5 THINGS: Flyers @ Avalanche

In the third game of a five-game road trip, interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (21-32-11) are in Denver on Friday to take on Jared Bednar's Colorado Avalanche (45-14-5). Game time at Bell Arena is 9:00 p.m. EDT (NBCSP, 93.3 WMMR).

This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams and the lone game in Denver. Back on Dec. 6 --- the first game of Yeo's coaching tenure -- the Avalanche prevailed in a high-scoring game, 7-5, at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 5-2 road victory against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday evening. Two goals by Travis Konency, a goal and an assist by Hayden Hodgson in his NHL debut and tallies by Patrick Brown and Joel Farabee (empty net) led the way offensively. Martin Jones made 26 saves to earn the win in goal.
The Avalanche, who are a stellar 25-4-3 on home ice this season, sustained a rare loss on Bell Center ice on Wednesday as they were upset, 3-1, by the Vancouver Canucks. The game was scoreless for 41-plus minutes before goals by Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller built a 2-0 lead for the visiting team. A power play goal by Nazem Kadri (24th) got the Avalanche back to within 2-1 with 13:45 remaining in regulation. However, the Avs could not find an equalizing goal and a Bo Horvat empty netter in the game's final 18 seconds sealed the outcome.
Here are five things to watch in this game:
1. Short Shifts Are Essential.
Even under ideal circumstances, the powerhouse Avalanche present a very daunting challenge to any opponent. Being as clean as possible in puck management, playing as cohesive five-man units, staying out of the penalty box and receiving top-notch goaltending are musts if a team is to have a realistic chance of defeating Colorado.
Now add in these factors: The Flyers are playing for the third time (across three different time zones) in four nights and the second half of a back-to-back. The Avalanche have had no travel this week and a night off between each game. Secondly, dealing with the altitude factor of playing in the Mile High City is a very real challenge for opponents who are not used to managing around that particular factor.
For the Flyers to find a way to claim a win, it's an absolute must for the team to roll lines on short shifts and avoid getting worn down. This comes down to both execution and discipline. As attested by the Avalanche's stellar home record, few opponents have successfully conquered all of the inherent challenges in terms of both process and results. The Flyers really have their work cut out for them.
2. Giving Hart a Chance to Make Saves.
Tuesday's game in Detroit, a 6-3 loss that featured two late empty-netters by Detroit, was a microcosm of many games that Carter Hart has lost this season. Among the four goals he yielded, at least three -- and arguably all four -- were ones that the netminder had little realistic chance of stopping.
Hart's .910 save percentage in and of itself is neither terrible nor remarkable. However, the team play in front of the goalie over the entirety of the season has arguably dragged down his save percentage by about 0.1 to 0.15 and would translate to about a .920 or .925 save percentage -- i.e., well above-average play -- with better team play in front of him.
The Avalanche are the NHL's second highest-scoring team at an average 3.78 goals per game, trailing only the Florida Panthers (4.06 GPG). Colorado is also in the top one-third of the NHL in terms of all-situations shot attempt differentials (53.17 percent team Corsi, ranked 6th) and shot quality differential (52.92 percent expected goals share).
As such there will be immense pressure on Hart to make sure that nothing leaky or off-angle gets past him in Friday's game. Beyond that, however, the Flyers are going to have to overcome a likely negative disparity in puck possession and shot quality by either matching or exceeding their level of execution in defeating St. Louis on merit on Thursday night.
3. Behind the Numbers
The Flyers won Thursday's game in St. Louis based on winning the 5-on-5 battle in the game. The Blues were the better club on special teams -- which was one area where the actual game play lined up with the on-paper matchup. The Flyers bottom-ranked power play generated occasional decent puck movement but few high-grade chances and no goals. The 26th-ranked PK was fortunate to give up only one St. Louis PPG to survive a later kill that was quite dicey.
Colorado brings its own high-octane power play into this game, checking in at 24.7 percent success (ranked 5th). The PK is in the middle of the pack (ranked 17th at 78.7 percent). Considering that the Avalanche are plus-37 as a team at 5-on-5 (147 GF - 110 GA), the Flyers can ill-afford to do any worse than breaking even on special teams.
When it comes to chasing the game against Colorado, it's almost always a bad harbinger to play from behind at all. The Avs boast a 32-2-4 record when scoring first, 27-1-0 record when leading at the first intermission and 31-1-2 when taking a lead into the third period. The Avalanche have entered the third period tied in 13 games and won eight of them (8-4-1), which is solid but not spectacular.

4. Behind Enemy Lines: Colorado Avalanche
Even with team captain Gabriel Landeskog (30g, 50 ponts) sidelined with a knee injury, the Avalanche have a daunting lineup in terms of both star power and depth. To start with, few opponents can cope with the speed and puck skill of either Nathan MacKinnon (69 points in just 49 games), dynamic offensive defenseman Cale Makar (71 points, +38) or big-framed Finnish sniper Mikko Rantanen (31g, 75 points). Secondly, the one-two punch down the middle of MacKinnon and Colorado leading scorer Nazem Kadri (76 points) is extremely formidable.
In terms of depth, the Avalanche have eight players (excluding Landeskog) who have bagged at least a dozen goals this season. The team also boasts six players (also excluding Landeskog) who have tallied 40 or more points.
In goal, veteran Darcy Kuemper has held up his share of the bargain (30-9-2 record, 2.39 GAA, .923 save percentage, five shutouts) as has backup Pavel Francouz (11-3-1 record, 2.50 GAA, .919 SV%, two shutouts).
5. Players to Watch: Konecny and MacKinnon
As noted in Thursday's Five Things prior to the game against the Blues, Flyers right winger Travis Konecny has found an offensive groove since the All-Star break. The only thing he wasn't doing much was scoring goals but he was racking up assists at a high rate. On Thursday, Konecny broke through for a pair of goals. He now has 17 points (4g,13a) in the 19 games the Flyers have played the All-Star break.
MacKinnon is one of the NHL's most consistent producers when healthy. Over the last five games, he's posted nine points (3g, 6a). The No. 1 beneficiary of MacKinnon's setups, unsurprisingly, has been linemate Rantanen. Rantanen has notched four goals in the last five games.