Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (37-25-12) are back home on Thursday to take in Todd McLellan's Detroit Red Wings (39-27-8). Tied with 86 points apiece through 74 games, this is a must-win game for both teams.
Game time at Xfinity Mobile Arena is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
Last Saturday in Detroit, the Flyers earned a 5-3 victory. Philly built a seemingly comfortable 4-0 lead through the game's first 55 minutes. Detroit scored three quick goals to draw back with 4-3. Finally, an empty-net goal secured the win.
Both the Flyers and Red Wings are below the Eastern Conference wildcard cutoff line. However, the lower wildcard team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, are just two points (plus 27 to 23 a regulation wins tiebreaker advantage) ahead of Philly. The Blue Jackets visit the Eastern Conference leading Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
If the Flyers beat Detroit and the Hurricanes defeat the Blue Jackets in regulation on Tuesday, Philadelphia would temporarily move ahead of Columbus in the standings. That is because the Flyers have played one fewer gamer than the Blue Jackets. Ultimately, however, Philly would need to surpass the Blue Jackets by at least one point to remove the regulation wins factor.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Thursday.
1. Home crowd energy
The Xfinity Mobile Arena crowd will be rocking from the drop of the game's opening faceoff. The Flyers partisans are ready, willing and able to give the home team an extra jolt of energy throughout the evening.
However, it's up to the Flyers themselves to keep the crowd engaged. Play a fast-paced and physical game. Execute on special teams. Worry about initiating the play rather than responding. Do those things and the atmosphere will stay electric.
If the Flyers have to chase the game all night and fail the test on critical puck battles or special teams situations, the crowd energy will be sapped or turn in a negative direction. But as long as the Flyers give their fans something to cheer about, the crowd will provide a big boost.
2. Between the pipes
Both Tocchet and McLellan have crucial decisions to make on their respective starting goaltenders for Thursday's game.
Dan Vladar stands a strong chance of winning the Bobby Clarke Trophy this season as the Flyers' most valuable player. He's been a rock of consistency even when other aspects of the team play have ebbed and flowed.
However, Samuel Ersson has been on fire lately when given the chance to start. He's been outstanding throughout the month of March.
Meanwhile, Vladar has very recently -- two of his last three starts -- shown some potential warning signs of being a little worn down. Specifically, he's been a tad slow with his glove hand even on clear-sighted shots. He might also be just the slightest bit off in getting set. Vladar got a bit banged up during Tuesday's morning skate and the game. Twice he got hit up high with the puck, losing his mask.
On the Detroit side, McLellan has been riding veteran John Gibson almost exclusively this month; even in games on consecutive nights. He's been looking far more worn down than Vladar, in fact.
Thirty-eight-year-old Cam Talbot, a former Flyer, last started a game back on March 4. He's had four relief appearances since then. Talbot played part of the third period of last Saturday's game against the Flyers and the final 40 minutes of Tuesday's game in Pittsburgh.
3. Sanheim and Ristolainen
The Flyers' top blueline pairing of Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen has played back-to-back stellar games; both individually and in tandem. Philadelphia's issues in the Washington game came either with either pairings on the ice or due to the Capitals' power play breaking Philly's PK diamond structure.
Philadelphia needs the Sanheim and Ristolainen pairing to keep up what they've been doing. They could also use a bounceback night from the pairing of Cam York and Jamie Drysdale. Drysdale in particular has played very well since the Olympic break. However, the duo had a tough night in Washington.
4. The young guns
The Flyers are playing meaningful hockey games in April. In the long term, it's great experience for the Flyers' rookies and second-year pros (as well as somewhat older players such as Trevor Zegras).
In various recent games, the Flyers have gotten a boost from youngsters in the lineup. Top prospect Porter Martone makes his home debut on Thursday. Denver Barkey delivered a goal in Washington. Matvei Michkov has three assists in his last four games and seven points (0g, 7a) in the last eight matches. His last goal came back on March 9.
In Washington, young defenseman Emil Andrae played in his 100th career NHL game; a mini milestone. He moved the puck well but struggled a bit with the Caps' heaviness and physicality. Andrae (2g, 11a, 13 points, +14 in 54 games) had a solid performance in 14:14 of ice time in Detroit last Saturday.
