The Philadelphia Flyers are set to play their first road game in almost a month as they square off against the Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers. The Panthers are looking to sweep the season series against the Flyers this year after winning the first one in Philadelphia in October and the second one in Florida in November.
They sport one of the best dynamic duos in the league today in Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau. Sergei Bobrovsky has been playing lights out this year after a few rocky seasons as the Panthers sit first in their division, second in the Eastern Conference, and third in the NHL, while carrying a 4 game win-streak.
The Flyers are coming off a franchise-long 8 game home-stand where they secured 3 wins and finished it off in style with 2 consecutive victories. The FAB Line of Joel Farabee, Cam Atkinson, and Derick Brassard were the story in their victory on Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks, chipping in on 3 of the 4 goals scored. Carter Hart’s monstrous performance on Tuesday helped the Flyers stave off the Vegas Golden Knights after he stopped a career high 47 saves in their narrow 2-1 victory.
For obvious reasons, it’s going to be a very tough game tonight as the Panthers lead the league in goals per game and shots on goal, have the 4th-best shooting percentage, 12th-best power play, 13th-best penalty kill, and are 13th-best in goals allowed. Huberdeau leads the team with 60 assists and 78 points in 57 games, which is also good for 3rd in the league in points and first in the league in assists by a wide margin. Barkov has missed 13 games but he is first on the team in goals with 26 and second on the team in points with 57. Following him is Sam Reinhart with 54, Aaron Ekblad with 50, Anthony Duclair and Carter Verhaeghe with 44, rookie Anton Lundell with 38, and Sam Bennett with 36.
Meanwhile the Flyers sit eighth in their division, fourth-last in their conference, and sixth-last in the NHL all while sporting the third-worst goals per game output as well as the third-worst power play. They have allowed the seventh-most goals against and own a pedestrian 21st-best penalty kill. Cam Atkinson leads the team in both goals and points with 20 and 42 respectively with Claude Giroux trailing with 17 goals and 40 points in 3 less games. Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton have formed great chemistry in the last few weeks with the former 9 points in 14 games and the latter 5 in his last 5.
PHI Record: 18-28-10, 46 pts, 8th in Metropolitan
FLA Record: 39-13-5, 83 pts, 1st in Atlantic
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise, Florida
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (11-18-6, 2.88 GAA, .913 SV%, 1 SO)
FLA Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky (29-6-3, 2.55 GAA, .916 SV%, 2 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup:
#23 Oskar Lindblom – #21 Scott Laughton – #11 Travis Konecny
#28 Claude Giroux – #19 Derick Brassard – #89 Cam Atkinson
#86 Joel Farabee – #13 Kevin Hayes – #25 James van Riemsdyk
#20 Gerry Mayhew – #38 Patrick Brown – #17 Zack MacEwen
#9 Ivan Provorov – #61 Justin Braun
#6 Travis Sanheim – #70 Rasmus Ristolainen
#3 Keith Yandle – #45 Cam York
#79 Carter Hart
#35 Martin Jones
FLA Projected Lineup:
#23 Carter Verhaeghe – #16 Aleksander Barkov – #98 Maxim Mamin
#11 Jonathan Huberdeau – #9 Sam Bennett – #10 Anthony Duclair
#17 Mason Marchment – #27 Eetu Luostarinen – #13 Sam Reinhart
#77 Frank Vatrano – #55 Noel Acciari – #70 Patric Hornqvist
#52 MacKenzie Weegar – #5 Aaron Ekblad
#42 Gustav Forsling – #7 Radko Gudas
#40 Petteri Lindbohm – #62 Brandon Montour
#72 Sergei Bobrovsky
#35 Jonas Johansson
Last Game PHI: 3/8/22, 2-1 W vs VGK
Last Game FLA: 3/8/22, 4-3 W at PIT
News and Notes:
– This is the third and final meeting between the two teams this season. Philadelphia lost the first game 4-2 at the Wells Fargo Center back on October 23rd and then once more in Florida on the 24th of November by a score of 2-1 in overtime.
– This is the 104th all-time matchup between the Flyers and the Panthers, with the Flyers holding a 55-35-7-6 edge in the series.
– Carter Hart won his 60th career win as a Flyer last game, which tied him with Robert Esche for 15th all-time in franchise history in wins. With a win tonight, he will surpass him for the sole spot.
– Former Flyer Sergei Bobrovsky is 17-5-1 in 24 career starts with a 2.21 GAA and a .926 SV% alongside 2 SO.
– Carter Hart is 2-3-0 in 5 career games against the Panthers with a 2.69 GAA and a .916 SV%.
– The 2 cornerstones of the Panthers roster haven’t had the greatest success against the Flyers compared to other teams. Aleksander Barkov has 6 goals and 16 points in 20 games against the Flyers, while Jonathan Huberdeau has 11 goals and 17 points in 22 games.
– Rasmus Ristolainen signed a five-year extension worth $25.5 million earlier today, which will make him a Flyer until 2027.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, ESPN+, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
Injuries:
PHI: Ryan Ellis (lower-body), Nate Thompson (shoudler), Sean Couturier (back), Kevin Connauton (upper-body)
FLA: Joe Thornton (undisclosed), Markus Nutivaara (undisclosed), Anton Lundell (lower-body), Ryan Lomberg (undisclosed)
