The Philadelphia Flyers’ Bag Era continues with 7 out of 8 points. The Flyers should have 8 out of 8 points, but a late tying goal by Laurent Dauphin and the Flyers’ inability to score on a power play in overtime led to the loss of the extra point via the skills competition.
The Flyers would not have had any points versus Montreal if not for the goaltending of Carter Hart. He has played exactly like the goalie the Flyers have lacked for so long. Max Willman and Jackson Cates cannot be the Flyers’ best players, and the players that are getting significant money like Kevin Hayes, Sean Couturier, and Travis Konecny need to contribute offensively.
The Senators player to watch for is Drake Batherson. He is Ottawa’s leading scorer with 28 points in 22 games after signing an extension worth almost $30 million for six years, which is looking like one of the best values among non-Entry Level Contracts. Batherson is one of the more underrated and unheralded young forwards in the league.
Thomas Chabot is another player the Flyers will have to shut down. Chabot is one of the leaders in ice time in the NHL with over 27 minutes played per game. If the Flyers can shut down the top line of Brady Tkachuk, Josh Norris, and Batherson, they should win the game. Ottawa’s top line combines for 35 of Ottawa’s 75 total goals, which is over 46% of their goal scoring numbers. No other Senators player has more than 5 goals on the year.
The Flyers have slightly turned the season around and have even climbed into sixth place in the Metropolitan Division. After falling to the Canadiens in a shootout loss, the Flyers face a must-win against the Senators. The Flyers have two very big divisional games against Washington and Pittsburgh before the Christmas break followed by a four game West Coast road trip. The next seven-game stretch of the season should be very telling of what the Flyers will do at the deadline and beyond.
PHI Record: 11-12-5, 27 POINTS
OTT Record: 9-17-1, 19 POINTS
When: 7:00PM ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
PHI Goalie: Martin Jones
OTT Goalie: Anton Forsberg
PHI Projected Lineup:
Joel Farabee – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom – Claude Giroux – Cam Atkinson
Scott Laughton – Kevin Hayes – James van Riemsdyk
Jackson Cates – Patrick Brown – Zack MacEwen
Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun
Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Keith Yandle – Kevin Connauton
Martin Jones
Felix Sandstrom
OTT Projected Lineup:
Brady Tkachuk – Josh Norris – Drake Batherson
Alex Formenton – Tim Stutzle – Connor Brown
Zach Sanford – Chris Tierney – Tyler Ennis
Nick Paul – Dylan Gambrell – Austin Watson
Thomas Chabot – Artem Zub
Nick Holden – Victor Mete
Dillon Heatherington – Jacob Bernard-Docker
Anton Forsberg
Filip Gustavsson
PHI Last Game: 3-2 SO LOSS at Montreal
OTT Last Game: 2-1 LOSS vs Tampa Bay
News and Notes:
- Claude Giroux still sits at 882 points. He now remains one point away from tying Bill Barber for second in Flyers all-time scoring. He is also one assist away from 600 in his career. It would be timely to pass Barber against Ottawa, close to where Giroux grew up.
- Congrats to Jackson Cates for playing and scoring in his first NHL game. Hopefully he continues to add to the score sheet.
- Travis Konecny is one goal away from his 100th goal in the NHL. Konecny has not scored a goal in 14 games. Hopefully he gets off the schneid against Ottawa.
- Yandle Watch Continues: Keith Yandle will skate in his 1,061st career NHL game tonight, and he’ll add on to his ironman streak at 950 games, which is just 14 games shy of Doug Jarvis’ record 964.
- Tonight’s matchup is the 100th all-time meeting between Ottawa and Philadelphia since the Senators franchise came back to play in 1992. Philadelphia owns a 49-34-8-8 edge in the all-time series.
Broadcast Info: TV – NBC Sports Philadelphia, ESPN+, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
PHI Injuries: Derick Brassard (hip), Ryan Ellis (lower-body), Nate Thompson (shoulder), Max Willman (COVID protocol), Morgan Frost (COVID protocol), Carter Hart (undetermined illness)
OTT Injuries: Colin White (shoulder), Shane Pinto (upper-body), Erik Brannstrom (hand), Josh Brown (upper-body), Nikita Zaitsev (foot)
