Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (28-21-11) are home on Monday to take on Andre Tourigny's Utah Mammoth (32-25-4). The Flyers have won each of their last three games. Philadelphia has very little margin for error if the team is to make a serious push at an Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Game time at Xfinity Mobile Arena is 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the second and final meeting of the season series between the interconference teams. On January 21, the Flyers suffered a painful 5-4 overtime loss in a game that once seemed under control. Phllly led by scores of 3-0 and 4-2. Finally, late regulation and overtime goals from Clayton Keller won the game for the Mammoth.
The Flyers enter Thursday's game coming off a 3-2 (2-1) shootout road win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday. Meanwhile, the Mammoth bounced back from a 4-0 home shutout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday with a 3-2 road victory over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
Coming into play against Utah on Thursday, the Flyers are seven points (six standings points plus a tiebreaker disadvantage) behind the Boston Bruins for the lower wildcard seed in the East. Philly is nine points (eight standings points plus tiebreaker disadvantages) behind both the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders for top three spots in the Metropolitan Division.
Utah currently holds the upper wildcard playoff spot in the Western Conference. The lower wildcard team, the Seattle Kraken, trail the Mammoth by a single point. Just below the cutoff line for the Western Conference playoffs, the San Jose Sharks are five points (four standings points, tiebreaker disadvantage) behind the Mammoth but have played two fewer games.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch in Thursday's game.
1. Patience and structure
The relatively high-scoring game the Flyers played in Salt Lake City in late January has not been the norm for Tourigny's team. The Mammoth are a team that relies on winning low-event games. When opponents get impatient, they capitalize on mistakes.
Entering play on Thursday, the Mammoth are tied with the Islanders for the fourth-lowest goals against average (2.77) in the NHL despite having recorded just one shutout this season. On the flip side, the Mammoth are a middle of the pack offensive club, averaging 3.16 goals per game to rank 15th in the league.
By comparison, the Flyers rank 23rd offensively (2.85 goals per game) and tied for 18th defensively (3.08 GAA). The team's January nosedive (4.13 goals against average; second worst in the league that month, 4-8-3 record) is the number one reason why the team finds itself in an uphill climb for a playoff spot.
Otherwise, the Flyers have stayed competitive in a similar fashion to Utah: keep the score down and find just enough goals to win. The Flyers have made some defensive tweaks since the Olympic break in order to simplify some of the defensive reads. They're switching off coverages less often in zone D and blocking more shots in man-to-man coverage.
2. All hands on deck
With the NHL trade deadline looming at 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday, this is a very nerve-racking week for players and management alike. Meanwhile, the Flyers are a banged-up team. Leading scorer Travis Konecny was unable to play in Toronto due to injury. Nick Seeler had to leave the Toronto game in the second period due to a lower body injury. Rasmus Ristolainen, a potential trade candidate, took a maintenance day on Tuesday after playing 27-plus heavy duty minutes against the Maple Leafs the previous night. Christian Dvorak also took a maintenance day. Veteran tough guy Nicolas Deslauriers is another banged-up Flyer.
Tocchet said on Tuesday that the team will likely have several game-time decisions to make about Thursday's lineup. This reflects physical ailments as well as potential roster moves. Defenseman Adam Ginning, who has been with the team since the weekend, is the likeliest substitute to enter the lineup against Utah, especially if Seeler is unable to play.
3. Between the pipes: Czech vs. Czech
A member of Team Czechia during the Olympics, Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar (19-9-6, 2.40 GAA, .908 save percentage) stands a strong chance of winning the Bobby Clarke Trophy this season as the team's most valuable player. He has been nothing short of stellar since the Olympic break. Barring injury or illness, Vladar will likely start nearly every game during the stretch drive with the exception of back-to-back game nights.
Fellow Czech Olympian Karel Vejmelka (29-16-2, 2.61 GAA, .901 save percentage) has been a workhorse for the Mammoth. At the Olympics, Vejmelka was the third goalie on the Czech depth chart behind Anaheim's Lukas Dostal and Philadelphia's Vladar. Meanwhile, Utah's backup goalie to Vejmelka is yet another Czech netminder: Vitek Vanecek (3-9-2, 2.93 GAA, .884 SV%).
4. Cates Line vs. Schmaltz Line
Two-way Flyers center Noah Cates will likely see head-to-head to duty whenever possible against the top Utah trio with Nick Schmaltz (23g, 56 points, +21) centering leading scorer Keller (60 points, +22) and Dylan Guenther (51 points). Mammoth power forward Lawson Crouse (31 points. +21) has also seen time on the top trio this year as well as time with Logan Cooley (15 goals, 26 points in just 33 games).
The Flyers will lean heavily on the Cates' line as well as Dvorak's to contain the Utah top six, and hopefully to generate some offense of their own. Cates slumped offensively before the Olympic break but has looked rejuvenated since then with points (2g, 2a) in each of his last four games. Overall this season, Cates leads the Flyers with a traditional +17 rating to go along with 31 points (12g, 19a).
