The Flyers are back at it on the road again tonight in Montreal, as they look to snap their three-game losing streak and begin putting together a bit more in the way of positive momentum. And with some changes made to the lineup and some shuffling done with the forward lines, the Flyers are looking for anything that can bring them that extra bit of jump to draw them closer to that aim.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- Huge news! Rasmus Ristolainen’s back! [BSH]
- Carl Grundstrom has really been popping in his most recent stint with the Flyers, and it’s beginning to force some questions about how the Flyers are handling the bottom of their forward lineup. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 16-9-6 (4th in Metro)
Goals: Trevor Zegras (13)
Assists: Trevor Zegras/Travis Konecny (19)
Points: Trevor Zegras (32)
Montreal Canadiens – 17-11-4 (3rd in Atlantic)
Goals: Cole Caufield (17)
Assists: Nick Suzuki (28)
Points: Nick Suzuki (37)
Projected lineups
Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Carl Grundstrom – Sean Couturier – Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nic Deslauriers – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Rasmus Ristolainen
Dan Vladar
(Sam Ersson)
Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Zack Bolduc
Juraj Slafkovsky – Oliver Kapanen – Ivan Demidov
Josh Anderson – Jake Evans – Alexandre Texier
Jake Evans – Joe Veleno – Brendan Gallagher
Lane Hutson – Noah Dobson
Arber Xhekaj – Alexandre Carrier
Jayden Struble -Adam Engstrom
Jacob Fowler
(Jakub Dobes)
Storylines to watch
Ristolainen’s return
We mentioned this off the top, but the biggest headline coming into tonight’s game is Rasmus Ristolainen getting back into action for the first time since March. It’s been a long road to recovery, and the road to getting all the way back up to game speed will likely extend a bit beyond even this game, but all the same, it will be nice to see him back in the mix after such a long absence. He’ll have the benefit of easing back into things — the pairing of Emil Andrae and Jamie Drysdale, despite a few hiccups, has been working well on the whole so they’ll be holding on to that second pair usage, meanwhile Ristolainen will see some more limited usage on that third pair alongside Nick Seeler. That’s a shutdown pairing if we’ve ever seen one, and it will be interesting to see how that potential fit works together.
A different mix up front
The back end isn’t the only place in the lineup that’s seen some shuffling heading into this game, as the Flyers continue to mix things up to look for the right arrangement of pieces in their forward group. Tonight, we’ll see Carl Grundstrom promoted to the second line to play alongside Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett, which seems a deserved nod for some work well done over this current stint. Meanwhile, Matvei Michkov will drop down to play with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink, in hopes of giving that line a bit of a boost offensively.
We’ll also see them going back to the fourth line of Deslauriers, Abols, and Hathaway for this one, which is not a line that’s been terribly successful for them, to date, but Nikita Grebenkin’s gone cold over these last few weeks, so at the same time, it’s not a tremendous surprise to see him sat for a game as they go for a different look. Namely, with Deslauriers sticking in the lineup tonight, it feels all but obligatory that we assume some rematch between him and Xhekaj is coming (or at least expected by the coaching staff), but we’ll see how that plays out.
No more bonus hockey
We mentioned already that the Flyers are on a three-game losing streak, which is bad enough as it is, but even worse is the fact that each of these losses have come outside of regulation (in overtime to the Golden Knights and then both in the shootout to the Hurricanes). Obviously, the biggest hope for this one is that the Flyers will be able to come out for this one with some jump, pull off a win, and get themselves back on track and moving in the right direction again, but the close second hope is that whatever outcome this game brings, that it comes in regulation. It’s been entirely too much bonus hockey around here, let’s give it a bit of a rest, shall we?