Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (1-1-1) are home on Thursday to take on Scott Arniel's Winnipeg Jets (2-1-0). The match is the second in a stretch of the Flyers playing nine of 10 games at home.The Jets are wrapping up a brief two-game East Coast road trip.
Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The broadcast is on NBCSP. Radio broadcast is available on 97.5 The Fanatic.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 5-2 win in the home opener on Monday. Meanwhile, Winnipeg defeated the host New York Islanders by the same score that evening.
Here are the RAV4 storylines to track in Thursday's tilt.
1. Discipline and special teams.
The Flyers have taken 15 minor penalties through just three games. They're 13-for-15 on the penalty kill but the volume of penalties is excessive even by early season standards, when more penalties tend to be called.
On many fronts, it would be wise for the Flyers to not play with fire. The Jets power play led the NHL last season with a 28.9 percent success ratio. Meanwhile, spending excessive time on penalty killing takes some players out of the flow of the game and overtaxes others.
2. Game management.
Tocchet has repeatedly emphasized the vital importance of game management by the team. It's about knowing when to make a play and when to live to fight another day. It's also about off-the-puck decisions such as when to concede the perimeter, when to challenge, and when not to exit the offensive zone looking for a quick transition pass.
Case in point: The Flyers have yielded a goal in the final 90 seconds of a period in each of the last two games. Both goals came off turnovers that resulted in opposing counterattacks.
The key to preventing such potentially deflating, momentum-changing moments? Tocchet had a four-word answer on Monday: "It's called game management."
3. Captain Coots.
Flyers captain Sean Couturier delivered a vintage top performance in Monday's home opener: two goals, two assists and a stellar 200-foot game. Against the defending President's Trophy winners, the Flyers will again need the two-time Selke finalist and two-time 30-goal scorer to step up.
4. Breakout game for Michkov?
Second-year forward Matvei Michkov is off to a less than desirable start through the first three games of the season. However, he showed offensive improvement in Monday's home opener. Subsequently, he doubled down his efforts at practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. Getting his first point(s) of the season on Thursday against the Jets would be huge for the player and for the team as a whole.
