It’s another quick turnaround, as the Flyers are back for the second half of their third back-to-back of the month, and looking to close out the month of November on a high note in tonight’s rematch with the Devils. The first meeting went pretty emphatically the way of the Flyers, but this Devils team is heating back up again, and the Flyers will have a more challenging matchup in front of them than the last time around. We’ll see how they fare here.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- We have a very quick turnaround on our hands here, with the Flyers right back at it after a bit of matinee action against the Islanders yesterday. And how did that game go for them? Let’s revisit it. [BSH]
- On the prospect front, Michigan State got themselves back on track this weekend, and Shane Vansaghi seems to finally be picking up steam. [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 13-7-3 (5th in Metro)
Goals: Tyson Foerster (9)
Assists: Trevor Zegras (14)
Points: Trevor Zegras (22)
New Jersey Devils – 16-7-1 (1st in Metro)
Goals: Jack Hughes (10)
Assists: Jesper Bratt (17)
Points: Jesper Bratt/Nico Hischier (22)
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Travis Konecny
Matvei Michkov – Sean Couturier – Bobby Brink
Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak – Owen Tippett
Nikita Grebenkin – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – *Noah Juulsen
Dan Vladar
(Sam Ersson)
New Jersey Devils
Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Jesper Bratt
Ondrej Palat – Dawson Mercer – Arseny Gritsyuk
Paul Cotter – Cody Glass – Connor Brown
Juho Lammikko – Luke Glendening – Stefan Noesen
Jonas Siegenthaler – Dougie Hamilton
Luke Hughes – Simon Nemec
Brenden Dillon – Colton White
Jacob Markstrom
(Jake Allen)
Storylines to watch
Keeping the energy up
The Flyers, hitting the second game of this back-to-back, will all but certainly come into this one with one of their biggest concerns being the maintenance of a high level of energy and compete, to keep themselves in this game. It will be a steep task, as they’re coming off of a hard fought game against the Islanders (which of course ended in the high of the shootout win) but also working against their ongoing struggles with slow starts (something they were able to overcome yesterday at least, grabbing an early lead, but struggling still to hold on to it). The good news is that the Devils won’t necessarily have an advantage in the rest department, as they played against the Sabres yesterday — beating them by a 5-0 score, we should add — but they will certainly be an extra motivated bunch, as they’ll be looking to exact a bit of revenge after the walloping the Flyers gave them in their last meeting. The Flyers will have to be on it from the start, but we’ll see how that goes for them.
Shifting luck
Just as the Flyers will be hoping (and indeed, needing) to break from an old pattern and get off to a better start in this one, they’ll be hoping too that they can find a better break broadly in this game, find themselves a better result. That is, this will be the third back-to-back the Flyers have played this month, and while the results in the first halves have varied (two wins and one loss), the outcomes of the second halves have been unilaterally unkind to the Flyers — they lost a close one 2-1 to the Flames, and then were thrummed 5-1 by the Stars in the second go. It’s a small sample that we’re looking at, sure, but the early datapoints are what they are, and the Flyers have a chance to avoid turning this into an outright pattern of poor results in the second half of back to backs. It won’t be easy, as the Devils have been picking up steam of late (they haven’t lost in regulation since the Flyers beat them in that first meeting), but their fate, at least in part, sits in their own hands.
Back to Vladar
After the Flyers got a good showing from Sam Ersson in goal yesterday evening, they’re going back to Dan Vladar for the start to close things out tonight. The bet on him here is a good one — Vladar has been largely dependable for them all season, and he held up very well against the Devils last time out, stopping 32 of the 35 shots they threw at him on the way to the win. This isn’t going to be an easy task laid out ahead of him, facing this high powered and extra motivated Devils squad, but there’s little doubt that if he’s as on as he has been, he’s the Flyers’ best chance at pulling off another win here.