The Columbus Blue Jackets will make the trip to Philadelphia for the second time this season and look to end a seven-game losing streak. The Philadelphia Flyers know a little something about losing streaks and will aim to extend the Blue Jackets’ streak to eight games, with tonight’s game being the first half of a home-and-home series. Jake Voracek, who leads the Blue Jackets in assists with 46, returns tonight for the second time to his former home, while Cam Atkinson will have to wait until Thursday for his tribute.
Having already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, the Flyers’ young-guns are being given the chance to prove themselves for the rest of the year. Guys like Noah Cates, Cam York, Ronnie Attard, and Hayden Hodgson have earned bigger roles on the team and look to continue to improve their game at the NHL level. The duo of Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett has been developing chemistry so far together. Frost’s confidence continues to grow and Tippett’s scoring opportunities seem to be happening left and right. Scott Laughton participated in morning skate today and will make his return tonight for the first time since March 10th against Florida.
This may not be a barnburner matchup, but hey it’s hockey! Let’s take a look at the matchup.
PHI Record: 22-36-11, 55 pts, 7th in Metropolitan
CBJ Record: 32-32-6, 70 pts, 6th in Metropolitan
When: 7:00PM ET
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA
PHI Goalie: Carter Hart (13-22-7, 3.11 GAA, .907 SV%, 1 SO)
CBJ Goalie: Elvis Merzlikins (22-18-6, 3.40 GAA, .903 SV%, 2 SO)
PHI Projected Lineup
#86 Joel Farabee – #48 Morgan Frost – #89 Cam Atkinson
#25 James van Riemsdyk – #13 Kevin Hayes – #74 Owen Tippett
#49 Noah Cates – #21 Scott Laughton – #11 Travis Konecny
#23 Oskar Lindblom – #44 Nate Thompson – #38 Patrick Brown
#9 Ivan Provorov – #45 Cam York
#6 Travis Sanheim – #70 Rasmus Ristolainen
#3 Keith Yandle – #47 Ronnie Attard
#79 Carter Hart
#35 Martin Jones
CBJ Projected Lineup
#93 Jake Voracek – #96 Jack Roslovic – #29 Patrik Laine
#14 Gustav Nyquist – #34 Cole Sillinger – #52 Emil Bemstrom
#17 Justin Danforth – #7 Sean Kuraly – #28 Oliver Bjorkstrand
#50 Eric Robinson – #23 Brendan Gaunce – #55 Carson Meyer
#8 Zach Werenski – #2 Andrew Peeke
#44 Vladislav Gavrikov – #22 Jake Bean
#32 Jake Christiansen – #27 Adam Boqvist
#90 Elvis Merzlikins
#30 Jean-Francois Berube
Last Game PHI: 4-3 SOW at NY Rangers (4/3/22)
Last Game CBJ: 3-2 OTL vs Boston (4/4/22)
News and Notes
- Don’t expect an electrifying performance on the powerplay tonight. The Flyers hold the league’s worst powerplay with a measly 13.1% conversion rate. The Blue Jackets aren’t much better in 25th place and a 17.9% conversion rate.
- The Flyers have an all-time record of 17-22-3 against the Blue Jackets despite outscoring them 118-116 in those matchups. At home, the Flyers are 12-9-1 against the Blue Jackets.
- There have been 10 trades between the Flyers and Blue Jackets, with the first trade taking place on June 23, 2002 and the most recent being July 24, 2021. Some notable names included in trades between the Flyers and Blue Jackets are; Jeff Carter, Sergei Bobrovsky, Scott Hartnell, Steve Mason, Jake Voracek, Cam Atkinson, R.J. Umberger, Tom Sestito, and more.
Broadcast Info: NBC Sports Philadelphia+, ESPN+, 93.3 WMMR
Injuries:
PHI – Ryan Ellis (lower-body), Sean Couturier (back), Zack MacEwen (head), Nick Seeler (lower-body)
CBJ – Boone Jenner (back), Alexandre Texier (finger), Daniil Tarasov (hip), Joonas Korpisalo (hip), Nathan Gerbe (hip), Yegor Chinakhov (upper-body)
