The Philadelphia Flyers are hosting the New York Islanders…at 12:30 p.m.??? Instead of finishing up a nice weekend brunch or going for an afternoon walk, or even being able to just think about nothing at all, the Flyers are playing a game way earlier than ever expected. A professional hockey game just an hour away from being in the morning.
Puck drop: 12:30 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- Porter Martone is running college hockey (for a freshman). The 19-year-old winger is bullying people while scoring seven points in his first five games of NCAA hockey. He had a great performance last night for Michigan State. [BSH]
- Matvei Michkov is slowly looking like himself. He may not have earned any points but his performance in Ottawa shows signs of what is to come. [BSH]
- With Rasmus Ristolainen most likely out until December, the second pairing of Jamie Drysdale and Nick Seeler is going to be leaned on heavily for everything. And so far, they’re excelling. [BSH]
Pregame watching
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Travis Konecny — Sean Couturier — Owen Tippett
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Trevor Zegras — Christian Dvorak — Matvei Michkov
Nikita Grebenkin — Rodrigo Abols — Garnet Hathaway
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Adam Ginning — Noah Juulsen
Sam Ersson
(Dan Vladar)
New York Islanders
Jonathan Drouin — Bo Horvat — Emil Heineman
Anthony Duclair — Mat Barzal — Kyle Palmieri
Anders Lee – Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Simon Holmstrom
Kyle MacLean — Casey Cizikas — Maxim Tsyplakov
Adam Pelech — Ryan Pulock
Matthew Schaefer — Scott Mayfield
Marshall Warren — Tony DeAngelo
Ilya Sorokin
(David Rittich)
Storylines to watch
Matvei Michkov due for something
There has to be a Matvei Michkov Performance coming soon, right? As we mentioned earlier, there were signs of life in Ottawa — he was getting scoring chances, had a breakaway that just rung off the post, and was much more active in the offensive zone than we’ve seen. Could this matinee matchup against the Islanders be used as a jumping off point to start a hot streak?
At this point, we might not even be asking for goals and assists, but just for him to look dominant and look in control of the offense. His partnership with Trevor Zegras continues to blossom and they continue to get unique looks off one another that no other players on this team could. Maybe it all pops off and we can feel good heading into next week.
Sam Ersson getting back in the crease
If you just look at the number of appearances in a vacuum, everyone would assume that Dan Vladar is the Flyers starting goaltender. Coming into this season, it was not expected to happen this fast. Vladar has just looked and played like the improvement he was supposed to be when Philadelphia signed him to a two-year contract last summer. He’s been more than stable — basically one of the best netminders in the entire NHL this season so far.
Unfortunately, this hot start has left Sam Ersson out in the cold. In his two starts this season, the 25-year-old Swede has a .849 save percentage and a 3.88 goals against average. That’s not good. He has visually looked better than his numbers, but at some point you just have to put a clear line in the sand for the roles. If Ersson stands on his head this afternoon, maybe he gets some more starts in the future but if he puts up a disappointing result yet again, then he really will be in a traditional backup role until that changes.
Matthew Schaefer, oh boy
If you have not watched Matthew Schaefer yet, this will be a treat. Yes, the Islanders suck. We hate them. Everything about them. But if we just don’t think about this player wearing that jersey, Schaefer is mind-bending on the blue line. He skates like Quinn Hughes but with more straight-ahead speed, but then also is way more aggressive offensively than any rookie blueliner ought to be.
And keep in mind, this dude just turned 18 years old last month. He was a couple weeks away from not even being drafted yet and projected at the top of this year’s draft class and lacing up for the OHL’s Erie Otters for another season. And now he’s had two goals and seven points in his first seven NHL games. It’s nuts. He just had his first game where he wasn’t able to earn a point on Thursday night against the Red Wings. Can the Flyers make that two in a row? Can they make him chill out?