And just like that, the Flyers’ brief road trip is already coming to a close. After a tough outing last night in Buffalo, the Flyers are heading into Pittsburgh hoping against all hope that they can find a way to turn a corner and stop their losing streak from stretching to five games. Desperation is mounting, and the Flyers need now more than ever to find a way to get things breaking their way again.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: ESPN
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- The Flyers have been dropping some pretty major matchups lately, and the struggles on the penalty kill have been a key reason why. [BSH]
- We don’t want to get too fatalistic and say that the Flyers are definitely staring down a 10-game losing streak, but things are ugly and could keep getting uglier. [BSH]
- Much has been made of Matvei Michkov’s down season, but now we’re wondering, is the system to blame? [BSH]
Pregame watching
By the numbers
Philadelphia Flyers – 22-15-8 (5th in Metro)
Goals: Trevor Zegras (18)
Assists: Travis Konecny (25)
Points: Trevor Zegras (42)
Pittsburgh Penguins – 21-14-10 (4th in Atlantic)
Goals: Sidney Crosby (24)
Assists: Erik Karlsson (29)
Points: Sidney Crosby (49)
Projected lineups
Trevor Zegras — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Matvei Michkov — Sean Couturier — Carl Grundstrom
Denver Barkey — Noah Cates — Owen Tippett
Nikita Grebenkin — Rodrigo Abols — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Cam York
Emil Andrae — Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler — Noah Juulsen
Sam Ersson
(Aleksei Kolosov)
Rickard Rakell — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust
Egor Chinakhov — Tommy Novak — Evgeni Malkin
Anthony Mantha — Ben Kindel — Justin Brazeau
Connor Dewar — Blake Lizotte — Noel Acciari
Brett Kulak — Kris Letang
Ryan Shea — Connor Clifton
Parker Wotherspoon — Jack St. Ivany
Stuart Skinner
(Arturs Silovs)
Storylines to watch
Stopping the bleeding [the redux]
With last night’s loss to the Sabres, the Flyers have now seen their losing streak extended to four games. It’s the longest streak of the season for them, but what was even more discouraging in that loss is that there wasn’t really any sign of their overall process turning a corner. The Flyers are dropping quickly down the standings, and if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive, they need to find a way to make sure that this losing streak doesn’t go on for much longer. Maybe tonight won’t see them fully turning things around and pulling off that much-needed win (though wouldn’t that be nice?), but what we need to see above all is some bit of movement in the right direction.
Granted, we said all of this yesterday and then we didn’t see the Flyers making those positive strides to right the ship in last night’s game, but maybe tonight? Maybe for real this time?
Goaltending goes sideways
On the whole, though, things really went from bad to worse for the Flyers last night, as they not only stumbled into yet another loss, but in that also lost their starting goaltender in Dan Vladar to what appeared to be a lower-body injury in the first period. He’s still being evaluated, so there are no concrete updates on his status beyond the fact that he won’t be available tonight in Pittsburgh, so Aleksei Kolosov has been called up.
The word is that, even though he played the final two periods in Buffalo last night, Sam Ersson will get the start in this one. And, along with that, it’s safe to say that this start would be a weighty one for him — Ersson’s play of late has not been up to snuff, and his confidence has suffered as a result, but a strong showing tonight could go a long way in telling management that he’s not worth pulling the cord on just yet. We’ll see how he fares with this opportunity, as the stakes continue to rise.
Redemption on the penalty kill?
There is no shortage of things which are not going great for the Flyers at the moment, but towards the top of the list, as a piece which is most actively contributing to them losing games, is the struggles they’re facing on the penalty kill. Their effectiveness has rapidly dropped off over these last couple of weeks (they’re sitting at a meager 59.1 percent kill rate since December 31), and they’ve dropped to 19th in the overall league ranking. And with two more power play goals allowed last night, things aren’t getting any more stable for them, but they have to find a way to break out of this slump, and to do it fast.
