Playing their third game in four nights, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (32-23-7) return to action on Monday evening to host Drew Bannister's St. Louis Blues (31-26-3). Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET.
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 and final meeting of the season between the interconference clubs, and the lone game in Philadelphia. On Jan. 15 at the Enterprise Center, the Flyers skated to a 4-2 victory. Owen Tippett put the Flyers ahead to stay with 5:33 left in regulation on a broken play where an attempted initial chip-in hit the linesman.
Scott Laughton, Ryan Poehling and Joel Farabee (empty net) also scored for the Flyers. Brayden Schenn had a goal and an assist in a losing cause, and Oskar Sundqvist tallied a power play goal. Joel Hofer stopped 38 of 41 shots he faced.
Both the Flyers and Blues have been inconsistent clubs of late. The Flyers, 5-4-1 over their last 10 games, enter this game coming off a 4-2 home win against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. The Blues, 4-5-1 in their last 10 matches, are coming off a 3-1 home win against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
With 20 games remaining in their regular season schedule, the Flyers (16-13-2 on home ice) are in third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers are five points plus a tiebreaker advantage (24 regulation wins to 18) ahead of the New York Islanders in the battle for an automatic playoff spot in the Metro. The fourth place team will have to battle clubs in both the Metro and the Atlantic Division to qualify for one of two wildcard slots.
The Blues, who are 13-15-2 on the road this season, face an uphill climb in the battle for a wildcard spot in the Western Conference. St. Louis is seven points behind both the LA Kings and Nashville Predators and also have deficits in the tiebreaking regulation wins category. The Blues' win over Minnesota snapped a three-game losing skid.
Here are five things to watch in Monday's game:
1. Which line(s) will step up?
At this time of year, the clubs that stake down playoff slots are the ones where different players and lines step up on different nights. With Flyers leading scorer and NHL All-star Game participant Travis Konecny having missed the last five games due to an upper-body injury and two starting defensemen (Jamie Drysdale and Rasmus Ristolainen) also dealing with respective upper-body injuries, the Flyers have had varied contributors.
Of late, Scott Laughton and Tyson Foerster have been the two hottest forwards from an offensive standpoint. Laughton has posted at least one point in eight of his last 10 games (4g, 7a, 11 points). On Saturday, Foerster delivered even strength and penalty shot goals in the final minute of the second period as a tie game rapidly turned into a two-goal Flyers lead.
Since returning from a lower-body injury, Foerster has racked up six goals in his last five games. Dating back to the team's final game before the All-Star break, Foerster has compiled nine goals and 10 points in his nine games.
Heading into Monday's game against the Blues, Morgan Frost has four assists in his last three games. Frequent linemate Tippett posted a goal and assist in Washington during the first period of last Friday's game.
2. Ersson the Expected Starter
Playing his first NHL game since the 2022-23 regular season finale in Chicago, Felix Sandström delivered a solid 24-save performance in Saturday's win against Ottawa. On Monday, it's likely that Samuel Ersson will return to the net for the Flyers.
Ersson (17-12-4, 2.62 GAA, .897 SV%, three shutouts) had a tough statistical night in Washington last Friday. He saw only 21 shots on goal, and stopped 16. None of the goals he allowed were "soft" per se, but Ersson was not particularly sharp on that night. Being a bit overcommitted to the other side on what turned into John Carlson’s game-winning wrap-around goal was a microcosm of how the game went.
Throughout his still-young NHL career to date, Ersson has typically bounced back from periodic off nights with a strong outing the next time he starts. If he gets the nod, it'll be Ersson's second career start against the Blues. Late last season, the Swedish netminder made 28 saves in a 4-2 road loss in St. Louis. The final Blues goal was an empty netter.
3. Scoring First Is Vital vs. Blues
In each of their last three games, the Flyers have jumped out to early leads in the first period.
Against Tampa Bay, Bobby Brink celebrated his recall from Lehigh Valley by taking a lead pass from Frost and opening the scoring just 2:22 into the game. In Washington, Tippett generated a 2-on-1 rush and Brink deposited the loose change of a Frost rebound into a wide open net at 1:52.
The game in Washington got away from the Flyers in the final 40 minutes. However, the next night against Ottawa, Farabee's deflection of a Nick Seeler point shot put Philly ahead at 1:08 of the first period and set the course for a second straight dominating opening 20 minutes.
Regardless of when the first goal is scored, the odds of defeating the Blues increase sharply if Philly is the team that takes the 1-0 edge. The Blues have lost 26 of the 32 games in which they've yielded the first goal (6-24-6). Only Chicago and San Jose have lower winning percentages when trailing first.
When leading first, though, the Blues are 25-2-1 this season. St. Louis' .893 winning percentage when scoring first leads the entire NHL.
4. Flyers Special Teams vs. Blues Special Teams
Against Ottawa on Saturday, the Flyers had three power plays in the first period and four overall. Philly went 0-for-4, although it should be noted that the Flyers generated very heavy pressure and two Grade A scoring chances on their second power play of the opening frame.
For the season, the Flyers rank 31st in the NHL on the power play (26-for-199, 13.1 percent, three shorthanded goals allowed). There has been modest improvement since the start of the 2024 calendar year (16.5 percent over the last 26 games).
The Blues' season numbers on the power play are unimpressive (ranked 25th at a 17.6 percent success rate). However, the stats are deceptive.
Since New Year's Day, the Blues' power play has clicked on slightly north of one goal for every four opportunities on the man advantage (21-for-82, 25.6 percent success rate). From October to the end of December, only the Flyers (10.5 percent) ranked below the Blues (11.3 percent).
The Flyers went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill against Ottawa. The PK saved the game for the Flyers, who had to kill four penalties -- including a Cam York high-sticking double minor -- in the third period. Philly enters Monday's game ranked first in the NHL on the PK at 86.3 percent (opposing power plays are 27-for-197).
Philly also leads the NHL with 14 shorthanded goals: five by Konecny, three by Poehling, two by Laughton (plus four shorthanded assists), two by Sean Walker and one apiece by Garnet Hathaway and Travis Sanheim.
The Blues themselves are a very dangerous counterattacking team when shorthanded. St. Louis is tied with Dallas for second leaguewide with 11 shorthanded goals scored: two apiece for Pavel Buchnevich and Alexey Toropchenko, one apiece for Schenn, Robert Thomas, Sundqvist, Kasperi Kapanen, Colton Parayko, Nick Leddy, and Marco Scandella.
In terms of overall penalty killing success, the Blues are in the middle of the NHL pack. They rank tied for 15th at 79.4 percent (opponents are 33-for-160 on the power play).
5. Behind Enemy Lines: St Louis Blues
Thomas has been red-hot since the All-Star break, compiling 17 points (3g, 14a) and averaging 20:21 of ice time over the Blues' 11 games. Jordan Kyrou is second among St. Louis forwards in that span with 10 points (5g, 5a). Veteran offensive defenseman Torey Krug has a dozen points since the break (2g, 10) with five of the points coming on the power play. However, Krug is a traditional minus-seven since the break and minus-23 for the season.
Overall, Thomas paces the Blues with 69 points (20g, 49a) this season. He's followed by Buchnevich (24g, 24a, 48 points), Kyrou (19g, 28a, 47 points), Krug (3g, 29a, 32 points), Schenn (13g, 18a, 31 points, minus-17), and Jake Neighbours (20g, seven PPG, 27 points). Veteran defenseman Parayko (9g, 12a) paces the Blues with an average 23:54 of ice time per game.
Monday's game will mark the first time Kevin Hayes (10g, 12a, 14:40 TOI average) has played against the Flyers in Philadelphia since being traded to St. Louis last offseason. His ice time has been down lately and he's posted just one point (0g, 1a) since January 26. Hayes' last goal came against the Boston Bruins on January 13. As a Flyer for four seasons, Hayes produced 157 points in 253 regular season games.
Volatile goalie Jordan Binnington, who backstopped the Blues as an NHL rookie to their only Stanley Cup championship in franchise history, has started 41 games this season (21-16-3, 2.88 GAA, .910 SV%, three shutouts). Backup netminder Hofer has made 19 starts and three relief appearances (10-10-0, 2.88 GAA, .911 SV%, one shutout).
Monday's game marks the start of a crucial five-game eastern road trip for the Blues. After this game, the Blues will visit the New York Islanders on Tuesday, the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, the New York Rangers on Saturday and the Boston Bruins next Monday. Put another way: After the Flyers wrap up their season series with St. Louis, Philly fans will be rooting for the Blues to go on a winning streak over the remainder of their road trip.
