Rebounding after the NHL All-Star Break, the Philadelphia Flyers (26-19-6) are on the road to reclaiming their confidence. A win against the Florida Panthers, 2-1, helped.
They’ll need to build onto that confidence and find something more: a real swagger.
Tonight, the Winnipeg Jets (30-13-5) visit the Wells Fargo Center. They hosted the Flyers at the Canada Life Centre on January 13th, losing 2-0. Sam Ersson, the netminder tasked with carrying Philadelphia the rest of the way in a starting role, earned the shutout victory.
Winnipeg Jets
Rick Bowness will dress his lineup without Brendan Dillon. Dillon had a hearing for an illegal check to the head of Noel Acciari in a 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, receiving a three-game suspension.
Cole Perfetti tied his career high in points (30). He is at his best this season and naturally possesses the puck with caution while scoring more than a third (5) of his overall goal total (14) on the powerplay. Perfetti tried most of his shooting from below the hash marks against the Penguins, generating high-danger scoring chances. His recipe with the puck versus the Flyers in January was similar, but his top chances off rebounds were all denied by Ersson.
Here’s the tentative lineup for the Winnipeg Jets, per Mitchell Clinton:
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Monahan-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Namestnikov-Iafallo
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt
Brossoit
(Hellebuyck)
Philadelphia Flyers
At the beginning of the month, John Tortorella penned a short letter back to a Philadelphia fan, citing how the organization is going to ‘try like hell to get this right with the Flyers.’ Embracing the post NHL All-Star Weekend sprint, they’ll run into steady competition versus a handful of playoff teams in the first ten games out of the break. Tonight is the second versus a postseason contender in as many games since the NHL returned from Toronto.
Owen Tippett put Philadelphia on edge in the third period against the Panthers. He turned the puck over, leading to a tripping penalty by Nick Seeler. Carter Verhaeghe scored on the powerplay. Tippett generated some offense off rebound chances but mostly missed wide of the net against Florida. Earlier this season against the Jets, when Connor Hellebuyck occupied the crease, Tippett kept testing with quality scoring chances below the hash marks, generating almost as many high-danger chances as Cam Atkinson, who scored both of the Flyers’ goals.
Here’s the tentative lineup for the Philadelphia Flyers, per Jordan Hall:
Tippett-Couturier-Atkinson
Farabee-Frost-Konecny
Foerster-Poehling-Cates
Hathaway-Laughton
Sanheim-Ristolainen
York-Drysdale
Seeler-Walker
Zamula
Ersson
(Petersen)
Place Your Bets (via BetRivers Sportsbook)
Winnipeg Jets (-143)
Philadelphia Flyers (+120)
Cole Perfetti under .5pt (-175)
Owen Tippett anytime goalscorer (+195)
Game Information
You can watch the Philadelphia Flyers host the Winnipeg Jets on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The radio broadcast is available on 97.5 The Fanatic, with the opening faceoff at 7pm.
(AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
