The Philadelphia Flyers (22-17-8) attempt to get out of the trenches and snap their current six-game losing streak. It won’t be a simple task as the Pacific Division leader in the Vegas Golden Knights (24-11-12) awaits the Flyers at T-Mobile Arena Monday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:00 pm ET.
These last six games have been pretty unbearable to watch with Philadelphia playing horrific hockey. The defensive turnovers and miscues in the neutral zone have sent the opposition the other way to capitalize. The Flyers’ special team units are manufacturing little to none in production on both sides of the ice too. Philadelphia’s power play is 4-for-41 of late and ranks dead last in the NHL at 14.9%. Then there’s the Flyers’ penalty kill unit that allowed eight goals on their previous 17 attempts. Nothing seems to be going right for the Orange and Black.
“Really frustrated. We’ve kind of just been shooting ourselves in the foot, making silly mistakes, and its correctable stuff. It’s stuff that we haven’t done all year up to this point, so obviously it’s really frustrating,” Cam York said.
To add more salt to the wound, the Flyers are still trying to find a goalie to take initiative while Dan Vladař recovers from an injury. Philadelphia enters being outscored 31-12 across this losing skid and allowed five or more goals in the past five games. Sam Ersson’s .840 SV% since December 7 makes sense why he has one win during this disastrous stretch. Aleksei Kolosov got his opportunity only to let three goals in on three shots against the New York Rangers Saturday afternoon. Kolosov became the fourth Flyers goalie in franchise history to not record a single save in a contest for a .000 SV%.
Neither of Philadelphia’s netminders are displaying the confidence to tend the crease. It’s not the most reassuring aspect considering the Flyers’ start a three-game road trip with teams sitting in the top 15 in scoring. Vegas is Philadelphia’s first challenge as they are fifth in goals scored per game (3.38) and fourth best in converting on the man advantage at 27.1%.
Ersson will be the one in net trying to stop the juggernauts in which the Golden Knights are. Vegas secured two points in their last seven outings and averaged five tallies across that win streak. The Golden Knights improved their squad by acquiring Rasmus Andersson on Sunday from the Calgary Flames. Andersson has 30 points in 48 games from the blue line. He won’t play tonight and neither will defenseman Zach Whitecloud, who was the main return piece to Calgary in the trade.
Both organizations are in the process of the injury bug running through their roster. Vegas put Brandon Saad and former Flyer Carter Hart on IR. Outside of Vladař being placed on IR, the Flyers lost Rodrigo Ābols who suffered a lower-body injury in the outing against the Rangers. Rasmus Ristolainen landed on IR too with an upper-body injury. The Flyers recalled Lane Pederson and Hunter McDonald. Pederson could slide into that fourth line center role tonight. He has 11 points in 71 career NHL performances and leads Philadelphia’s AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, in each offensive category this season. McDonald is a big and physical defenseman listed at 6-foot-4 and 235lbs. He was selected in the sixth round of the 2022 draft.
Bobby Brink was activated off IR and is hopeful to return to the lineup for Philadelphia after missing the previous six games with an upper-body injury.
Philadelphia’s Injury Report:
- Tyson Foerster (arm)
- Rodrigo Abols (lower-body)
- Rasmus Ristolainen (upper-body)
- Dan Vladař (undisclosed)
Vegas’ Injury Report:
- Alex Pietrangelo (hip)
- William Karlsson (lower-body)
- Brayden McNabb (upper-body)
- Carter Hart (lower-body)
- Brandon Saad (undisclosed)
- Colton Sissons (upper-body)
- Brett Howden (lower-body)
Philadelphia’s Player to Watch: Denver Barkey
There seems to be a rejuvenated spirit that Barkey is playing with since returning to the lineup after being benched. In his two games back to action, Barkey picked up three helpers and is a +2 despite the Flyers’ current rut. There’s growing chemistry between Barkey and Matvei Michkov too.
“I thought him and Mich had a little fun playing together. There was a little bit of pep in their step. For them it’s being close together. There’s a little chemistry finding each other,” Rick Tocchet said.
Vegas’ Player to Watch: Mark Stone
Stone is on a heater right now. The 14-year veteran landed himself on the scoresheet in 11 straight games where he accumulated 10 goals and 18 points over his recent success. Stone and Jack Eichel are a deadly duo on the Golden Knights’ top line which combined for four points including the overtime winner when Vegas came to Philadelphia back in December.
Philadelphia’s Projected Lineup:
#46 Trevor Zegras – #22 Christian Dvorak – #11 Travis Konecny
#52 Denver Barkey – #14 Sean Couturier – #74 Owen Tippett
#39 Matvei Michkov – #27 Noah Cates – #10 Bobby Brink*
#91 Carl Grundström – #25 Lane Pederson – #19 Garnet Hathaway
#8 Cam York – #6 Travis Sanheim
#24 Nick Seeler – #9 Jamie Drysdale
#36 Emil Andrae – #47 Noah Juulsen
#33 Sam Ersson
(#35 Aleksei Kolosov)
Vegas’ Projected Lineup:
#49 Ivan Barbashev – #9 Jack Eichel – #61 Mark Stone
#16 Pavel Dorofeyev – #93 Mitch Marner – #19 Reilly Smith
#55 Keegan Kolesar – #48 Tomas Hertl – #42 Braeden Bowman
#23 Cole Reinhardt – #28 Tanner Laczynski – #26 Alexander Holtz
#5 Jeremy Lauzon – #27 Shea Theodore
#15 Noah Hanifin – #6 Kaedan Korczak
#17 Ben Hutton – #88 Jaycob Megna
#33 Adin Hill
(#40 Akira Schmid)
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