Game 44 Preview: Flyers vs. Blues
Looking to sweep a three-game road trip, the Philadelphia Flyers (23-14-6) will take on the St. Louis Blues (21-18-2) on Monday evening. Game time at the Enterprise Center is 8:00 p.m.ET.
The Flyer enter this game coming off a
2-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. Despite playing without Sean Couturier (injury) and Jamie Drysdale (illness), the Flyers ended the Jets' eight-game winning streak and 14-game point streak.
In Winnipeg, Samuel Ersson turned aside all 35 shots he faced and notched his third shutout of the season. Cam Atkinson ended a 26-game goal drought with even strength and power play tallies (9th and 10th goals of the season).
The Flyers and Blues, who are coming off a 4-3 home overtime loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday, are playing the final game of a four-game homestand. Since Drew Bannister took over as interim head coach on Dec. 14, St. Louis has gone 7-4-1.
Monday's game will mark the first time that Kevin Hayes will play against the Flyers since the offseason trade that sent him to St. Louis. Former Flyers center/winger Brayden Schenn will play his 900th career NHL regular season game. The Flyers, of course, traded Schenn to the Blues on the floor of the 2017 NHL Draft in a deal that brought 2017 (Morgan Frost) and 2018 (Joel Farabee) first-round picks to Philadelphia.
Another connection: Bannister was Frost's head coach with the Ontario Hockey League's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for three seasons. Bannister, a former NHL defenseman, coached the Soo team that reached the OHL Finals in 2017-18 before moving up to the pro level. In 2021-22, Bannister steered the Springfield Thunderbirds to the Calder Cup Final. One month ago, following the dismissal of Flyers alum player and coach Craig Berube, Bannister became St. Louis' interim head coach.
Neither the Flyers nor Blues practiced on Sunday. Both teams will hold a morning skate on Monday. Lineups below are based on Saturday's starters -- the Flyers juggled combinations all game since they only dressed three centers and 11 forwards -- and are subject to change. The projected lineups will be updated after the respective morning skates (the Flyers skate at 12:30 p.m. ET).
FLYERS (Saturday's lineup)
74 Owen Tippett - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 25 Ryan Poehling - 89 Cam Atkinson
71 Tyson Foerster - 48 Morgan Frost - 19 Garnet Hathaway
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - [rotation] - 10 Bobb Brink
8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
5 Egor Zamula- 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
18 Marc Staal
79 Carter Hart
33 Samuel Ersson
Questionable: 14 Sean Couturier (undisclosed injury), 9 Jamie Drysdale (illness)
BLUES (based on Saturday's game)
89 Pavel Buchnevich - 18 Robert Thomas - 25 Jordan Kyrou
20 Brandon Saad - 10 Brayden Schenn - 63 Jake Neighbours
13 Alexey Toropchenko - 12 Kevin Hayes - 42 Kasperi Kapanen
79 Sammy Blais - 26 Nathan Walker - 70 Oskar Sundqvist
4 Nick Leddy - 55 Colton Parayko
47 Torey Krug - 73 Justin Faulk
48 Scott Perunovich - 51 Matt Kessel
50 Jordan Binnington
30 Joel Hofer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»