5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Jets

Playing their fifth game in seven nights, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (20-20-7) are home on Saturday evening to take on Rick Bowness' (30-16-1). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET.

GAME NOTES
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 first of two meetings this season between the inter-conference clubs. The Flyers and Jets will rematch at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg on Jan. 28.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a tense and physical 2-1 road win against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. Carter Hart played brilliantly in stopping 30 of 31 shots including two spectacular back-door saves in the third period. He also benefited from 31 blocked shots in front of him, including eight by Ivan Provorov. Third period goals by Scott Laughton (12th) and Noah Cates (6th) provided just enough goal support to win. Hart made a ten-bell save on Lucas Raymond in the final few seconds of the game to close it out.
The Jets were also in action on Saturday, earning a 5-1 road win over the Ottawa Senators. Mark Scheifele scored twice (27th and 28th goals of the season), while Nikolaj Ehlers (PPG, 4th), Blake Wheeler (12th) and Cole Perfetti (PPG, 7th) tallied once apiece. Connor Hellebuyck made several timely saves while the score was still competitive, on his way to making 25 stops on 26 shots.
Here are five things to watch in Sunday's game.
1. Gut check game for both teams
Sunday's game is one that will require both the Flyers and Jets to dig deep into their reserves of physical energy and emotional fortitude. For the Flyers, it's the team's fifth game in the last seven nights. For the Jets,it is their fifth game in eight nights.
Philly was in Boston on Monday (6-0 loss), hosted Anaheim on Tuesday (5-2 win), suffered a disappointing 4-1 home loss to Chicago on Thursday and then gutted out Saturday's 2-1 win in Detroit. The Jets were idle on Monday but then played on Tuesday (4-1 road loss to Montreal), Thursday (4-1 road loss to Toronto), and Saturday's 5-1 road win on Ottawa.
There's not really much of a "fatigue factor" edge between a five-in-eight versus a five-in-seven. There has been more travel involved for the Jets over the past week but the Flyers had the more taxing game last night and both squads arrived in Philadelphia late at night. As such, neither team can use being tired as an excuse. The playing field is essentially level in that regard entering this game.
2. Make 'em go 200 feet
Inevitably, veteran coaches Tortorella and Bowness will stress very similar themes to their respective teams:Keep shifts short and simple. Don't "get cute" with the puck and be mindful to avoid turnovers in the neutral zone and just inside the bluelines. Execute line changes efficiently.
These are truisms in every game of every season, but are especially important when clubs have to manage their energy as efficiently as possible. The more you make an opponent have to work as hard as possible to move the puck up ice and create time and space for themselves, the more a potential wear-down effect accumulates.
3. Situational play
The Jets are a very good special teams club. Another key for the Flyers: Stay out of the penalty box.
The Jets went 2-for-8 on the power play on Saturday night. The team is ranked 8th on the power play this season at 24.7 percent and has been hot of late, too, converting on 12 of their last 42 opportunities (28.6 percent).
While the Flyers have been generally solid on the penalty kill in recent weeks -- and lead the NHL in shorthanded goals with nine --keeping Winnipeg off the power play would be a big help toward pulling out a victory. On the positive side, the Flyers' counter-attacking ability with the forward duo of Laughton and Travis Konecny on the ice, often makes opposing power plays a little skittish nowadays.
The Flyers power play, which was 0-for-2 in Detroit but generated some decent puck movement, has been very erratic even as other aspects of the team's game have gradually but steadily improved. Entering this game, Philly is ranked 30th in the NHL in power play efficiency at 16.0 percent.
Winnipeg, meanwhile, is one of the NHL's best penalty killing teams. They enter the game at 84.8 percent efficiency (2nd best in the NHL) including 85.8 percent on the road. The Jets make entries and puck movement tough, and the Flyers need to take care of the puck. Winnipeg has struck for four shorthanded goals this season including two by Adam Lowry.
In terms of 5-on-5 play, the Jets are plus-11. They've scored 94 goals while allowing 83. The Flyers (minus-7) have scored 86 while allowing 93.

4. Flyers line play
Neither the Flyers nor the Jets will hold a morning skate on Sunday. Tortorella will address the media at 5:00 p.m. ET to confirm the Flyers' starting goalie and discuss the upcoming game.
Holding a 9-3-0 record since the holiday break, the Flyers have been rolling with the same combination of 12 forwards and six defensemen for the last month. Barring injury or illness, it seems likely that the same skater lineup will stay in place. Defenseman Justin Braun and winger KIeffer Bellows would remain the extra skaters.
The Flyers have never started the same goalie in both ends of a back-to-back this season, much less all three games of a 3-in-4. With three more games in the week to come, it's more likely that the Flyers will give Felix Sandström his first NHL start since Dec. 13 in Colorado.
Sandström recently undertook a voluntary seven-game, two-week conditioning assignment to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms (4-1-2, 2.39 GAA, .911 SV%). At the NHL level this season, he is 1-6-1 in eight starts and one relief appearance,with a 3.37 GAA and .888 save percentage.
Hart (14-14-6, 2.94 GAA, .909 save percentage) is more likely to return to the net to start on Tuesday when the LA Kings come to town. It is theoretically possible, but seemingly unlikely, that the Flyers would recall rookie Samuel Ersson from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to start against Winnipeg rather than Sandström. The Phantoms are idle on the schedule until Wednesday night.
Sandström played well during his AHL conditioning loan and has generally played at least adequately in his NHL games this season. He's been victimized by scant goal support, breakdowns in front that haven't given him a fair chance at saves and by the tendency to yield one goal per start that, while not an easy save, was also not unstoppable. That has been what has pulled his NHL save percentage this season below 90 percent in a fairly small sample size.
Projected lineup (subject to change)
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
32 Felix Sandström
[79 Carter Hart]
PP1: Tippett, Laughton, Konecny, Farabee, DeAngelo.
PP2: Hayes, Frost, JVR, Cates, York.
Extras: 61 Justin Braun, 20 Kieffer Bellows
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Winnipeg Jets
The Jets, 7-3-0 in their last 10 games, were 0-2-0 over the first two games of their current five-game road trip prior to convincingly beating Ottawa on Saturday. With wins in Philadelphia on Sunday and Nashville on Tuesday, Winnipeg still has a pathway to make it a winning trip despite the slow start.
Two different Jets players achieved significant career milestones in Saturday's game. Wheeler's three-point night (1g, 2a) saw him reach the 900-point mark in the 36-year-old veteran's 1,084-game regular season career. Twenty-six-old forward Kyle Connor chipped in one assist against the Senators and reached 400 career points in his 431-game regular season career.
Year in and year old, Connor Hellebuyck has been a workhorse in net for Winnipeg including this season (36 GP, 23-12-1, 2.39 GAA, .924 SV%, three shutouts).He's received five starting assignments in the team's last six games including Thursday's game in Toronto and Saturday's game in Ottawa.
However, the final match of three road games in four nights is almost an automatic start for the backup if the No. 1 goalie on the depth chart has been tabbed in the previous games. David RIttich has made 11 starts this season (7-4-0, 2.59 GAA, .908 save percentage), and the 30-year-old is quite capable of delivering a quality start. Rittich has won three of his last four starts including stopping 22 of 23 shots in the Jets' 4-1 road win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 13.
Entering Sunday's game, Connor leads the Jets with 56 points (23 g, 33a). Much like the Flyers' Konecny, he would have been a worthy selection for the NHL All-Star Game but was not chosen. Connor is followed by defenseman John Morrissey (8g, 43a, 51 points), gifted winger Pierre-Luc Dubois (20g, 29a, 49 points), longtime Jets centerpiece player Mark Scheifele (28g, 15a, 43 points), and the playmaking Wheeler (12g,21a, 33 points).
The Jets have good balance and depth on their roster. Brenden Dillon (125 credited hits, 68 blocked shots) adds veteran experience and leadership on the back end, along with Nate Schmidt.
Projected lineup (based on Saturday's game, subject to change)
81 Kyle Connor - 80 Pierre-Luc Dubois - 91 Cole Perfetti
26 Blake Wheeler - 55 Mark Scheifele - 27 Nikolaj Ehlers
36 Morgan Barron - 17 Adam Lowry - 20 Karson Kuhlman
71 Axel Jonsson-Fjällby - 28 Kevin Stenlund - 8 Saku Mäenalanen
44 Josh Morrissey - 2 Dylan DeMelo
5 Brenden Dillon - 4 Neal Pionk
54 Dylan Samberg - 88 Nate Schmidt
33 David Rittich
37 Connor Hellebuyck
PP1: Dubois, Scheifele, Connor, Ehlers, Morrissey
PP2: Wheeler, Lowry, Perfetti, Schmidt, Pionk
Extras: 89 Sam Gagner, 14 Ville Heinola, 77 Kyle Capobianco