John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (11-15-7) are in Ontario on Thursday to take on Sheldon Keefe's Toronto Maple Leafs (20-7-6). Game time at Scotiabank Arena is 2:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
The Flyers are coming off a 5-3 home win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday evening. Travis Konecny (shorthanded and five-on-five) and Owen Tippett (five-on-five and empty net) scored two goals apiece while Morgan Frost (5-on-5) tallied once. Carter Hart turned back 30 of 33 shots to earn the win in goal.
Thursday's game is the front end of a back-to-back set and the second game of a three-in-four. On Friday, the Flyers will be in Raleigh to take on the Carolina Hurricanes.
Here are five things to watch in this game.
1. Finding varied scoring sources.
Of late, the Flyers' hottest offensive line has been the trio of James van Riemsdyk, Frost and Tippett, while Konecny leads the team with 14 goals among his 28 points. Kevin Hayes tops the team in overall scoring with 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) but has not been at his best of late. In order to compete in this game with Toronto's powerhouse offense, the Flyers will need to get positive contributions offensively from all of the aforementioned players as well as Joel Farabee. Philly could also use some offensive productivity in this game from defensemen Travis Sanheim. Tony DeAngelo, Cam York and Ivan Provorov. The Flyers enter this game averaging a modest 2.5 goals per game for the season.
Toronto has averaged 3.2 goals per game. The usual sources top the list: Auston Matthews has 38 points (17g, 21a) in 33 games, followed by Mitchell Marner with 38 points (12g, 26a), William Nylander with 36 points (19g, 17a) and John Tavares with 30 points (14g, 16a). They are followed by Michael Bunting (8g, 15a, 23 points) and defenseman Morgan Rielly (0g, 16a in 20 games).
2. Overcoming 5-on-5 disadvantage.
The Flyers enter this game in the red in five-on-five scoring differential. Philly has scored 54 goals at 5-on-5 manpower but they've allowed 64 to date. By comparison, the Leafs are one of the NHL's most potent teams at 5-on-5, scoring 70 goals and allowing just 47.
The Flyers are at an on-paper disadvantage in terms of most of the likely line matchups in the game. Toronto is likely to have a territorial advantage and an edge both in shot quantity and high-danger scoring opportunities. Philly will likely need to limit rebound opportunities, block a high number of shot attempts, receive very strong goaltending and be opportunistic on their own scoring chances.
In terms of special teams play, the Flyers rank 29th on the power play (15.3 percent) and 23rd on the penalty kill (75.5 percent). Toronto ranks 12th on the power play (23.8 percent overall, 30.0 percent at home) and 15th on the penalty kill (79.8 percent).
3. Between the pipes.
Carter Hart played one of the best games of his career in his 48-save performance against the New Jersey Devils. He wasn't bad but was also not spectacular in the loss to the New York Rangers this past Saturday. He got five goals of support in the win against Columbus and came up big a few times to erase breakdowns in front of him, For the season, Hart has posted a 10-9-6 record, 2.82 goals against average and .912 save percentage.
Backup goalie Felix Sandström (1-6-1, 3.37 GAA, .888 SV%) is under the weather and did not make the trip to Toronto. The Flyers have recalled prospect Samuel Ersson from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
For Toronto, both Ilya Samsonov (9-3-0, 1.98 GAA, .925 SV%, two shutouts) and Matt Murray (8-2-2, 2.34 GAA, .925 save percentage, one shutout) have appeared in 12 games apiece this season.
4. Flyers line play.
The Flyers held practice on Wednesday at the FTC in Voorhees. Based on Tuesday's starting line combinations, in which veteran defenseman Nick Seeler was scratched for the first time this season, the lines in Toronto (subject to change) could be:
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 17 Zack MacEwen
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 57 Wade Allison
9 Ivan Provorov - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
45 Cam York - 24 Nick Seeler or 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Toronto Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs have gone 3-2-0 over their last five games and 7-2-1 over their last 10. When scoring first this season, Toronto has posted a 13-3-3 record. When yielding the game's first goal, the Leafs are 7-4-3.
Toronto enters this game coming off a 4-1 home win against three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning. The Leafs held the Bolts to a mere 19 shots on goal for the game, of which Murray stopped 18. Nylander (1g, 1a), Bunting, and Matthews (PPG) scored for Toronto.
Rielly remains on IR with a knee injury. Veteran defenseman Jake Muzzin is also on IR.
Based on last game and subject to change, the Maple Leafs' lineup against the Flyers could look like this:
58 Michael Bunting - 34 Auston Matthews - 88 William Nylander
19 Calle Järnkrok - 91 John Tavares - 16 Mitchell Marner
15 Alexander Kerfoot - 64 David Kampf - 47 Pierre Engvall
12 Zach Aston - 29 Pontus Holmberg - 28 Joey Anderson
78 T.J. Brodie - 3 Justin Holl
38 Rasmus Sandin -37 Timothy Liljegren
55 Mark Giordano - 25 Conor Timmins
30 Matt Murray
35 Ilya Samsonov
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2022-12-22 14:35:40Z
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