5 THINGS: Flyers @ Oilers

Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (2-1-1) kick off a three-games-in-four-nights road trip through western Canada on Wednesday when they play Dave Tippett's undefeated Edmonton Oilers (5-0-0). Game time at Rogers arena is 10:00 p.m. ET (TNT, 97.5 The Fanatic).

The Flyers opened the regular season with a four-game homestand. Entering the third period of the final game against the Florida Panthers, the score was tied at 2-2. Unfortunately, the Flyers gave up a shorthanded goal and a late empty-netter to fall, 4-2. The Oilers have not played since last Friday, when they concluded a three-in-four gauntlet with a 5-3 road win over the Vegas Golden Knights.
Here are five storylines to track during the game.
1. Coping without Ellis
For the second straight game, the Flyers will be without the services of top-pairing defenseman Ryan Ellis, who remains day-to-day with an unspecified nagging injury. Ellis practiced with the team on Monday in Voorhees but was not on the ice in Edmonton the next day. Vigneault said he could not pinpoint how many more games Ellis will be out of the lineup but does not expect it to be anything long-term.
Without Ellis (1g, 3a, 24:09 TOI in the first three games of the season), the Flyers once again will feature Justin Braun on right defense paired with Ivan Provorov. The second-pairing duo of Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen, which has had some ups and downs in the last two games, will apparently remain together at least to start the game. The other pairing will once again have Keith Yandle along with Nick Seeler.
Up front, the Flyers also figure to start Wednesday's game with the same line combinations that started Saturday's game against the Panthers. Patrick Brown is expected to meet up with the team during the road trip and will make his Flyers debut after his arrival. Brown practiced with the team last Friday and on Monday prior to the rest of the club leaving for Canada. While the rest of the team had an off-day on Sunday, Brown skated on his own at the Flyers Training Center. The American citizen is now far enough removed from his bout with COVID-19 to be permitted to travel to Canada.
Projected Flyers lineup:
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 19 Derick Brassard - 89 Cam Atkinson
23 Oskar Lindblom - 21 Scott Laughton - 25 James van Riemsdyk
62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel - 44 Nate Thompson - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 70 Rasmus Ristolainen
3 Keith Yandle - 24 Nick Seeler
79 Carter Hart
[35 Martin Jones]
2. Stay out of the box.
The Flyers took only one minor penalty last Wednesday against the Boston Bruins. Keeping off the ice Boston's deadly power play, which tortured the Flyers last season and the 2021 preseason, was one of the factors that helped Philly capture a 6-3 win over the Bruins. On Saturday against Florida, it was the opposite story. Philadelphia's penalty kill stepped up to kill six of seven penalties and even got a spectacular shorthanded breakaway goal from Cam Atkinson. Nevertheless, Philadelphia simply spent too much of the game killing penalties and it took them out of their preferred line rotation as well as affecting their offensive rhythm. A mid third-period roughing minor to Nate Thompson was killed off but also cost Philly two precious minutes off the clock while trailing by a goal.
Playing against Edmonton, who have clicked on eight of their first 17 power plays this season to sit atop the NHL with an unsustainable but eye-popping 47.1 percent success rate, Philadelphia can ill-afford to play with fire by taking undisciplined penalties. So far, the Flyers are 13-for-16 (81.3 percent) on the penalty kill. In the meantime, Flyers power play has been quite efficient on some opportunities and badly out-of-sync on others -- with very little in between -- in going 4-for-11 (36.4 percent) through the first four games. Edmonton's PK clocks in at 15-for-17 (88.2 percent) to start the season.
Turning around the team's 5-on-5 goal differential ratio was one of the Flyers' main goals heading into this season. So far so good in that regard: the team has scored 13 goals with both teams at full strength and yielded seven through four games. The Oilers have basically broken even (11 GF, 10 GA) through their first five games, and their unbeaten record has been largely driven by special teams dominance.
3. Starter Hart.
Hailing from the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park, Alberta, Carter Hart will make his second career NHL start in his hometown area. The first one, early in the 2019-20 season, was not what he'd have scripted for himself if he could. The young Flyers goalie never looked comfortable in net on that night. He lasted the first 34:32 of the game, yielding four goals on 14 shots before he was pulled in favor of now-former teammate Brian Elliott (6 saves on 8 shots). It was an odd game in general that night. The Flyers dominated 30 of the first 32 mins but it produced only a 2-1 deficit and Philly subsequently got buried under a deluge of Oilers goals in a 6-3 loss.
That game was two-plus calendar years ago (Oct. 17, 2019) but seems longer with all that's changed both on and ice in the NHL over that time period. From a hockey standpoint, Hart's frequent brilliance during his second NHL season was replaced by severe struggles in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. So far this season, minus one period across his three starts to date, Hart has looked to back atop his game again and feeling confident.
4. Behind Enemy Lines: Edmonton Oilers.
There's no secret as to Edmonton's strategy to beat teams: overwhelm opponents with their dynamic duo of Connor McDavid (who has already racked up six goals and 13 points in the first five games) and Leon Draisaitl (four goals, 11 points). The two average in the neighborhood of 22 minutes of ice time per game. The Oilers rely heavily on their speed in transition, the creativity of their best players and their ability to convert power play chances into goals.
After some early struggles in his NHL career, winger Jesse Puljujärvi (two goals, eight points) seems to have hit his stride. The Oilers rely on former 1st overall draftee Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for strong two-way play, and he's delivered just that so far this season including seven assists and an average 20:17 of ice time.Former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Zach Hyman has brought some grit and goal-scoring (five goals, six points) to the mix.
On the back end, shutdown defenseman Darnell Nurse pulls down a massive 27:37 of ice time per game and brings a punishing physical presence (32 credited hits) to the table. He's also posted four assists. Evan Bouchard has blocked 11 opposition shot attempts and chipped in three points to date along with 20:14 of ice time.
Opposing players need to have their head on a swivel when the agitating Zack Kassian is on the ice. He has 23 credited hits and 18 penalty minutes to date. During the preseason, while Flyers winger Zack MacEwen was still a member of the Vancouver Canucks, MacEwen dropped the gloves with his Edmonton counterpart. A scary moment ensued, when Kassian fell to the ice and hit his head. Instantly, MacEwen transformed from a fighting opponent to a concerned fellow player, urgently motioning to the bench for the trainers to come out to assist Kassian. Kassian has shown no ill-effects this season.
Projected Oilers lineup (based on Tuesday's practice per NHL.com/Oilers):
18 Zach Hyman - 97 Connor McDavid - 13 Jesse Puljujärvi
93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - 29 Leon Draisaitl - 56 Kailer Yamamoto
37 Warren Foegele - 10 Derek Ryan - 44 Zack Kassian
42 Brendan Perlini - 14 Devin Shore - 8 Kyle Turris
25 Darnell Nurse - 75 Evan Bouchard
2 Duncan Keith - 5 Cody Ceci
20 Slater Koekkoek - 22 Tyson Barrie
19 Mikko Koskinen
[74 Stuart Skinner]
5. Players to watch: Couturier and McDavid.
With the last line change, it will be interesting to see if Tippett is fine with going head-to-head with McDavid's line playing against former Selke Trophy winner Sean Couturier's line with Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny or if the Oilers coach tries to get McDavid out against the Derick Brassard or Scott Laughton lines. For the Flyers, Couturier's start to the season has been fine from a statistical standpoint offensively (five points) but he's not truly on top of his game yet. A big night for Couturier and company against the Oilers would go a long way toward the Flyers being the first team this season to defeat the Oilers.
Keeping the McDavid and Draisaitl lines from running wild offensively is a tall order, however, and no opponent yet has managed to do it sufficiently. The absence of Ellis' two-way abilities on the blueline makes that task that much tougher for Philadelphia.