Playing the fourth game of a seven-game homestand, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (27-29-8) will host Sheldon Keefe's New Jersey Devils (33-25-6) on Sunday afternoon. Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 1:00 p.m. EDT.
The game will be televised on TNT/MAX. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the regular season series between the teams, and the second game at Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers won the first two games, with a 3-1 win at Prudential Center on January 18 and 4-2 home victory on Jan. 27. On Jan. 29 back in Newark, the Devils earned a 5-0 blowout win in the back half of the home-and-home set.
The Flyers have lost each of the first three games on the current homestand: 6-3 to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, 4-1 to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday and 4-1 to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
The Devils are also winless in their last three games. After starting out their March schedule with a 3-1 road win in Utah, Keefe's club sustained consecutive losses to the Vegas Golden Knights (2-0 road), Dallas Stars (4-3, home) and then, on Friday, a 6-1 shellacking on home ice at the hands of Winnipeg.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Sunday afternoon plus an x-factor heading into the game.
1. Between the pipes: Ivan Fedotov
With Samuel Ersson having been in net against Winnipeg and Seattle, Ivan Fedotov is expected to be the Flyers' starting goaltender on Sunday. Fedotov has played well in each of his last two appearances.
Mission No. 1 for Fedotov on Sunday, fairly or unfairly, is that if he sees the puck, he needs to stop it even if it's a tougher-than-average save. In fact, even when partially screened, he has to be on his angles. Fedotov often makes unorthodox saves but he also has to come up with all the makeable ones, too. The Flyers are in a precarious state right now. They cannot afford goals that squib past the netminder or come from low-percentage areas.
Primary Devils starter Jacob Markstrom (21-12-5 record, 2.34 GAA, .907 save percentage, three shutouts) has had a strong season when healthy. However, he's yielded 10 goals on 56 shots over his last two starts Jake Allen (9-13-1, 2.70 GAA, .908 SV%) last played on February 26. Back on Jan. 29, Allen recorded a 24-save shutout against the Flyers.
2. Structure and transition game
The Flyers' skaters need to help out their goalie just as much as the rest of the team needs Fedotov to give them a chance to win. One of the primary things that has marked the difference between the Flyers' 4-0-1 stretch on either side of the 4 Nations break and the current three-game losing streak has been a pronounced lapse in structure.
Saturday's game was one in which the Flyers had too many breakdowns in their two-way awareness and execution. Philadelphia yielded a host of odd-man rushes to the Kraken, including a shorthanded breakaway goal by Chandler Stephenson off a neutral zone turnover on an outlet pass attempt.
The Devils have also been particularly error-prone of late, as witnessed by the goal differential over their last three games. On the flip side, the Devils are a speedy team that thrives when able to get to their transition game. Philly did a fine job of shutting that down in the first two meetings with the Devils this season. That was not the case in the Jan. 29 game.
3. Michkov watch
Dynamic Flyers rookie right wing Matvei Michkov (20 goals, 27 assists, 47 points) enters Sunday's game tied for the goal-scoring lead among all NHL rookies this season and is two points off the pace on the overall scoring leaderboard. He's been on an offensive tear since the 4 Nations break.
In the seven games the Flyers have played since the break, Michkov has racked up 11 points (four goals, seven assists). His snipe of a goal against Winnipeg on Thursday was one of the few Flyers' highlights in what was a disappointing performance for the club overall. He had an assist in Saturday's game against Seattle.
4. Lines in a blender?
Tortorella is not a coach who is typically inclined to allow line combinations to struggle for very long before he starts to juggle the personnel. However, when things are rolling well for the club -- or a particular line (particularly the combo of Noah Cates centering Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink) over multiple games -- he will allow a bit more slack if a period or a game doesn't go their way.
On Saturday, by the third period, the Flyers were in full-fledged "lines in a blender" mode. In fact, even the Cates line saw several 5-on-5 shifts apart with Brink moved off the line. Given what has happened over the last three games and the multiple recent changes to the roster after the trade deadline, there is a fairly high chance that combos will be shaken up at 5-on-5 if the Flyers cannot get their game in the first period.
Bottom line: Forward combos and defense duos that are together at the start of the game on Sunday, whether largely similar to Saturday's starting personnel arrangement or not, may be rearranged fairly quickly if things don't click out of the gates. The Flyers do not have a morning skate on Saturday, so the starting line combos won't be clear until line rushes during the pregame warmups.
X-factor: Devils working around key injuries
Devils top-line center Jack Hughes (70 points in 62 games) underwent shoulder surgery on Wednesday of this week. He is out for the remainder of the season after leaving last Sunday's game against Vegas. Additionally, defenseman Dougie Hamilton (40 points) is out with a lower-body injury sustained in the Dallas game.
The Devils are still in good position to land an automatic playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division. However, these are two major absences that New Jersey must work around. They did not have any answers the last couple games.
