5 THINGS: Flyers @ Predators

Concluding a three-game road trip, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (3-1-0) are in Music City on Saturday night to take on John Hynes' Nashville Predators (2-3-1). Game time at Bridgestone Arena is 8:00 p.m. EDT.

GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP+. The radio broadcast is in 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on
Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of two meetings this season between the interconference clubs. The Flyers and Predators will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 11.
Here are five things to watch in Saturday's game.
1. Can the Flyers score first?
Over the first four games of the season, the Flyers have shown that they are a more resilient and feistier club than they were during the disastrous 2021-22 season. The club has trailed first in every game played so far -- including 2-0 deficits in each of the last three games -- but has come away with three wins.
Even in Wednesday's 4-3 road loss to the Florida Panthers, the Flyers erased a 2-0 deficit and had a breakaway opportunity (by Morgan Frost) immediately after Florida restored a lead at 3-2 but were unable to pull off yet another comeback.Florida subsequently built a 4-2 lead before Travis Konecny scored at 6-on-5 in the final three seconds to reduce the final margin of defeat to one goal.
Tortorella's team will play hard until the final buzzer. That shows character. However, playing comeback hockey every night is not sustainable for long. Nor is it sustainable to expect a team's goaltenders to continue to stop 94 percent of the shots they face.
To come home from the road trip with four of a possible six points, the Flyers would be well-advised to find a way to play from ahead and to avoid coughing up the high volume of odd-man rushes the Flyers faced in the Florida game. Overall, the Flyers have shown improved defensive zone structure in the first week-plus of the season but they were plagued by opposing transition plays the last game and that's something that needs to be fixed immediately.
2. Power play streak.
The Flyers have started the season 4-for-16 (25 percent) on the power play, with two goals from James van Riemsdyk and one apiece for Travis Konecny and Tony DeAngelo. Philly has scored a power play goal in each of the first four games this season.
Nashville, meanwhile, is off to a slow start on the man advantage. Through six games, the team is just 1-for-26 overall and 0-for-14 on home ice. The Flyers will try to extend these early trends for another game.
3. Sedlak's Flyers debut.
The Flyers claimed veteran Czech checking forward Lukas Sedlak off waivers on Wednesday from the Colorado Avalanche. Tortorella previously coached Sedlak in Columbus and deployed the versatile player primarily as a fourth-line center and penalty killer. For a time, he played on a line with Flyers alumni Scott Hartnell and
Sam Gagner.
Sedlak has been a productive offensive player at other levels, including the KHL in Russia. In the NHL, however, he has almost exclusively been a defensive-oriented player and PKer. He has some physicality to his game, grinds for pucks in the trenches and generally plays a responsible, heavy game.
Based on the Flyers practice combinations on Friday, Jackson Cates could move from fourth line center to right wing and Tanner Laczynski might exit the lineup as a healthy scratch. Subject to change, the Flyers lineup could be as follows:
86 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 57 Wade Allison
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 17 Zack MacEwen
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 23 Lukas Sedlak - 59 Jackson Cates
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
24 Nick Seeler - 54 Egor Zamula
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
Scratches: 58 Tanner Laczynski, 37 Louie Belpedio
PP1: DeAngelo - Farabee- Hayes- Konecny -JVR
PP2: Provorov - N. Cates - Frost - Allison - Laughton
4. Weekend goalie plan.
Carter Hart started each of the Flyers' first three games and played very well overall in each game. He was especially strong in a 37-save outing against the three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
With the Flyers playing three games in four nights between Sunday and Wednesday, Hart was rested in the final game in favor of backup netminder Felix Sandström. In a losing cause, Sandström kept his team in the game and was generally strong in net.
The Flyers had back-to-back ilde nights on the schedule on Thursday (full off-day) and Friday (practice session in Sunrise, FL, followed by a flight to Nashville). Hart will get the start against the Predators. Tortorella and goaltender coach Kim Dillabaugh have not net decided on which goalie will start on Sunday when the Flyers return home to host the San Jose Sharks.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Nashville Predators
As the Flyers did in 2019-20, the Predators opened their 2022-23 regular season in Europe as a participant in the NHL's Global Series. It was a fruitful trip to Prague for the Preds, who defeated San Jose in back-to-back games by scores of 4-1 and 3-2.
Although the Predators had four days off to recuperate from the transatlantic flight home, the team has not regained its on-ice equilibrium since returning to the United States. The Preds were swept by the Dallas Stars in a home-and home set, 4-1 in Nashville and 5-1 in Dallas. The losses were followed up this week by a 4-3 home shootout loss to the LA Kings and a 5-3 road loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
In back-to-back games, Nashville held two-goal leads that they were unable to protect. They came away with just one of four possible points. Against Columbus, the Predators were outshot after the first period by a 32-17 margin.
On a brighter note for Nashville, the team's "Herd Line" (consisting of power forward Tanner Jeannot, center Colton Sissons and Russian winger Yakov Trenin) combined for six points against the Blue Jackets. Goalie Kevin Lankinen made 37 saves in a losing cause.
Nino Niederreiter has opened the season with four goals and five points through six games while Ryan Johansen has a pair of goals and four points. Filip Forsberg has started out with a pair of goals and three points but it's been something of an overall slow start for him. Norris Trophy caliber defenseman Roman Josi has just one assist and is a traditional minus-four through the first half-dozen games.
Rugged defenseman Mark Borowiecki missed two games to illness. He returned to the lineup on Thursday against Columbus, replacing Jeremy Lauzon in the lineup. Additionally, on Thursday, Zach Sanford (averaging a mere 8:54 of ice time per game) was a healthy scratch in favor of Kiefer Sherwood (a scratch in the previous two games).
On Saturday, Predators general manager David Poile will reach the 3,000-game mark as an NHL general manager. He's the only executive in NHL history to attain that milestone. The 72-year-old Poile is the only GM the Predators have had in their history. He's the son of the late Hockey Hall of Fame general manager Bud Poile, who served as the inaugural GM for the first two seasons of the Flyers' existence in 1967-68 and 1968-69. As a youngster, David was employed by the Flyers as a locker room attendant during their first-ever training camp (held in Quebec City).
Potential lineup (subject to change):
22 Nino Niederreiter - 92 Ryan Johansen - 28 Eeli Tolvanen
9 Filip Forsberg - 64 Mikael Granlund - 95 Matt Duchene
13 Yakov Trenin - 10 Colton Sissons - 84 Tanner Jeannot
38 Cole Smith - 8 Cody Glass - 12 Zach Sanford or 44 Kiefer Sherwood
59 Roman Josi - 57 Dante Fabbro
27 Ryan McDonagh - 14 Mattias Ekholm
3 Jeremy Lauzon or 90 Mark Borowiecki - 45 Alexandre Carrier
74 Juuse Saros
32 Kevin Lankinen