John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (23-25-7) are home on Thursday evening to take on Spencer Carbery's Washington Capitals (35-11-7). Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EST.
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 third of four meetings this season between the Flyers and Capitals. Washington swept a home-and-home set in October with a 4-1 victory in Philadelphia on Oct. 22 and a 6-3 win the next night in DC. The season series will conclude at Capitals One Arena on March 20.
The Flyers enter this game dragging a four-game winless spell (0-3-1) and a 1-5-1 stretch over their last seven matches. Over the last eight matches, the Flyers have scored just eight goals in regulation. Philly has received strong goaltending in most of the games, but the goal support just has not been there. On Tuesday at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, the Flyers lost in overtime, 3-2, on a buzzer-beating goal by UHC's Dylan Guenther at 4:59 of sudden death. In a losing cause, Rodrigo Abols (1st NHL goal) and Tyson Foerster (14th of the season) tallied for the Flyers.
Meanwhile, dating back to New Year's, the Capitals have only lost a single game in regulation (10-1-5) in 16 matches. On Tuesday, the Caps knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers by a 6-3 score. The latter two goals by the Capitals were empty-netters. Andrew Mangiapane (11th goal of the season), Tom Wilson (shorthanded, 22nd), Lars Eller (9th), Nic Dowd (11th), Aliaksei Protas (empty net, 22nd) and Alex Ovechkin (empty net, 25th) tallied for Washington.
Here are five things to watch in Thursday's game.
1. Key game for Konecny
There are two games remaining for the Flyers before the league schedule hiatus for the Four Nations Face-Off tournament. Along with teammate Travis Sanheim, Flyers leading scorer Travis Konecny (21 goals, 37 assists, 58 points in 55 games) will represent Team Canada. The other Flyers selected to represent their home country are defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (Finland, currently battling a day-to-day injury) and goaltender Samuel Ersson (Sweden).
On Tuesday in Utah, Konecny sniped a would-be goal on the rush only to have it wiped out by a coach's challenge of an offside entry by defenseman Emil Andrae. Ultimately, Konecny finished without a point for the fourth consecutive game: his longest stretch this season without recording either a goal or an assist.
TK's last goal was an empty net tally scored in a 3-1 road win over the New Jersey Devils on January 18: his lone tally over the Flyers' last 14 games since a two-goal performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 7. However, Konecny has racked up 12 assists in that same span.
2. Expect big minutes from Cates
Flyers center Noah Cates, over the last two-plus months, has absorbed many of the all-situations minutes that captain Sean Couturier was typically assigned to for the bulk of his career. Most notably, Cates often sees the most challenging 5-on-5 matchups in addition to playing in the penalty killing rotation and, more recently, being part of the second power play unit. Over the last six games, Cates has logged 19-plus minutes of ice time in four.
Even with the Flyers collectively scuffling to score the last couple weeks, two-way forward Cates has continued to be in the middle of scoring chances in the "greasy" areas of ice. As long as he keeps it up in similar fashion to his efforts in the Colorado game (four shots on goal), points will start to come again. After a surge of points in the 18 games the Flyers played from December 12 to January 18 -- eight goals, eight assists, 16 points -- Cates has not recorded a point in the last eight matches.
To his credit, Cates has not altered the way he has played. He had a similar stretch in October to early December where his all-around game was strong but the points were sparse (one goal, five points in his first 23 games). He was receiving less ice time and playing lower in the lineup when he dressed for games (scratched four times) but his attention to detail was the same. Once pucks started going in, Cates became more confident in his offensive game and he became a bit more assertive.
Cates celebrated his 26th birthday on Wednesday (Feb. 5) of this week. In nine career games against the Capitals, Cates has yet to record a point. Given the Flyers' current offensive struggles and Cates' own recent point drought in the last eight games, getting on the scoresheet in an upset win over Washington would be a sort of belated birthday present for himself. The latter objective -- a Flyers win -- is more important to the player than the former but accomplishing both would be a good way for Cates and company to head into the final pre-break game on Saturday against the Penguins.
3. Shot suppression
In Tuesday's game in Utah, goaltender Ersson basically stole a point for the Flyers. Ersson made 39 saves on 42 shots, many of the difficult variety, to get the game within one second of having to be decided in a shootout. At the offensive end of the ice, 10 of the Flyers' 20 shots on goal for the game came in the first period. They had just 10 over the remaining 44:59 of game play.
Plain and simple, the Flyers will need to get back to taking away the middle of the ice, blocking shots, preventing attacks with speed through the neutral zone and minimizing turnovers against the Capitals. Even if they do all of these things, the Flyers need to scratch out a few goals of their own against the very well-coached Capitals. Carbery appears to be the runaway top candidate for the Jack Adams Award (NHL Coach of the Year) over the first four-plus months of the season.
The Washington goaltenders, especially Logan Thompson (24-2-4 record, 2.18 goals against average, .923 save percentage, two shutouts), have proven themselves capable of lifting their club when called upon for a key save. But strong goaltending goes hand-in-hand with strong play in front -- they'll either elevate or sink one another over time -- and the Capitals execute a very solid process as a team.
Goaltender Charlie Lindgren (11-9-3, 2.61 GAA, .903 save percentage, one shutout) last appeared on January 30 in a 5-4 overtime loss in Ottawa. On Jan. 23, he shut out the Seattle Kraken on 22 shots.
4. Pre-scout Part 1: Five-on-five play
Tortorella often insists vehemently that he pays far more attention to how the Flyers are playing than what their opponent's tendencies are and how their recent trends have gone. Most of the prescouting info compiled by the pro scouts and video staff is delegated to the assistant coaches to use in their work preparing the team to play in conjunction with Tortorella's over-aching focus on how the Flyers execute their own systems to prepare to play.
Within a game, Tortorella puts a lot of emphasis on which lines, pairs and individuals he feels are playing well (or struggling). His in-game coaching decisions and post-game views are primarily based on a combination of his own gut instincts and internally kept stats on scoring chances for and against. His staff is entrusted to assess and manage the other preparatory and assessment details.
Heading into the game against the Capitals, Tortorella's staff has much to unpack about what to glean from the prescouts. Start with how to combat Washington at 5-on-5. The Capitals excel at what Tortorella describes as "checking forward" and wants his own team to exhibit. The Capitals are a relentless forechecking and very diligent backchecking club.
That process is a big part of why Washington has scored 123 goals at 5-on-5 (second most in the NHL) while allowing just 85 (third fewest yielded by any club): a composite +38.
The Capitals no longer boast the same power-packed array of pure goal-scorers and dynamic playmakers that they used to have. Sure, they still have old guard holdovers such as Ovechkin (39 points in 37 games), power forward Wilson (nine power play goals, 39 points, 50 penalty minutes) and veteran offensive defenseman John Carlson (33 points). Above all, however, the current Capitals rely more on their high-quality depth than overwhelming firepower.
For example, on the back end, Carlson now shares the responsibility of joining the attack and making plays with Jakob Chychrun (13 goals, 33 points). Veteran Dylan Strome (15g, 33a) leads the Caps with 51 points but it's more notable that Washington has eight players with at least 33 points to date.
Three Capitals (Ovechkin, Wilson and Aliaksei Protas) have already tallied 20-plus goals this season. Just as importantly, five players have 15-plus tallies and nine have double-digit goals.
By comparison, the Flyers have scored 103 goals at five-on-five (19th in the NHL) but have more problematically given up 125 (5th most): a composite minus-22.
The Flyers had a 31-game stretch over two-plus months (Nov. 14 to Jan. 18) where they actually ranked tied with the Caps for 5th in the NHL in goals per game at 3.29. The Colorado Avalance were 4th at 3.30 GPG in that stretch.
How did the Flyers do it, despite power play struggles? They were getting enviable scoring depth at 5-on-5. No one but Konecny was putting up big numbers but the team was getting contributions from around the lineup on the regular basis.
5. Prescout Part 2: Special Teams
The Flyers enter Thursday's game ranked 27th on the power play (14.8 percent). The two-game oasis in which Philly scored two power play goals in back-to-back matches is now 11 games removed (2-for-24, one shorthanded goal allowed).
The Flyers had a strong penalty killing game on Tuesday in going 3-for-3 against Utah. Overall, the Flyers rank 19th for the season at 77.6 percent.
For many years, the Capitals' power play was very predictable but highly effective: Nicklas Backstrom handled the puck the most frequently and teed up cross-seam one-timers for Ovechkin from his "office" in the left circle. Plan B was to get the puck back to Carlson at the point and get traffic in front of the net. TJ Oshie was also a prime threat to score and Wilson caused havoc down low. Every team knew what to expect but few could stop it.
Nowadays, the Caps diversify their power play a bit more but a healthy Ovechkin is still the number one shooting option. Washington ranks 13th leaguewide in power play efficiency at 22.5 percent. One trouble spot, though, is turnovers that present counterattacking chances. The Caps have coughed up six shorthanded goals to opponents.
On the penalty kill, the Capitals have been strong through nearly the entire season, coming into Thursday's game ranked third at 83.5 percent success. Since New Year's Day, Washington has boasted an 84.1 percent success rate on the PK.
