A New Era of Orange will finally commence tonight, as the Philadelphia Flyers visit Nationwide Arena for an opening night matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Flyers are coming off a dismal 2022-23 campaign that saw them finish with a 31-38-13 record and 75 points, bad enough for 26th in the NHL, 14th in the Eastern Conference, and 7th in the Metropolitan Division. General Manager and President of Hockey Operations Chuck Fletcher was fired on March 10th, and Daniel Briere and Keith Jones have taken over those duties in the front office, respectively, while John Tortorella enters his second season behind the bench for Philadelphia.
After a very busy and important offseason in which the Flyers traded away Ivan Provorov and Kevin Hayes, bought out Tony DeAngelo, and drafted Matvei Michkov – among other events – Philadelphia enters a major turning point in their franchise history beginning tonight.
Tonight will be a game filled with plenty of new faces, veterans returning from injury, youngsters looking to prove themselves, and players from last year’s squad looking to take another step forward.
One player to watch out for tonight is Travis Konecny. The Flyers forward led the team in scoring last season (61 points in 60 games) and has racked up 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points in 22 career games against Columbus. Konecny is riding a 5-game point streak against the Blue Jackets in which he has recorded 4 goals and 3 assists for 7 points.
A divisional rivalry on opening night with a familiar face on the other side, while the Flyers are looking to prove the doubters wrong and take the first step forward in rebuilding themselves into a contender. It doesn’t get any better than this to begin the 2023-24 season.
Welcome to the New Era of Orange.
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia, 97.5 The Fanatic
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (2022-23: 22-23-10, .907 SV%, 2.94 GAA, 2 SO w/Philadelphia)
CBJ Goalie: Elvis Merzļikins (2022-23: 7-18-2, .876 SV%, 4.23 GAA, 0 SO w/Columbus)
PHI Projected Lineup
#86 Joel Farabee – #14 Sean Couturier – #10 Bobby Brink
#74 Owen Tippett – #48 Morgan Frost – #89 Cam Atkinson
#21 Scott Laughton – #27 Noah Cates – #11 Travis Konecny
#44 Nicolas Deslauriers – #25 Ryan Poehling – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#18 Marc Staal – #26 Sean Walker
#5 Egor Zamula – #24 Nick Seeler
#79 Carter Hart
#33 Samuel Ersson
Scratches: #32 Felix Sandström, #36 Emil Andrae, #71 Tyson Foerster
Injuries: #55 Rasmus Ristolainen
CBJ Projected Lineup
#4 Cole Sillinger – #29 Patrik Laine – #13 Johnny Gaudreau
#42 Alexandre Texier – #38 Boone Jenner – #52 Emil Bemström
#86 Kirill Marchenko – #11 Adam Fantilli – #17 Justin Danforth
#50 Eric Robinson – #7 Sean Kuraly – #96 Jack Roslovic
#8 Zach Werenski – #2 Andrew Peeke
#9 Ivan Provorov – #78 Damon Severson
#22 Jake Bean – #44 Erik Gudbranson
#90 Elvis Merzļikins
#30 Spencer Martin
Scratches: #19 Liam Foudy, #27 Adam Boqvist, #91 Kent Johnson
Injuries: #24 Mathieu Olivier, #40 Daniil Tarasov, #59 Yegor Chinakhov, #69 Jordan Dumais
News and Notes
– The Flyers are 6-7-2-8 all-time at Nationwide Arena, and 19-16-3-9 overall against the Blue Jackets.
– Philadelphia went 2-1-1 against Columbus last season, including a 4-3 overtime victory at Wells Fargo Center to close the season out on April 11th.
– Rasmus Ristolainen will not play tonight, as he is still dealing with an undisclosed injury that landed him on injured reserve to begin the season.
– Carter Hart will start in goal after previously feeling ill during the week.
– A victory tonight would move Hart into a tie for 8th in Flyers history with Pete Peeters (85).
– Tonight is Ivan Provorov’s first time playing against the Flyers in his NHL career. “Overall the last three years the way the team played over there, it’s not really my game,” said Provorov on Thursday. “It was a lot of rimming, throwing the puck away. For a player, I consider myself, I can make plays and contribute and play with the puck, that was only felt like it was making my game worse. To be on a team that can make plays and is allowed to make plays, it’s been really refreshing and I can actually play my game.”
2024 Stadium Series Trip
Flyers Nation and Philly Sports Trips have teamed up to bring you on an amazing bus trip to the 2024 NHL Stadium Series between the Flyers and Devils. Place an early deposit to reserve your spot at the ultimate tailgate experience at MetLife Stadium before the game. The package includes a game ticket, round-trip charter bus, an all-inclusive tailgate party with unlimited cold beverages, “Philly Style” catered food, live entertainment, and more.
