Up and down, up and down, up and down. Have any truer words been spoken about how the Flyers are playing this season?
Started off hot, then fell into an awful extended losing hole, then picked up at least a point in six straight, now faltering again. The Flyers just can’t seem to get things together, losing four straight again while being outscored 19-8 in those games. Their most recent losing streak began with an overtime loss to the Sharks on 12/30 with Felix Sandstrom making his NHL debut.
In a sense of positivity, Philadelphia has the chance to bounce back before they face a tough stretch of divisional opponents (Carolina, Boston, both NY teams, and Columbus). If they want to gain some momentum heading into this stretch, they have to take care of the San Jose Sharks tonight.
Puck drop is slated for 7pm at Wells Fargo Center. Philadelphia is a home underdog tonight with the over/under set at six goals.
Injury List/Lineups
Flyers
COVID protocols and injuries have not helped the orange and black, and this won’t change tonight. The likings of Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, and Ivan Provorov are all listed on the COVID list. According to CBS, all of these guys are able to return as early as today, but I would doubt that any of these guys get activated. Nick Seeler and Jackson Cates were testing yesterday to see if they could return, but as of now, the results are still not public.
Along with this, Nate Thompson (shoulder), Sean Couturier (upper body), Ryan Ellis (lower body), Derick Brassard (hip) are all out with injuries. The depletion of the starting lineup continues to harm the Flyers.
After a rough outing against the Penguins on Thursday night, Carter Hart will get the night off. Martin Jones gets the nod against his former team. On the season, Jones is 6-5-1 with a .906 save percentage. and a 3.36 GAA. Jones has faced his former team before, as he ended up between the pipes three times against San Jose while with the Kings. In those games, he has a 1.26 GAA and .946 save percentage. Hopefully, whatever bad blood he may have with the Sharks propels some motivation tonight to continue that trend of success.
Sharks
The Sharks injury list is also a tad lengthy, but still not close to the extent of the Flyers.
- Lane Pederson: out (health protocols)
- Jake Middleton: day to day (upper body)
- Erik Karlsson: day to day (upper body)
- Mario Ferraro: out (health protocols)
- Logan Couture: out (health and safety protocols)
Given that Adin Hill got the start in a Thursday night win over the Sabres, James Reimer is in line to start against the Flyers tonight. Reimer is having a great season, with a 2.68 GAA and .916 save percentage en route to his 11-7-1 record. In his career, Reimer has 15 appearances against Philadelphia, where he as a 2.45 GAA. This is one of his lowest compared to teams he’s faced at least 10 times in his career.
Prediction
History is not in the Flyers’ favor heading into this game. The Flyers have managed to win just six of their past 28 contests against San Jose, dropping a whopping 10 of their previous 12 meetings in Philly, per Winners and Whiners.
However, as home underdogs, I’d expect the Flyers to snap this losing streak. As shown in their loss against San Jose right before the calendar flipped, they do match up well against this Sharks team. They’re missing a bunch of guys, and should probably lose this game, but I fully expect Philadelphia to pull a win out here.
It’ll be boring and ugly, but Philly will win 2-1 while everyone is focused on the Eagles-Cowboys game tonight.
Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire
