Flyers battle Capitals in must-win game to close out regular season

After 81 grueling, intense, and heart-racing hockey games, the 2023-24 season for the Philadelphia Flyers all comes down to tonight.

The Flyers enter Game 82 with the slimmest of playoff hopes in a year that was advertised as the beginning of a rebuild. A win in regulation against the Washington Capitals means their postseason hopes live for another day. Any other outcome means they will be mathematically eliminated from contention.

Philadelphia has won two in a row against the Rangers and Devils after enduring an eight-game losing streak at the most inopportune time. Tonight’s game will have the feel of a playoff contest with what’s at stake for both teams. After a huge victory against New Jersey on Saturday with a raucous Wells Fargo Center bringing the house down, the Flyers will hope to have that home ice advantage again in their biggest game of the season.

The Flyers won the first game of the season series in Philadelphia on December 14th, 4-3 in a shootout. The Capitals later responded with a 5-2 victory in Washington on March 1st to even things up.

Philadelphia has won their last two matchups at home against the Capitals and have also won three of the last four meetings at Wells Fargo Center. That alone should hopefully spell confidence and help everyone breathe a small sigh of relief.

But no matter what happens tonight, however, this season should be labeled a success.

Sure, the Flyers have essentially blown an almost surefire spot in the playoffs over the last three weeks, but did anyone realistically expect these late season games to have this much meaning?

This was a team picked by almost everyone to serve as a basement dweller with the likes of Chicago and San Jose. On paper, the team didn’t seem that impressive. But they’ve defied all the odds to even have the smallest of chances to make it back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

John Tortorella has helped establish a no-nonsense culture that preaches accountability and hard work. Daniel Brière has perhaps faced more adversity than any general manager in the league and has done a fantastic job positioning this club for long-term success so far. The players on this team have given everything they’ve had to make this last stretch of games exciting.

Travis Konecny has become the first Flyer to record back-to-back 30+ goal seasons since Sean Couturier in 2019. Couturier himself came back from numerous back problems after missing almost two full seasons and was named as the team’s 20th captain and as a nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee, and Tyson Foerster all eclipsed the 20-goal mark and took huge strides in their game. Morgan Frost elevated himself into a stronger all-around player and took his playmaking abilities to a higher level. Travis Sanheim and Cam York both set new career-highs in points and proved to be a reliable, minute-munching pairing in all situations. Samuel Ersson was thrown into the fire of the starter’s role and performed admirably, winning the most games by a Flyers rookie goaltender in 18 years.

This team battled adversity all season long and gave Flyers fans a lot to look forward to. Regardless of the result tonight, this season featured a lot of positives and hopefully set a successful tone for what lies ahead in the future.

PHI Record: 38-32-11, 87 pts, 6th in Metropolitan

WSH Record: 39-31-11, 89 pts, 4th in Metropolitan

When: 7:00pm ET

Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA

Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, 97.5 The Fanatic

Last Game PHI: 4/13/24, 1-0 W vs. New Jersey

Last Game WSH: 4/15/24, 2-0 W vs. Boston

PHI Goalie: Samuel Ersson (23-18-7, .890 SV%, 2.86 GAA, 4 SO)

WSH Goalie: Charlie Lindgren (24-16-7, .910 SV%, 2.71 GAA, 6 SO)

PHI Projected Lineup

#71 Tyson Foerster – #25 Ryan Poehling – #11 Travis Konecny

#74 Owen Tippett – #48 Morgan Frost – #10 Bobby Brink

#27 Noah Cates – #14 Sean Couturier – #19 Garnet Hathaway

#86 Joel Farabee – #21 Scott Laughton – #89 Cam Atkinson

#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim

#24 Nick Seeler – #9 Jamie Drysdale

#5 Egor Zamula – #77 Erik Johnson

#33 Samuel Ersson

#82 Ivan Fedotov

Scratches: #15 Denis Gurianov, #18 Marc Staal, #23 Ronnie Attard, #44 Nicolas Deslauriers, #50 Adam Ginning, #62 Olle Lycksell

Injuries: #55 Rasmus Ristolainen

WSH Projected Lineup

#8 Alex Ovechkin – #24 Connor McMichael – #77 T.J. Oshie

#21 Aliaksei Protas – #17 Dylan Strome – #43 Tom Wilson

#67 Max Pacioretty – #29 Hendrix Lapierre – #15 Sonny Milano

#47 Beck Malenstyn – #26 Nic Dowd – #96 Nicolas Aubé-Kubel

#42 Martin Fehérváry – #74 John Carlson

#27 Alexander Alexeyev – #52 Dylan McIlrath

#57 Trevor van Riemsdyk – #2 Vincent Iorio

#79 Charlie Lindgren

#35 Darcy Kuemper

Scratches: #23 Michael Sgarbossa, #46 Lucas Johansen, #63 Ivan Miroshnichenko

Injuries: #3 Nick Jensen, #38 Rasmus Sandin

News and Notes

– The Flyers are 124-87-19-11 all-time against Washington since the Capitals joined the league in 1974. The Flyers are also 73-41-6-3 at home all-time against the Capitals and 34-19-2-3 against them at Wells Fargo Center since the building opened in 1996.

– Sean Couturier leads all active Flyers in goals (13), assists (19), and points (35) against the Capitals. Cam Atkinson and Scott Laughton also share the team lead in goals against Washington.

– If the Flyers win tonight’s game in regulation, they will stay alive and Washington will be eliminated from playoff contention. If the Capitals earn a point of any kind, the Flyers will be eliminated. However, if the Red Wings also earn a point of any kind in their game against the Canadiens tonight or the Penguins earn a point of any kind against the Islanders tomorrow, the Flyers will also be eliminated regardless of the result in this game.

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