RAV4 Things: Flyers vs. Senators

Looking for their first win of their current seven-game homestand, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (27-30-8) will host Travis Green's Ottawa Senators (33-25-5) on Tuesday evening. Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT.

The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.

This is the second of three meetings this season between Philly and Ottawa. The Flyers won a 5-4 overtime road decision on Nov. 14. The Flyers recovered from a 4-2 deficit in the third period to force overtime before rookie Matvei Michkov finished off the comeback at 4:05 of sudden death.

The Flyers entered the current homestand on a 4-0-1 run that had the team in position to make a stretch drive wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, the club is 0-4-0 on the current homestand, and subtracted pieces from the roster at the trade deadline last Friday.

Winners of each of their last three games (after going 1-5-1 over their previous six matches), the Senators are currently in the upper wildcard position in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa has been good on home ice this season (19-9-2) but has struggled at times on the road (14-16-3).

Both the Flyers and Senators are playing their third game over the last four days and evenings. For Ottawa, it's a back-to-back with travel involved. On Monday, the Senators skated to a 2-1 home win over the Detroit Red Wings. The Flyers sustained a 3-1 home loss to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday afternoon.

Here are the RAV4 Things to watch in Tuesday's game plus an x-factor heading into Tuesday's tilt.

1. TK Tracker

Flyers leading scorer Travis Konecny (64 points in 65 games) celebrates his 28th birthday on March 11. He ended a four-game pointless stretch on Sunday with an assist on Jamie Drysdale's late third period goal that brought Philly back within 2-1.

Apart from the recent four-game point drought, Konecny (22 goals, 42 assists) has continued to create scoring chances for linemates with regularity in the second half of the season. However, goals have been hard to come by ever since a Jan. 16 road game against the New York Islanders.

Konecny bagged an empty net goal against New Jersey on Jan. 18. On Feb. 8, in the final game before the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, Konecny scored on a delayed penalty against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Since the NHL schedule resumed, he has hit the post or crossbar several times but has been unable to get a puck over the goal line.

An Ontario Hockey League star for the Ottawa 67s back in his junior hockey days, Konecny has had respectable NHL success against the Ottawa Senators after advancing to the pro level at age 19. In 20 career games against Ottawa, he has posted 16 points (five goals, 11 assists).

2. Giroux back in town

A shoo-in for future Flyers Hall of Fame induction, longtime Flyers captain Claude Giroux is second all-time in franchise history with exactly 1,000 games played and exactly 900 points in a Flyers uniform. He's now in his third full season with the Senators after a brief sting with Florida following the 2022 trade deadline.

Since his departure from Philly, Giroux has posted 206 points in 245 games for Florida (18 games) and Ottawa. The playmaking forward needs six assists to reach 750 in his NHL career. Head-to-head against the Flyers, Giroux has nine points (3g, 6a) in seven games.

At age 37, "G" is no longer the offensive top dog on his team. He is still, however, a key supporting piece in Ottawa's playoff hopes. He's posted 39 points (12g, 27a) in 62 games played this season.

Recently, Giroux notched a goal and assist and went 11-for-14 on faceoffs while logging 22:22 of ice time against the Washington Capitals on March 3. However, the Caps prevailed via shootout, 5-4 (1-0).

3. Tipp-ing point

Owen Tippett is one goal away from his third consecutive 20-plus goal season for the Flyers. He needs nine tallies over the final 17 games of the season to set a new single-season high in goals and 10 for his first 30-goal campaign in the NHL.

After the 4 Nations break, the streak-scoring winger returned to the Flyers' lineup from a shoulder injury. He quickly rattled off four goals and an assist in the first three games. Since then, he has one goal over the past five games: a lucky bounce resulting from a burst of speed against Seattle this past Saturday.

Tippett was the most important piece that came back to the Flyers in the March 19, 2022, trade that sent impending unrestricted free agent Giroux to Florida. Head-to-head against Ottawa in his career, he has two goals and three points.

4. Between the pipes: Fedotov

There haven't been many bright spots for the Flyers lately, but the recent play of goaltender Ivan Fedotov (5-10-3. 3.02 GAA, .886 SV%) has been an overall positive. He's kept the Flyers in the game in each of his last three outings. In that span, the 28-year-old Russian has stopped 75 of 80 shots (.937 save percentage).

For Ottawa, Linus Ullmark is likely to have the night off in Philadelphia on Tuesday after making a season-high 48 saves in Monday's 2-1 win against Detroit. Anton Forsberg has appeared in 22 games this season, with 20 starts (8-10-1 record, 2.82 GAA, .895 SV%, two shutouts).

X-factor: New faces

Since coming over to the Flyers from the Calgary Flames, winger Jakob Pelletier has primarily played on the fourth line (9:34 average ice time). He's chipped in one assist in eight games to date.

The Senators made a major deal at the NHL trade deadline. Ottawa Senators have acquired center Dylan Cozens and defenceman Dennis Gilbert from the Buffalo Sabres in a deal that sent Josh Norris and Jacob Bernard-Docker to Buffalo. In Monday night's game against Detroit, Cozens scored the game-winning goal on a power play marker with 5:04 remaining in regulation.