Flyers host dangerous Senators in middle of downfall

4 weeks ago  /  Broad Street Hockey  /  Read Time: 5 minutes 18 seconds

The Game: 7:00 PM | NBC Sports Philadelphia | 97.5 The Fanatic



The Philadelphia Flyers are quickly losing their grip on any semblance of what can be considered a competitive hockey season. Before and after the trade deadline that sent out multiple roster players, resulting in much more youth getting relied on for big minutes, the Flyers have not been playing good ice hockey.



Philadelphia is now on a four-game losing streak and in the last three games, they have managed to score just one goal. Even zooming out the lens a little bit further, in their last 13 games (since Jan. 29) the Flyers have a record of 4-8-1 — playing some miserable hockey that has led to the goaltending collapsing even further and all the scoring drying up.



And now, they have to host a red-hot Ottawa Senators team tonight. A Senators group that pulled off a fairly savvy move by adding Dylan Cozens at the trade deadline — who is much more dynamic of a player and fits their overall style more than Josh Norris, who they sent to Buffalo in return — and are seemingly clicking. Ottawa did suffer a five-game losing stretch that could have ended their season as they push into the playoffs, but have now quietly gone 3-0-1 since that stumble — and to be fair, that losing streak did feature games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and Winnipeg Jets.



This appears to really be the first major competitive Senators team since they have pooled all of these young players together. Forming what could be a look-out playoff team in a couple months. They might not be able to compete with the very top of the top, but they sure do seem annoying to play against. The Flyers will certainly experience that tonight.



Storylines to watch



Claude Giroux’s homecoming (for the final time?)



Every time Claude Giroux steps a foot in the Wells Fargo Center wearing the other team’s colors will be weird. Tonight, he will be doing it for the last time this season as a member of the Senators and it might an extra special time and while it probably won’t be, there is a slim chance that it could be Giroux’s final game playing hockey in Philadelphia.



There has been zero noise about this whatsoever, but Giroux is a pending unrestricted free agent and this summer will hit the open market. He is still a productive player at the age of 37, is fifth on the Sens with 39 points in 62 games, but you have to wonder whether or not he will sign another NHL contract. Giroux is most certainly staying in Ottawa no matter what — everything he does and says screams quality of life and family over pursuing the Stanley Cup — so the logical thing to do would be to see if he would sign a one-year deal from the Senators’ point of view. But, it’s not impossible that he would just be done if Ottawa doesn’t really hit his financial ask.



Maybe we’re out to lunch here and he would certainly formally announce something before possibly playing in the city that drafted and developed him into the best player this city has known, but it is the final time he will be doing that before a summer of uncertainty.



Are you there, Travis Konecny?



Maybe it is just the haze of misery over this entire team right now, but specifically when it comes to Travis Konecny and his scoring, there is a severe lack of it coming from the Flyers’ top player. In the eight games since he has returned from the 4 Nations tournament, Konecny has scored zero goals and earned three assists while averaging just over 20 minutes a game and has a rating of minus-6 (if you like that statistic). To go even further down the depression hole, the 28-year-old (it’s his birthday today, happy birthday Travis, sorry for writing this!), just one of those points has come not on the power play.



Simply put, the title of No. 1 offensive option for this team is slowly getting taken off of Konecny’s waist and is heading towards Matvei Michkov. A reality that we did not see coming as early as this season but is becoming more and more evident.



Now, Konecny’s lineup situation is not great. With the trio of Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink cemented, and Owen Tippett, Sean Couturier, and Michkov finding a real rhythm together, Konecny is left with the scraps of this offense. Since the deadline, he has been with Ryan Poehling and Olle Lycksell. They have not looked terrible together, but Konecny certainly has to be the motor and potential finisher on that line as the other two buzz around the ice just trying to do something.



It isn’t the best environment to score a whole lot of points but it is just what it is and you have to think that John Tortorella will not be taking him out of that scenario until he shows something more. An endless loop, most likely.



What the blue line is going to look like



Emil Andrae was called up. Cam York was then a healthy scratch. Cam York got back into the lineup on Sunday. Emil Andrae was a healthy scratch. Trust us when we say that there is a world where a blue line can exist with both of those players, and Jamie Drysdale, on it at the same time.



We don’t know what the configuration of this lineup will look like until morning skate, but with neither game going swimmingly when just one of those young defensemen were on it, we don’t know what Tortorella will go with against the Senators.



Andrae is going to be staying up here for the remainder of the regular season and most likely will be featured heavily next season. There has to be some conclusion that should be figured out before then as to what this blue line looks like with the talent that is available. It’s not like Egor Zamula is too good to sit, either.



Can Sam Ersson bounce back?



Sam Ersson played so bad over the weekend that people who previously believed in his potential as, at the very least, someone who can start over 40 games in an NHL season reliably well, are doubting his chances at being anything close to that. His questioners are now calling him a backup at best and his doubters want him out of this league.



It is these stretches of play from the Swedish netminder that make you question everything before it. Heading into the 4 Nations, since New Year’s Day, Ersson earned a .912 save percentage and a 7-4-1 record in 12 games. That is more than enough to be a good NHL starter. If the Flyers had that level of goaltending through the season, we would be talking about what a first-round playoff matchup would be.



But since he represented Sweden in the mid-season tournament, in six games he has earned an .847 save percentage with a 2-2-1 record. Not good! Not anywhere close to what he should be doing to earn a stable starting role. Results can certainly be volatile for a 25-year-old goaltender in the NHL, but this feels like a different level of back and forth we have been seeing from Ersson. And with a stretch of him having to face teams like the Senators, Hurricanes, Lightning, and Capitals, is it going to even close to getting better?



Projected lineups



Philadelphia Flyers



Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby BrinkOwen Tippett – Ryan Poehling – Travis KonecnyOlle Lycksell – Sean Couturier – Matvei MichkovNic Deslauriers – Rodrigo Abols – Jakob Pelletier



Cam York – Travis SanheimEmil Andrae – Rasmus RistolainenNick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale



Ivan Fedotov(Sam Ersson)



Ottawa Senators



Brady Tkachuk — Tim Stutzle — Claude GirouxDavid Perron — Dylan Cozens — Drake BathersonRidly Greig — Shane Pinto — Michael AmadioFabian Zetterlund — Adam Gaudette — Matthew Highmore



Jake Sanderson — Artem ZubThomas Chabot — Nick JensenTyler Kleven — Nikolas Matinpalo



Linus Ullmark(Anton Forsberg)...

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