Returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break, there are 25 games remaining in the 2024-25 regular season for John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (24-26-7). On Saturday, the Flyers will host Kris Knoblauch's defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers (34-17-4).
Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 1:00 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 second and final meeting of the season series between the Flyers and Oilers and the lone visit superstar center Connor McDavid's club will make this year.
On October 15 in Edmonton, the Flyers roared out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of power play goals by rookie Matvei Michkov (his first two NHL goals). After Edmonton rallied for a pair of goals to tie the game in the second period, Bobby Brink restored the lead in the final 23 seconds of the middle frame.
Unfortunately, the Flyers were unable to close out a win in the third period. A late goal by Evan Bouchard at 16:18 of the third period forced overtime. In 3-on-3 sudden death, Leon Draisaitl seized a victory for the Oilers.
Here are five things to watch in Saturday;s game.
1. Healthy bodies return
The Flyers limped into the 4 Nations break, besieged with injuries and work visa paperwork delays for their two newest players. Consequently, the Flyers' depth was severely strained both up front and on defense. It was not a coincidence that the team endured the second-longest regular season offensive drought in terms of consecutive goalless minutes.
The 4 Nations break provided desperately needed time for the Flyers to finally ice a full lineup of regulars again come Saturday's game against the Oilers. Owen Tippett, Ryan Poehling, Rasmus Ristolainen and Egor Zamula have all been cleared to return.
2. Pelletier's Flyers debut
Acquired along with Andrei Kuzmenko in the trade that sent Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost to the Calgary Flames, winger Jakob Pelletier is slated to make his Flyers debut on Saturday. His work visa in the United States was approved over the break. Kuzmenko made his first appearance as a Flyer in the final game before the 4 Nations break.
Pelletier, who will turn 24 on March 7, has a smaller frame but plays a high-octane and competitive brand of hockey. Thus far in his professional career, Pelletier has bounced back and forth between the NHL and the AHL. This season, however, he appears to have "graduated" to NHL regular status.
Pelletier, selected by the Flames in the first round (26th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft, is a pass-first player who is naturally more inclined to be a puck distributor rather than a goal scorer. The French Canadian forward is an adept passer.
Earlier this season with the AHL's Calgary Wranglers, Pelletier posted 16 assists among his 19 points in 20 games. At the NHL level, he has 11 points (4g, 7a) in 24 games. He works hard to be responsible on both sides of the puck, and is not afraid to battle despite generally going up against bigger players.
3. The Travii
The Flyers' best-friend duo of winger Travis Konecny (22 goals, 39 assists, 61 points in 57 games) and defenseman Travis Sanheim (six goals, 21 assists, 27 points) were teammates with McDavid on Canada's championship winning 4 Nations squad.
Sanheim dressed in the last three of the four games that Canada played at 4 Nations. Konecny appeared in two of the four matches. Neither Sanheim nor Konecny practiced with the rest of the Flyers on Friday but both are expected to be in the lineup against Edmonton.
4 Between the pipes
Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson started the third and final game of the round robin for Team Sweden at the 4 Nations Faceoff. He turned in a stellar performance, stopping 32 of 33 shots in a 2-1 win against previously undefeated Team USA. In the NHL, Ersson has been in a good groove ever since the Christmas break (9-4-1 record, 2.26 goals against average, .920 save percentage, one shutout).
Edmonton No. 1 goaltender Stuart Skinner was able to rest and recharge during the 4 Nations break after rough outings against Toronto and Colorado heading into the break. For the season, the big-framed Edmonton native has posted a 20-12-4 record, 2.74 GAA, .900 save percentage, and two shutouts. Back on October 15, he made 27 saves in the 4-3 overtime home win against the Flyers.
5. Cates tasked with containing McDavid
Head coach Tortorella has often given Noah Cates the primary responsibility of at least containing McDavid -- stopping him entirely is often nearly impossible -- when the Flyers have matched up head-to-head with the Oilers over the past three seasons. Come Saturday, look for the Cates line to see a heavy concentration of shifts against McDavid's line at 5-on-5.
Heading into the break, Cates continued his spate of consistently strong two-way performances that have characterized most of his games since mid-November. However, he wasn't getting one iota of puck luck the last few weeks before the break. Entering Saturday, Cates has not recorded a point in his last 10 games despite being in the thick of a healthy volume of Philly's scoring chances. His last notches in the scoresheet were two assists against New Jersey on January 18. His only goal over the last 13 games came at the Islanders' expense on Jan. 16.
Cates, however, is not a player whose stats over a given slate of games is a reliable indicator of his actual play. He was getting regular rewards on the scoresheet over the 19-game span between Dec. 10 and Jan. 18 (9g, 8a, 17 points) but the quality of his all-around play has not been significantly lower over the last 10 games compared to the previous 19.
