Game 39 Preview: Flyers vs. Flames

On Ed Snider Legacy Day, the Philadelphia Flyers (19-13-6) will host the Calgary Flames (17-6-5) at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. Game time is 1:00 p.m. ET.

Saturday's game is the second and final meeting of the season series between the two teams. On New Year's Eve in Calgary, what was a goaltenders' duel for two periods turned into a goal-a-thon in the third period in which the Flames scored three times and the Flyers tallied twice at 6-on-5. The Flames won, 4-3.

The Flyers enter Friday's game winless in their last four games: a 2-1 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken, regulation losses to Calgary and the Edmonton Oilers, and a home 3-2 (1-0) shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. Overall, dating back to December 21, the Flyers have won just one of their last seven games (1-3-3).

Dating back to their New Year's Eve win over the Flyers, the Flames have won three games in a row. Thus far in January, the Flames have earned 3-1 and 6-3 road wins over the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators.

Cam Atkinson and Morgan Frost were both healthy scratches in Thurday's game against Columbus. Both players will return to the Flyers' lineup on Saturday. Scott Laughton took a maintenance day on Friday but will play on Saturday. A healthy scratch against Edmonton, Nic Deslauriers returned to the lineup against Columbus but played very sparingly. In each of the last two games, the Flyers have dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

Against Columbus, the Flyers used Bobby Brink sparingly at 5-on-5 (11 shifts) but he did have four power play shifts and a shift during 3-on-3 overtime. Tyson Foerster is now more than full month (Dec. 4) removed from his last goal, and some of the "process" areas of his game have dipped in several recent matches. Owen Tippett put plenty of rubber at the net against Columbus -- seven shot on goal, four that missed the net, two that got blocked -- but his shot selection and execution were less than ideal. Tippett has one goal and three points in the last seven games.

By contrast, the Flyers top line trio of Joel Farabee, Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny has been a roll since Farabee was moved up to the Couturier line. The line accounted for both Philadelphia goals against Columbus and most of the sustained pressure Philly was able to generate in the last game. All three players logged massive ice time, too.

Lineups will be added to the blog shortly before game time.

FLYERS

86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
74 Owen Tippett - 21 Scott Laughton - 89 Cam Atkinson
71 Tyson Foerster - 48 Morgan Frost - 10 Bobby Brink
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway

6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Cam York
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
5 Egor Zamula - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]


FLAMES

10 Jonathan Huberdeau - 28 Elias Lindholm - 17 Yegor Sharangovich
47 Connor Zary - 91 Nazem Kadri - 76 Martin Posposil
88 Andrew Mangiapane- 11 Mikael Backlund - 20 Blake Coleman
18 A.J. Greer - 63 Adam Ruzicka - 29 Dillon Dube

52 Mackenzie Weegar - 4 Ramus Andersson
55 Noah Hanifin - 8 Chris Tanev
82 Jordan Oesterle - 57 Nick DeSimone

25 Jacob Markström
[80 Dan Vladar]

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