5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Sharks

Coming off a three-game road trip that concluded on Saturday in Nashville, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (4-1-0) are right back in action on Sunday to host David Quinn's San Jose Sharks (1-6-0). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT.

GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is in 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on
Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of two games this season between the interconference clubs. The Flyers and Sharks will rematch at the SAP Center in San Jose on Dec. 29.
Here are five things to track in this game.
1. Rolling the Lines
With the Flyers playing the front end of a road/home back-to-back set in Saturday's 3-1 win in Nashville, Philly was fortunate to be able to roll all four forward lines and all three defense pairs for most the game. First and foremost, Philly was able to play with a lead from early in the first period until the final buzzer.
Secondly, there was only a moderate amount of special teams play over the course of the game. The Flyers had one abbreviated and one full power play and one abbreviated and two full penalty kills (the latter resulting in Nashville's lone goal of the match late in the third period).
Things don't always work out that way, of course. The Flyers were able to get at least 11 shifts for every player in the lineups -- and 18 shifts or more for 15 of the team's 18 skaters.
There was still a late-night flight and a one-hour time change in between Saturday's game and Sunday's. Under the circumstances, though, the Flyers should be reasonably fresh to take on the Sharks.
Ideally, Tortorella will be able to once again spread the workload out across his roster. If, however, circumstances dictate that the Flyers shorten the bench in this game, they should have enough gas in the tank to handle it.
2. Who's next to step up?
On Saturday, Joel Farabee (one goal, two assists for his first three points of the 2022-23 season) and Kevin Hayes (1g, 1a) were the Flyers' main offensive heroes. After tallying his first goal of the season early in the first period, Hayes subsequently extended his season-opening assist streak to five games.
The Flyers also got a rebound goal from rugged right winger Zack MacEwen late in the first period, assisted by defenseman Egor Zamula and Farabee. A fourth line forward during most of his NHL career, MacEwen was promoted in the Flyers' lineup earlier this week and responded with strong back-to-back games.
Through five games, the Flyers have indeed gotten the scoring-by-committee offense that Tortorella said they'd need in order to compete. The Flyers have scored at least three goals in all five games played to date. Now, they have to continue to do so.
On the playmaking side, Hayes leads the Flyers with seven assists among his eight points to date. Ivan Provorov has collecting five apples and defense partner Tony DeAngelo has four.
The Flyers have also seemingly drawn energy off the play of one of their players who does not yet have a point: fourth line left wing Nicolas Deslauriers. Whether coincidentally or not, there have been almost immediate momentum swings in the games to date in which Deslauriers has fought (three times including Saturday) or landed a big body check.
3. Paying the price
The Flyers staged an excellent overall closeout of the Predators in the third period of Saturday's game. Philly held Nashville to five shots on goal over the final 20 minutes and extended their lead from 2-0 to 3-0, which proved huge when the Predators finally ended Carter Hart's shutout bid with 2;18 left in regulation.
Hart was outstanding in Saturday's game, as he has been in all four of his starts to date this season. However, do not overlook the way the team in front him played at some key junctures. Most notably, the Flyers finished the night with 22 shot blocks (many of which came in the third periods) and were willing to absorb hits to get the puck to safety.
Claimed off waivers from the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday, Lukas Sedlak made his Flyers' debut in Saturday's game. The fourth line center skated 9:45 of ice time across 14 shifts (including 40 seconds of PK time). Sedlak was credited with two takeaways. Offensively, he had a golden scoring chance in the second period, hitting the post. He put three shots on net.
The Flyers will not hold a morning skate on Sunday. However, there is a good chance that Sunday's lineup will look quite similar to Saturday's. There is a decision to make on whether to keep rolling in net with Hart or give Felix Sandström his second start of the season. Sandström played well in a losing cause in Florida on Wednesday.
The extra forward in Saturday's game was Jackson Cates. Louie Belpedio was the extra defenseman. If the Flyers dress the same lineup on Sunday, the line combinations may again look similar to the Nashville game:
86 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 57 Wade Allison
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 17 Zack MacEwen
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 23 Lukas Sedlak - 58 Tanner Laczynski
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
24 Nick Seeler - 54 Egor Zamula
79 Carter Hart
32 Felix Sandström
4. Improvement needed in the faceoff circle.
For all the areas in which the Flyer struggled in three of the last four seasons, faceoffs were not one of them. Philadelphia was habitually at or near the top of the NHL in faceoff winning percentage.
That is no longer the case. Claude Giroux is gone from the team, and Sean Couturier is on injured reserve. Through the first five games this season, the Flyers rank dead last in the NHL in faceoff percentage (38.1 percent). There is clearly need for improvement in this area, especially for a team for whom puck possession and expected goals differentials are in the red.
At least starting out with controlling the puck off the draw would be a small step ni the right direction. In the bigger picture, the Flyers still have significant room to improve in how they attempt to exit their defensive zone.
On the positive side, the Flyers' neutral zone play and puck support down low in the D zone have already shown signs of improvement. That has helped the goalies have a reasonable chance at more saves. The netminders have done plenty of heavy lifting for the team in return.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: San Jose Sharks
The Sharks have been a very busy team in October. They were the Predators' opponent in the two-game Global Series in Prague to open the regular season (sustaining 4-1 and 3-2 losses).
After returning to the United States, the Sharks had a mini homestand at the SAP Center, sustaining a 2-1 loss to Carolina and a 5-2 defeat by Chicago on back-to-back nights. The club dropped to 0-4-0.
This past week, the Sharks embarked on a four-game road to the northeastern part of the country, playing the New York Islanders (5-2 loss), New York Rangers (an upset 3-2 overtime win), the New Jersey Devils (2-1 loss) and the Flyers. Sunday's game will be San Jose's third in four nights and the back half of a back-to-back. The lone consolation is that the travel has been relatively light since starting the trip.
The Sharks were in Newark on Saturday while the Flyers were in Nashville. The game was fairly evenly played through the first period but San Jose goalie Kaapo Kahkonen was peppered with 20 shots on goal in the second period. New Jersey grabbed a 2-0 lead before Kevin Labanc got one back at 16:15 of the middle frame. San Jose was unable to find an equalizer in the third period.
Through San Jose's first seven games, veteran offensive defenseman Erik Karlsson leads the team with five points (2g, 3a). Logan Couture and Evgeny Svechkinov have two goals and three points apiece, topping the forwards.
Sunday's game marks Oskar Lindblom's return to Philadelphia after the Flyers bought out his contract over the offseason and San Jose signed the 26-year-old left winger as a free agent. There will an in-game video tribute to Lindblom during a first-period TV timeout on Sunday. Lindblom has posted three assists on the season to date.
The Sharks did not hold a morning skate on Sunday, although a couple players skated on their own and both goalies took warmups. If Saturday's lineup holds for this game, it could resemble these combinations:
28 Timo Meier- 48 Tomas Hertl - 94 Alexander Barbanov
13 Nick Bonino - 39 Logan Couturer - 11 Luke Kunin
10 Evgeny Svechnikov - 7 Nico Sturm - 62 Kevin Labanc
23 Oskar Lindblom - 16 Steven Lorentz - 83 Matt Nieto
4 Scott Harrington - 65 Erik Karlsson
44 Marc-Edouard Vlasic - 5 Matt Benning
38 Mario Ferraro - 51 Radim Simek
47 James Reimer
36 Kaapo Kahkonen