Starting a seven-game homestand, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (25-30-11) are home on Tuesday evening to take on Bruce Cassidy's Vegas Golden Knights (41-20-6) at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7 .
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the inter-conference clubs and the lone game in Philadelphia. On December 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the Golden Knights claimed a 2-1 overtime decision .
William Carrier scored at 11:45 of the first period for the lone Vegas regulation goal. Scott Laughton tied the game at 1:47 of the second period with a fortuitous bank shot goal from behind the net. The third period was scoreless.A Jonathan Marchessault breakaway goal (12th) goal of the season ended the game at 3:21 of 3-on-3 sudden death. In an oddity, all three goals scored in the game were unassisted. Carter Hart stopped 32 of 34 shots in a losing cause. Adin Hill stopped 27 of 28 shots for Vegas.
More recently, the Flyers went 0-3-0 on a road trip that saw them lose 5-2 to the Tampa Bay Lightning last Tuesday, 1-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, and 5-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon. The team is 2-8-1 over its last 11 games.
The Golden Knights have won each of their last three games, four of their last five matches and seven (7-2-1) of their last 10. Tonight's game in Philadelphia is the final game of a five-game road trip for Vegas and the team's third game in four nights. The Golden Knights are 20-7-3 on the road this season, compared to a 21-13-1 record at home.
Here are five things to watch in tonight's game:
Unfortunately, this has been an all-too-common theme in "Five Things" throughout the season (minus a month-long offensive uptick in mid-December to mid-January): Tortorella's team struggles mightily to score. The issue has been especially glaring in the 15 games since the All-Star break.
For the season, the Flyers rank 30th in the NHL at 2.55 goals per game. However, Philly is dead last in the league since the All-Star break (1.73 GPG).
The Flyers also have the NHL's bottom-ranked power play: 15.1 percent for the season and 10 percent (3-for-30) in the last 15 games. Since the All-Star break, the Flyers have a negative goal differential on their own power plays (3 PPG, 4 SHGA).
Travis Konecny, who got injured on Feb. 20 and has missed eight games and counting is still tied for third on the team in scoring (3g, 2a, 5 points in seven games played) since the break. Tonight, he will miss his ninth straight game to the upper-body injury. He has, however, begun skating again.
This is the Flyers' scoring leaderboard in the 15 games since the All-Star break: Scott Laughton (3g, 4a, 7 points), Owen Tippett (4g, 2a, 6 points), Konecny, Morgan Frost (2g, 3a, 5 points), Noah Cates (2g, 3a, 5 points), Rasmus Ristolainen (0g, 5a, 5 points), Nicolas Deslauriers (3g, 1a, 4 points), Kevin Hayes (2g, 2a, 4 points), Tony DeAngelo (1g, 3a, 4 points in 13 games), and Ivan Provorov (1g, 2a, 3 points).
Since the break, James van Riemsdyk has produced only one goal and one assist in 14 games. Now mired in a 25-game goalless drought, Joel Farabee has two points (0g, 2a) since the break. So does Cam York (0g, 2a) who was initially credited with a goal in the Tampa Bay game on Tuesday, but it was subsequently changed to Brendan Lemieux 's tally on a deflection.
The Golden Knights are ranked 16th offensively in the NHL at 3.18 goals per game. Defensively, they're ranked 8th at 2.72 goals per game allowed.
The Flyers enter tonight's game as the NHL's 25th-ranked team in puck possession. Vegas is 23rd. Both teams are below 50 percent in terms of their shot-attempt differentials at 5-on-5. However, the Golden Knights are in the top half of the league (13th) in terms of shot quality, with a 51.4 percent expected goal share. The Flyers rank 25th (46.7 percent) in expected goals.
Tortorella heavily preaches shot blocking and physical play as a means for the Flyers to compete. The club, which blocked 22 shot attempts when they previously played the Golden Knights in Vegas, ranks 2nd in the NHL in blocked shots per game (17.48). The only team that blocks more shots than the Flyers is Vegas (17.82).
The Flyers rank in the middle of the NHL pack in terms of opposing shots that actually get on their net, placing in a tie with the Winnipeg Jets for 15th (31.2). Vegas is ranked 11th (30.8).
In terms of physical play, the Flyers rank fourth in the NHL in hits per game (27.7). The Golden Knights rank 10th (24.13).
The Flyers, as a team, are minus-19 in their five-on-five goal differential (115 goals scored, 134 goals allowed). The Golden Knights are plus-17 (148 GF to 131 GA).
Philly's power play struggles were mentioned early. They've also had difficulty killing penalties since the All-Star break, entering tonight's game at 75.0 percent for the season (25th) and dead last (65.8 percent, the lone team below 70 percent) since Feb. 1.
The Golden Knights, for the season, rank 19th on the power play (34-for-165, 20.6 percent). However, they've statistically been even worse than the Flyers since Feb. 1 in converting man advantage opportunities into goals (3-for-32, 9.4 percent). Over the same time period, Vegas ranks 14th on the penalty kill (80.4 percent).For the full season today, the Golden Knights' PK ranks 16th (79.4 percent).
The Golden Knights are 6-2 in games decided in 3-on-3 sudden death overtime. The Flyers are 1-10 including their previous loss this season to Vegas.
On Saturday in Pittsburgh, the Flyers surrendered their 16th opposing empty net goal of the season. Philly has scored five times at 6-on-5 (between delayed penalties and late-game empty-net situations) and has not scored a goal (4 GA) when skating 6-on-4. The Flyers have scored eight empty net goals in 2022-23.
The Flyers will hold a 10:30 a.m. optional morning skate today at the FTC in Voorhees. Following Saturday's game in Pittsburgh, the Flyers reassigned rookies Tyson Foerster and Elliot Desnoyers to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Both players had been on emergency recalls with Brendan Lemieux and Wade Allison dealing with day-to-day injuries.
Lemieux returned to practice with the team on Monday. Allison did not practice. Depending on how things progress today, the Flyers may need one or two recalls to round out the available forwards for the game.
Tony DeAngelo has finished serving a two-game suspension by the NHL for a spearing incident in Tampa Bay last Tuesday. He practiced with the team on Monday. With seven healthy defensemen, the Flyers may go back to the option of starting 11 forwards and seven D or scratch a defenseman (such as Justin Braun ) and make a callup if neither Lemieux nor Allison are ready to play.
The lineup below reflects the starting combos from Saturday's game in Pittsburgh. It will change for tonight based on roster moves, player availability and coaches' decisions on tweaking combinations.
21 Scott Laughton - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett 86 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 52 Tyson Foerster [AHL] 25 James van Riemsdyk - 49 Noah Cates - 58 Tanner Laczynski 44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 73 Elliot Desnoyers [AHL] - 20 Kieffer Bellows
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York 6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen 24 Nick Seeler - 61 Justin Braun [possible scratch]
79 Carter Hart 32 Felix Sandström
Returning to lineup: 77 Tony DeAngelo Injuries: 22 Brendan Lemieux [possible return], 57 Wade Allison
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Vegas Golden Knights
Over the course of the team's current road trip, the Golden Knights sustained a 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers last Tuesday, claimed a 4-3 overtime win over Tampa Bay on Thursday, skated to an impressive 4-0 win over the powerhouse Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday and then came back with a 5-3 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.
Against St. Louis, Pavel Dorofeyev scored the game-winning goal. Goalie Jiri Patera earned his first NHL victory. William Karlsson, Marchessault, Michael Amadio and Alex Pietrangelo (ENG) also scored for the Golden Knights.
Below is the Vegas lineup from Sunday's game. The team did not practice on Monday.
Tweet from @JesseGranger_: Golden Knights lineup vs St Louis: Dorofeyev plays on the 2nd filling in for Kolesar. Patera makes NHL debut.Barbashev���Eichel���MarchessaultSmith���Karlsson���DorofeyevCotter���Stephenson���KesselHowden���Blueger���AmadioMartinez���PietrangeloMcNabb���Theodore Hague���WhitecloudPatera
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