Flyers return to the Metro for final matchup against Capitals

1 week ago  /  Broad Street Hockey  /  Read Time: 3 minutes 22 seconds

The Game: 7:00 PM ET, NBCSP, ESPN+, 97.5 The Fanatic



We’re back folks! That little extra day break between games sure was nice, and we’re definitely not going to be thinking about how we’re going to pay for it on the weekend. Anyway!



After a trip down to Tampa for a rematch with the Lightning, the Flyers are back closer to home again, and back in the Metro, as they hit DC for their final matchup against the Washington Capitals of the season. And things, truthfully, could not be more different for these two teams. The Flyers are on a two-game losing streak, and losing steam while the notable fellow cellar dwellers of both the division and league seem to be building it — that is, the Flyers are now pretty comfortably in the last position in the Metro, and have officially fallen into the fifth from the bottom spot in the league standings. And this is all good news for those of us excited about draft positioning, but it’s clear that this lack of success is beginning to really wear down the team. Things are starting to feel a bit desperate around here.



And on the flip side, the Capitals have well and truly run away with the East — 12 points up on the second place Hurricanes — and are battling with the Jets for the top of the whole of the league standings, as they both have 98 points, but the Capitals still have a game in hand. They’re the top-scoring offense in the league, and their +72 goal differential is a hugely stark contrast to the Flyers’ -42. Which is all to say… buckle in, gang, this one might get ugly.



Storylines to Watch



Some scoring? Any scoring?



It’s been just about a week since the Flyers have scored a goal. This was back in their huge shootout win over the Lightning back on home ice, where they put three goals up on them in regulation before netting the final one in the shootout, marking a notable step forward in their overall play. Since then, though they’ve been shut out by the Hurricanes to close out their homestand, and then again by the Lightning in the rematch on their turf. Optimism had been building there, but things are starting to look a little more bleak around here, as the full reality of the Flyers’ situation is beginning to sink in.



All of this said, though, it doesn’t mean that things will or have to stay this bleak forever. The Flyers worked to get closer to finding their game before, and they can get themselves back on track here again, and the first step towards that will be finding a way to get some of their forwards going on offense again. The Capitals defense isn’t going to make that easy for them, but the hope is that they can break through at least once, and avoid letting the shutout streak stretch to three games (again).



What’s up with Pelletier?



Or, perhaps the better question here is what are the Flyers doing will Pelletier? Despite coming in after the trade with some real offensive potential, he’s still laboring on the Flyers’ fourth line, in limited minutes and with checking linemates, as the coaching staff struggles to figure out what exactly they should do with him. It feels like they’re waiting for him to really pop on that fourth line before giving him a look with anyone else up in the lineup, but that’s been a hard bar to clear. We’ll see how things go for him tonight, but it feels like something has to give with him eventually — if they want to see what he is as a player, they’ll have to switch up his role at some point.



Record watch



Heading into tonight’s matchup, Alex Ovechkin is just eight goals shy of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s scoring record. With the pace he was on just a few short weeks ago, it looked like we might be legitimately in danger of seeing him be able to break the record against the Flyers — a cool thing for him, but certainly no team wants to be the one of the other side of that historical milestone — but it looks like that danger has passed. That said, Ovechkin did score one on the Flyers last time out, and he’ll certainly be looking to at least get a little closer to that record against this struggling Flyers team. Containing Ovechkin will come as a familiar, but still unique, challenge this evening.



The Lineups



Philadelphia Flyers



Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Travis KonecnyOwen Tippett — Sean Couturier — Matvei MichkovOlle Lycksell — Ryan Poehling — Bobby BrinkNic Deslauriers — Rodrigo Abols — Jakob Pelletier



Cam York — Travis SanheimNick Seeler — Jamie DrysdaleEmil Andrae — Egor Zamula



Sam Ersson(Ivan Fedotov)



Washington Capitals



Alex Ovechkin — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Aliaksei ProtasConnor McMichael — Dylan Strome — Tom WilsonAndrew Mangiapane — Lars Eller — Taylor RaddyshBrandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Anthony Beauvillier



Rasmus Sandin — John CarlsonJakob Chychrun — Trevor van RiemsdykMartin Fehervary — Matt Roy



Charlie Lindgren(Logan Thompson)...

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