Over the last week, the Philadelphia Flyers were out west on a four-game road trip, turning in a 1-3-0 record. They were dominated by the Seattle Kraken, played slightly better against the Vancouver Canucks, beat the Calgary Flames, and then collapsed in the third period against the Edmonton Oilers.
The Flyers begin another back-to-back at the Wells Fargo Center. Tonight, they’ll host the Montreal Canadiens before traveling to Newark, NJ tomorrow for a Metropolitan Division showdown against the New Jersey Devils.
Philadelphia and Montreal are only ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Eastern Conference. The Canadiens have one more victory, but the Flyers are ahead by four points. Tonight will be the second of three games between these two clubs. In the first meeting, Nick Suzuki scored the game-winner in a shootout, 5-4.
Montreal Canadiens (24-29-4)
Montreal thumped the Devils on Tuesday, 5-2. Missing a ton of players due to injury, they managed a win against one of the best in the Eastern Conference.
Suzuki (18G, 26A) leads the Canadiens in points. He recorded two points (1G, 1A) in the win over the Devils. Alongside Cole Caufield, Suzuki thrived. He has eleven points (2G, 5A) since Caufield exit the lineup. Suzuki is finding some chemistry with Rafael Harvey-Pinard on the first line.
Harvey-Pinard (7G, 3A) impressed during his short time in the Canadiens’ lineup. He and Suzuki crafted a scoring play against the Devils where Justin Barron began the scoring. On the top powerplay unit, Harvey-Pinard and Suzuki will join their other line-mate, Josh Anderson.
Here’s the tentative lineup for the Montreal Canadiens:
Harvey Pinard-Suzuki-Anderson
Hoffman-Drouin-Ylonen
Pitlick-Dvorak-Dadonov
Pezzetta-Tierney-Belzile
Matheson-Barron
Harris-Kovacevic
Schueneman-Savard
Allen
(Montembeault)
Philadelphia Flyers (23-26-10)
In Edmonton on Tuesday, the Flyers were in control of the game before collapsing in the final period, giving up three unanswered goals. They did everything they could against one the NHL’s best offense, but couldn’t find a win:
“I thought the team laid it out there. Did all the things we asked of them, checked. We played a hard game, just couldn’t find a way to win.”
John Tortorella; 2/22/2023
Noah Cates (9G, 17A) scored four points (1G, 3A) in the last five games. He played the third most minutes of all Flyers forwards against the Oilers as he trends his development toward becoming a potential first line center.
Travis Konecny remains out of the lineup, therefore the forwards are scoring by a thin committee. Owen Tippett (16G, 15A) lit the lamp in Edmonton. He continues to make positive strides, whether it’s with the puck or away from it. The 24 year old is growing into his power-forward role.
Here’s the tentative lineup for the Philadelphia Flyers:
Laughton-Cates-Allison
van Riemsdyk-Frost-Tippett
Lycksell-Hayes-Farabee
Deslauriers-Brown-Braun
Provorov-Sanheim
York-Ristolainen
Seeler-DeAngelo
Hart
(Ersson)
Place Your Bets
Philadelphia Flyers moneyline (-165)
Montreal Canadiens moneyline (+140)
Owen Tippett over .5pts (-120)
Nick Suzuki over .5pts (-140)
Game Information
You can watch the Flyers take on the Canadiens on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The radio broadcast will be available on 97.5 The Fanatic and Flyers Radio 24/7. The puck drops at 7:00pm.
(Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)
