Game 16 Preview: Flyers @ Blue Jackets
John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (7-6-2) are in Ohio on Tuesday to take on Brad Larsen's Columbus Blue Jackets (4-9-1). Game time at Nationwide Arena is 7:30 p.m. ET.
The Flyers enter this game looking to snap a three-game losing streak. which started last Thursday with a 5-2 road loss in Columbus. Since then, the Flyers sustained a 4-1 home loss to the Ottawa Senators and a 5-1 home defeat at the hands of the Dallas Stars. Tonight's game is the Flyers' fourth in the last six nights.
Entering this past weekend, the Flyers ranked in the NHL's top six on penalty killing success rate. However, they were burned for two power play goals apiece by the Senators and the Stars (over six penalty killing opportunities) to drop to 18th in the NHL at 77.6 percent. Additionally, the Flyers went 0-for-9 on the power play over the last two games to drop to 16 percent (ranked 28th) on the season.
The Flyers have been over reliant on their top line and PP1 to carry the vast majority of the offensive load, although they were (for a little while) getting a few goals chipped in from unexpected sources such as Zack MacEwen, Lukas Sedlak and even Nicolas Deslauriers. Overall, only the St. Louis Blues (2.43 goals per game) have had a harder time putting the puck in the net than the Flyers (2.47).
The Blue Jackets ended a five-game losing streak with their 5-2 home win over the Flyers last Thursday. On Saturday, Columbus got one point from a 4-3 overtime road loss to the New York Islanders.
Columbus is riddled with injuries. Zach Werenski (separated shoulder and torn labrum) is out for the remainder of the 2022-23 season. Jakub Voracek (suspected concussion) is on IR and out indefinitely. Patrik Laine (ankle) is out three to four weeks with an ankle injury sustained in the Islanders' game. In total, six regular or semi-regular starters are out of the lineup.'
For an in-depth preview of this game, see Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
74 Owen Tippett - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
21 Scot Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 86 Joel Farabee
71 Max Willman - 48 Morgan Frost - 17 Zack MacEwen
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 23 Lukas Sedlak -20 Kieffer Bellows
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
24 Nick Seeler -55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
BLUE JACKETS
13 Johnny Gaudreau - 38 Boone Jenner - 52 Emil Bemström
59 Yegor Chinakhov - 34 Cole Sillinger - 14 Gustav Nyquist
19 Liam Foudy - 16 Brendan Gaunce - 91 Kent Johnson
50 Eric Robinson - 7 Sean Kuraly - 24 Mathieu Oliver
4 Vladislav Gavrikov - 2 Andrew Peeke
22 Jake Bean - 47 Marcus Björk
23 Jake Christiansen - 44 Erik Gudbranson
70 Joonas Korpisalo
90 Elvis Merzlikins
**********
Quick Hits: Nov. 15, 2022
1) The Flyers placed Wade Allison (lower-body injury) on injured reserve on Monday and assigned Tanner Laczynski (who has received limited ice time) to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The team has recalled 27-year-old winger Max Willman, who dressed in 41 NHL games with the Flyers last season, from the Phantoms.
2) Veteran checking forward Patrick Brown, who had missed all of training camp and the entire regular season to date after undergoing offseason back surgery, has been cleared to begin a rehab assignment with the Phantoms.
3) Congratulations go out to Flyers alum player and longtime Flyers/NHL broadcast analyst Bill Clement and longtime Philadelphia Inquirer Flyers beat writer, hockey broadcast studio commentator and WIP radio personality Al Morganti for their respective inductions into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Clement is the 2022 Foster Hewitt Memorial Award (broadcasters' wing of the Hall of Fame) and Morganti is the 2022 Red Fisher Memorial Award (hockey journalist wing) winner.
4) Flyers right winger Cam Atkinson, per Anthony San Filippo on the Stick2Hockey podcast, is dealing with a shoulder/labrum issue. I had heard from a source two weeks ago that the player's neck had been what was bothering him but, if accurate, neck discomfort can potentially be related to a shoulder issue. Per ASF, the player and team have opted to go for the rest/physical rehab route before surgery would be considered. Neither ASF's report nor the information I heard have been confirmed by the Flyers' organization.
5) On a more uplifting note, Atkinson's Force Fund Foundation has reached the $300,000 fundraising mark. Cam and his uncle Rob created the Force Fund Foundation as means to provide financial assistance to military veterans and first responders.
Last year, Cam donated $10,000 to the Flyers Warriors to assist them with serving as the hosts of the 2021 USA Hockey Warrior Classic tournament, which saw the Flyers Warriors win the USA Hockey national Warrior program championships in three different tiers including Tier 1. Atkinson and other Flyers players have struck up friendships with many of the Flyers Warriors players.
One of the biggest highlights of the past year came during the Tier 1 championship 2021 USA Hockey Warrior Classic at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees. Atkinson stopped by the Flyers Warriors locker room before the game to express his support for them in the final game. Later, during the game, numerous Flyers players including Atkinson and other American-born Flyers plus a couple of the Canadian citizens such as Travis Konecny, gathered at rinkside to root on the Flyers Warriors, pounding on the glass to cheer them on. Atkinson also joined in the post-game on-ice celebration of the Tier 1 championship.
6) The 2022 Warrior Classic Tourney, which has held in Michigan, showed the ever-improving caliber of Warrior Hockey programs and the rapid participation expansion by disabled veterans across the country. The Flyers Warriors Tier 4 team won their tier's national championship, while Tier 2 lost in the championship round. The Tier 1 Flyers Warriors were unable to repeat as national champions but reached the semifinals. Only Tier 3 was unable to qualify for the playoffs.
7) Prospect Pipeline and Flyers Farm Report: This season, the Flyers have relaunched a wider emphasis on prospect-related content on the official website and on the Flyers Broadcast Network.
* On a twice-monthly basis, Brian Smith and I cohost the Prospect Pipeline Podcast; a round-up of recent happenings on the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms and a cross-section of prospects in the AHL, ECHL, NCAA, CHL and/or Europe. To listen to the current 28-minute edition of the podcast,
click here.
* Once a week, I am authoring a prospects feature on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com called the "Flyers Farm Report". Each week, we'll name Three Stars of the Week to recognize recent standout performers. The first edition is
available here.
\
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»