The Philadelphia Flyers have won three-straight games only once this season. That season-best winning streak is exclusive to Mike Yeo, who coached the team to three straight victories in mid-December of 2021.
During that three-game winning streak back in December, the Flyers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-3. Similarly, Philadelphia won again by one goal, securing a 2-1 victory most recently. Carter Hart earned the victory in both battles, recording a career-high in saves on Tuesday.
A win tonight matches Yeo’s best run as the interim head coach.
Cam York received the call from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to the Flyers roster. He’ll earn time on the powerplay. Jokingly, Yeo weighed the option of placing Justin Braun on the powerplay, considering how the defense leans on him. Braun did tie Ivan Provorov for the team lead in goals amongst defensemen. No stone can go unturned when searching for a solution to a powerplay that’s converted 7.5% of chances since the beginning of February.
“We lean on Brauner in pretty much every situation except the powerplay right now; which we should consider that.”
Mike Yeo; 3/8/2022
Tonight, the Orange and Black visit the Florida Panthers. Of course, eyes will be on Claude Giroux. He’s the talk of both towns ahead of the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline. It’s another highlighted audition to achieve more trade value.
Florida Panthers (39-13-5; 83pts)
Here’s the projected lineup for the Panthers:
Verhaeghe-Barkov-Mamin
Huberdeau-Bennett-Duclair
Marchment-Luostarinen-Reinhart
Vatrano-Acciari-Hornqvist
Weegar-Ekblad
Forsling-Gudas
Lindbohm-Montour
Bobrovsky
(Johansson)
Sergei Bobrovsky (29-6-3, 91.6%SV, 2.55GAA) will start tonight for Florida. Bobrovsky is a top ten goaltender this season. In his career, he’s 17-5-1 in his career versus the Philadelphia Flyers, with a 2.21GAA and 92.6%SV.
Aleksander Barkov (26G, 31A) may be playing the strongest hockey of his career. That speaks highly of his performance, considering he’s the reigning Selke Award recipient. Barkov had two assists in a 4-3 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins. For the Flyers, mitigating the damage against Barkov means tightening the penalty kill.
Philadelphia Fly-By
Rasmus Ristolainen signed a 5yr/$25.5mil extension. That’s the latest from the Philadelphia Flyers, who are without Sean Couturier (back) and Ryan Ellis (lower body.)
Here’s the projected lineup for the Flyers:
Giroux-Laughton-Konecny
Farabee-Brassard-Atkinson
Lindblom-Hayes-van Riemsdyk
Mayhew-Brown-MacEwen
Provorov-Braun
Sanheim-Ristolainen
Braun-York
Hart
(Jones)
Philadelphia has yet to confirm a starting goaltender. Hart turned away 47 pucks to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. Don’t be surprised if Yeo sticks with the hot hand.
Travis Konecny (9G, 24A) earns the spotlight. He hit the anytime-point prop bet against the Golden Knights, adding an assist when Braun scored from the blue line. Konecny did a little bit of everything correctly against Vegas, a nod to his even-strength two-way ability installed by Alain Vigneault. Expect to see a lot of pop from Konecny and Giroux on the top line.
Props/Prediction
Heavy underdogs, the Philadelphia Flyers are a +290, per DraftKings, on the money line with an over/under puck line at 6.5. An empty-net goal could hurt the puck line, but the under sounds about right given Bobrovsky’s track record versus the Flyers. If Yeo decides to start Martin Jones, take the over. Taking Barkov on an anytime-point prop bet makes sense, too (especially if there is a higher payout for a powerplay point.)
Flyers 2, Panthers 4
(Photo by Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire)
