson – Dueher
Hanifin – Andersson
Kylington – Tanev
Zadorov – Gudbranson
Markstrom
When, Where, and How to Watch
Time: 7:00 PM (*6:30 PM HOF Ceremony*)
Where: Wells Fargo Center
TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio Broadcast: 93.3 WMMR
Live Stream: Fubo TV
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