Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (34-24-10) are home on Thursday evening to take on Jeff Blashill's Chicago Blackhawks (27-31-13).This is the second and final meeting of the season series between the teams.
Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on NBCSP.
Back on December 23, the Flyers entered the Christmas break with a 3-1 road victory in Chicago. Travis Konecny led the way with a goal and a primary power play assist on a Noah Cates tally. Carl Grundstrom later added an empty net goal late in the third period. In the same game, Sean Couturier chipped in a pair of assists. Trevor Zegras set up Konecny's goal to forge a nine-game point streak heading into the break.
Factoring the regulation wins tiebreaker, the Flyers currently sit fifth in the race for an Eastern Conference wildcard spot. Philadelphia is five points (four standings points plus the tiebreaker disadvantage) behind the Ottawa Senators for the final wildcard spot. Philly is seven points out of third play in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers would need to pass the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders to move into an automatic playoff spot.
The Flyers come into Thursday's game needing to immediately put aside Tuesday's costly 3-2 regulation home loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Couturier opened the scoring in the first period. However, a five-minute lapse at the start of the middle frame proved fatal. Philly trailed the rest of the night. A late goal by Jamie Drysdale reduced the final margin to a one-goal loss.
Chicago is in last place in the Central Division. While many fans have their eye on the Blackhawks' NHL Draft lottery odds, Blashill and his team are in spoiler mode for opposing clubs on the playoff bubble. Chicago has gained points in seven of their last 10 games (4-3-3 record).
On Tuesday, the Hawks skated to a 4-3 regulation road win over the New York Islanders. Frank Nazar netted what proved to be the game-winning goal. Nick Lardis, Ilya Mikheyev and Tyler Bertuzzi also scored for Chicago.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Thursday night.
1. Noah Cates
Two-way center Noah Cates leads the Flyers in scoring since the Olympic break with 12 points in 14 games. Cates and Owen Tippett are tied for the club's goal-scoring lead since the break with five tallies apiece. Four players -- Konecny, Matvei Michkov, Couturier and Drysdale -- have scored three goals apiece since the schedule resumed after the Olympics. Michkov and Christian Dvorak (2g, 6a) are tied for second in overall post-Olympic scoring with eight points.
Cates remains one of the Flyers' most consistent attention-to-detail players on and off the puck. He did not have one of his "A" games on Tuesday against Columbus, however. Neither did the team as a whole after the first period. If the Flyers are to bounce right back from Tuesday's setback, Cates is one of the players who has to be at the forefront.
2.Puck possession and management
Chicago is a team that struggles to possess and manage the puck. The club ranks in the NHL's bottom three (30th) in puck possession based on shot attempts. They're dead last (32nd) in expected goals metrics. Meanwhile, they are underwater in forcing opposing turnovers versus turning pucks over themselves. The Blackhawks average 15,07 charged giveaways per game; very similar to teams that possess the puck much more frequently, such as Carolina (15.17) and Colorado (15,38).
Put another way, the Flyers should be able to establish a good forecheck against Chicago. The Blackhawks turn over a lot of pucks and struggle to get it back. The Flyers themselves have a need to improve these areas but Chicago is one opponent against whom the Flyers have an on-paper edge to dictate the overall play.
3. Bear down on scoring chances
In Tuesday's game against Columbus, the Flyers played a very strong first period but took only a 1-0 lead to intermission. Lack of finish has been an ongoing problem, especially early in games. The Flyers are tied for 29th in the NHL in first period goals (51), while Chicago (53) hasn't fared much better. In the second period, the Flyers have scored 69 goals (tied for 22nd with Carolina) to 64 for Chicago. In the third period, the Flyers have 71 goals (22nd) to 63 for the Blackhawks.
4. Contain Bedard
Connor Bedard has been limited by injury this season to 58 games played. Nevertheless, he still leads his team in scoring by a wide margin with 66 points (29g, 37a). That represents a 14-point disparity with Chicago's second highest scorer. Bertuzzi is second on the Blackhawks with 52 points (29g, 23a).
