Playing Game 75 of the regular season, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (36-28-10) are home on Saturday to take on Luke Richardson's Chicago Blackhawks (21-47-5). Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24.7.
This is the second of two meetings this season between the interconference clubs. In Chicago on February 21, the Flyers skated to a 3-1 win. Travis Sanheim, Travis Konecny and Garnet Hathaway scored for the Flyers, while Samuel Ersson stopped 21 of 22 shots.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 4-1 loss in Montreal on Thursday. At home this season, the Flyers are 19-15-3. The Blackhawks won back-to-back games before getting shut out, 2-0, in Ottawa on Thursday. Chicago is 6-29-1 on the road this season, compared to 15-18-4 at home.
Here are five things to watch on Saturday:
1. Turning Pressure into Performance
The same scenario the Flyers took into Montreal carries over into this game: The Flyers, clinging onto third place in the Metropolitan Division by a single point over the Washington Capitals, are facing an opponent that has no pressure on them. It's a very different challenge from playing an opponent that is fighting for playoff positioning.
In Montreal, the Flyers came out of the gates with an excellent first shift and carried it through to an early power play. The power play turned out to be a momentum killer and the Flyers struggled from that point until the latter end of the second period. Trailing 2-0, the Flyers applied heavy pressure in the third period. Set back by two disallowed goals (kicked-in puck and a half-stride offside), the comeback bid fell short.
The last time the Flyers played the Blackhawks, Philly had some sloppy portions of the game but found a way to win. Saturday's game needn't be artistic. But it's another one where the Flyers absolutely need to get two points at the end of the night.
In that same game in Chicago, Scott Laughton, Joel Farabee, Cates and Ryan Poehling chipped in one assist apiece for the Flyers. The Flyers were credited with 21 blocked shots overall.
In addition to scoring Philly's third goal, a two-hit shift by Hathaway in the first period of the Chicago game was a momentum shifter for the Flyers. The Flyers need plays such as those on Saturday night to create energy and emotion in a positive direction.
2. Goalie Matchup
Friday was an interesting and downright dramatic day at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees: the long-awaiting NHL arrival and formal introduction of goaltender Ivan Fedotov. After a press conference, the gargantuan (6-foot-7) Russian netminder practiced on the ice with some of his new teammates as projected scratches for Saturday's game put in some reps of their own. Fedotov sported all-new equipment in his first training session as a Flyer.
It would be a surprise for the 27-year-old Fedotov to immediately jump into game action. Flyers general manager Danny Briere made clear during the press conference that Samuel Ersson is still the No. 1 goalie on the depth chart.
Additionally, Fedotov will need some time to get situated in his temporary living quarters, break in his new gear, etc. Above all, it's a tall request to ask the player to jump right into a stretch drive start without a little more preparation time. With Fedotov being added to the active roster, Felix Sandström was loaned to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the rest of the season.
Ersson played fine in the Montreal game. He was not to blame for either Habs goal. That said, he had room to be a little cleaner on some initial saves. March has been an inconsistent month for the club as a whole and for its primary goaltender individually (4-4-3 record, 3.34 GAA, .875 save percentage).
3. Flyers Blueline in Flux
The Flyers defense corps was hit with major attrition over the past month. For much of season, either in traditional 12F/6D or 11F/7D arrangements, the top four were basically set: Travis Sanheim paired with Cam York, and Nick Seeler paired with Sean Walker.
Since that time, the Flyers lost Seeler to a shot-blocking related injury suffered on March 4. He has yet to return but is very close to doing so. Seeler took part in Friday's optional practice. Walker was traded to the Colorado Avalanche on March 6.
The remainder of the blueline depended on who was healthy and/or performing well at a given time. For example. in his first full NHL season, Egor Zamula (61 games played, 20 points) had stretches as a lineup semi-regular starter and stretches as a healthy scratch. This month, he's generally played anywhere from 16 to 22 minutes of ice time depending on the game.
Rasmus Ristolainen's season got off to a late start due to injury (Nov. 25 was his first game of 2023-24). He was a regular starter for a 31-game stretch until he was sidelined again by injury. The rugged Finnish defenseman last played on February 10. He has recently done some rehab skating. However, Briere stated this week that the prognosis is TBD for a return this season.
Acquired by the Flyers from Anaheim on January 8 in the deal that sent Cutter Gauthier's NHL rights to the Ducks, Jamie Drysdale showed flashes of high-level offensive ability in 17 games with Philly. On Feb. 25 in Pittsburgh, Drysdale sustained an upper-body injury. He is currently rehab skating and taking practice reps on a daily basis (including Friday). The Flyers are hoping for an April return.
On March 8, the Flyers acquired 36-year-old veteran defenseman Erik Johnson from the Buffalo Sabres. The right-handed shooting blueliner has dressed in 10 games to date for Philadelphia. Meanwhile, 37-year-old veteran defenseman Marc Staal has dressed in 33 of the 74 games the Flyers have played to date this season.
Due to all of the injuries and moving parts on defense, 24-year-old Ronnie Attard has played 11 games in March since being recalled from Lehigh Valley. Thus far, 24-year-old Adam Ginning has dressed in seven games.
4. Flyers Special Teams vs. Chicago Special Teams
We are very much at the point of the season where full-season numbers on special teams take on less immediate importance than recent trends.That's because each individual game takes on heightened meaning.
Lately, the Flyers have been mired in their first penalty killing slump of the season. As such, right now, it's more important that the Flyers rank 31st in the NHL on the PK over the last 11 games (64.3 percent, with opposing power plays going 10-for-28) than Philly being ranked third overall (83.8 percent) for the season.
Put bluntly, the Flyers need to get the penalty kill back on track immediately if they are to find a way to hold onto automatic playoff position in the Metro.
Meanwhile, the Flyers' power play has been inconsistent this month from game to game and man advantage to man advantage.
Statistically, it looks OK very recently (3-for-15, 20 percent over the last four games) but the actual performance has remained erratic. For a while this month, the first power play unit seemed to be clicking and the second unit struggled. Lately, there's been a reversal of fortunates. Personnel deployment has been juggled again of late.
For March overall, the power play ranks 26th at 14.0 percent (6-for-43). For the season, the Flyers rank 32nd at 13.2 percent.
Overall, this season, the Blackhawks rank tied with Buffalo for 27th leaguewide on the power play (16.1 percent). The Chicago PK ranks 21st at 77.1 percent. The Chicago power play has been hot this month, however, clocking in at 27.3 percent (8th leaguewide) for the month of March. The PK in March has been fairly consistent with the full-season performance (77.4 percent).
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Chicago Blackhawks
Saturday's game will mark the first trip to Philadelphia in ballyhooed rookie Connor Bedard's NHL career. The Calder Trophy candidate leads the Blackhawks in scoring with 56 points (21 goals, 35 assists) in 59 games. The last time the Blackhawks played the Flyers, Bedard's line often went head-to-head with the Flyers' top line, getting outchanced by an 8-3 margin but creating three high-end scoring chances.
Bedard is followed on the Chicago leaderboard by Philipp Kurashev (16 goals, 47 points), veteran forward Nick Foligno (16 goals, 35 points), Jason Dickinson (20 goals, 33 points, dressed in all 73 games to date), defenseman Seth Jones (seven goals, 28 points) and veteran Tyler Johnson (16 goals, 28 points).
Taylor Raddysh, who was a regular linemate of Morgan Frost with the OHLs Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in 2017-18, has five goals and 28 points this season for the Blackhawks.
In goal, veteran Petr Mrazek has played in 51 games this season, posting a 17-27-4 record, 3.05 GAA, ,905 save percentage and one shutout. Arvid Söderblom, who was in net for Chicago the last time they played the Flyers, is 4-20-1 with a 3.98 GAA and .876 save percentage.
