The Flyers are in Philadelphia for a one-game homestand to host a Vancouver Canucks team that have been on a roll since trading their best player. It might be a weird one.
Puck drop: 7:30 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 17-10-7 (4th in Metro)
Goals: Trevor Zegras (15)
Assists: Travis Konecny/Trevor Zegras (20)
Points: Trevor Zegras (35)
Vancouver Canucks – 15-17-3 (7th in Pacific)
Goals: Kiefer Sherwood (16)
Assists: Filip Hronek (18) (Technically Quinn Hughes still but lol)
Points: Elias Pettersson (22)
Projected lineups
Trevor Zegras — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey — Sean Couturier — Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Carl Grundstrom — Rodrigo Abols — Nikita Grebenkin
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Rasmus Ristolainen
Dan Vladar
(Sam Ersson)
Evander Kane — Marco Rossi — Brock Boeser
Jake DeBrusk — David Kampf — Conor Garland
Kiefer Sherwood — Aatu Raty — Drew O’Connor
Liam Ohgren — Max Sasson — Linus Karlsson
Marcus Pettersson — Filip Hronek
Zeev Buium — Tyler Myers
Elias Pettersson — Tom Willander
Thatcher Demko
(Kevin Lankinen)
Storylines to watch
Denver Barkey’s big follow-up
It’s typically the highly rated and star prospects that make a massive impact in their NHL debut, but on Saturday afternoon it was Denver Barkey, the 5-foot-9 winger who was playing junior hockey just several months ago, who truly shone at Madison Square Garden. He had his patented ultra-high work rate on full display and because of making some high-pace plays, got awarded two assists for his efforts.
Now, with expectations a little bit higher than just seeing what the young winger can do, it’s going to be really interesting to see just how he handles it and what he’s able to do against a not-so-good Canucks team.
Returning faces to the lineup
Some good news! Christian Dvorak and Dan Vladar are back and healthy enough to be in the lineup after missing the Flyers’ trip up to the Big Apple. It means that Trevor Zegras is back to the wing but thankfully the Flyers get their best goaltending option against a netminder who could really show out in Thatcher Demko.
True opportunity to deliver a strong blow to Vancouver
The Canucks are truly one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL this season. Top five in terms of expected goals against and unblocked shot attempt rate, just to really show how porous they have been on the ice under head coach Adam Foote. It doesn’t help that they have now lost Quinn Hughes and their top center Elias Pettersson (even if he hasn’t been up to his previous potential).
Because of this, the Flyers really have a big opportunity to get some offensive juices flowing. To take advantage of a team who truly does not know how to handle playing in their own zone — and the team just needing to figure out Demko behind them — could be a chance for some players like Matvei Michkov or others in a current slump to put some points on the board.
And of course because we’re typing this out, it will be a 1-0 shootout win for one of the teams and we will all be begging for the game to end so we can spend our Monday nights doing something else.