The Philadelphia Flyers return home to take on the San Jose Sharks after their successful three-game road trip in the south. The Flyers fell to the Carolina Hurricanes but secured a shootout win against the Tampa Bay Lightning and gained a point in a shootout loss against the Florida Panthers.
While there were a lot of eyes on the Flyers due to their rising star Matvei Michkov being healthy-scratched in both Florida games, he will make his return tonight against the San Jose Sharks. With Michkov returning to the lineup after missing two games, it’s a guarantee that he will provide great hockey due to his competitive nature.
With all that is good with Michkov, Ryan Poehling and Erik Johnson also return to the ice. Poehling was out for personal reasons, which were hinted at being family-related. Veteran defensemen such as Johnson tend to play only some games. However, he will be dressing in his 998th NHL career game tonight. If Johnson plays against Ottawa on Thursday, he will be dressing for his 1,000th career game at home against the Sabres on Saturday or any other games in the five-game home stand. Sam Ersson starts in the net after his phenomenal performance against the Panthers.
In other news, two players are missing from tonight’s lineup. Morgan Frost was scratched, and John Tortorella opened up on the latest benching in the City of Brotherly Love: “I’m not coaching him like I did the past two years. I don’t think he deserves that.” The bench boss went on to say he wasn’t playing well enough.
Flyers place Jamie Drysdale on IR
The second player not to be on the lineup is Jamie Drysdale. It has been confirmed through the player’s roster that Drysdale has been placed on IR with an upper-body injury. The 22-year-old defenseman stated before the season that this is the healthiest he’s felt. Unfortunately, some players are more injury-prone, and despite not knowing the exact details of what’s wrong with Drysdale, it is upsetting, but hopefully only a short-term setback.
The Flyers facing the San Jose Sharks is a pretty even matchup, as they’re both in the bottom four teams in the league. Like the Flyers have Michkov, San Jose has their star Macklin Celebrini, who was the first overall draft pick from this previous draft. The puck drop is at 7 pm.
Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
