Game 11 Preview: Flyers vs. Maple Leafs
Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (6-2-2) begin a gauntlet of three games in four nights across different cities as they host Sheldon Keefe's Toronto Maple Leafs (7-5-1). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:30 p.m. ET (NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic).
This is the first of three meetings this season between the teams. They will rematch in Philadelphia on April 2 before the scene shifts to Scotiabank Arena on April 19.
The Flyers are coming off a 2-1 win in Washington on Saturday. Derick Brassard (2nd goal of the season) and Sean Couturier scored for Philly. Toronto enters coming off a disappointing showing in a 5-1 home loss to the LA Kings on Monday. John Tavares (power play, 7th) tallied the only Toronto goal. The Leafs trailed 2-0 at the time.
Ryan Ellis will not play in this game, although he took the morning skate. He will practice with the team again on Thursday then a decision will be made on whether he'll accompany the team to Carolina and Dallas over the weekend. He'll only make the trip per Vigneault, if there's a reasonable likelihood of him playing. In Ellis' absence, Nick Seeler will remain in the lineup.
With the exception of Carter Hart returning to the net for the Flyers after Martin Jones started on Saturday, the Flyers starting lineup will be the same as it was in the Washington game. Nicolas Aube-Kubel remains a healthy scratch. The Flyers projected lineup is below.
Tavares and Ondrej Kase both took maintenance days off from practice on Tuesday. However, both players made the trip to Philadelphia and were slated to participate in the morning skate. Both are game-day decisions in terms of their availability per Keefe. The Toronto projected lineup will be added to the preview blog when available.
For an in-depth look at the matchup, see the Five Things feature previewing what to watch for in this game.
Wednesday's game is Military Appreciation Night at the Wells Fargo Center. Among the related activities will be recognition of the Flyers Warriors disabled veteran hockey program. The Flyers Warriors Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 teams all won their respective tier tournament championships at the 2021 USA Hockey Warrior Classic held this past weekend at the FTC in Voorhees and Hollydell Ice Arena in Sewell.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny 86 Joel Farabee - 19 Derick Brassard - 89 Cam Atkinson 23 Cam Lindblom - 21 Scott Laughton - 25 James van Riemsdyk 38 Patrick Brown - 44 Nate Thompson - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun 6 Travis Sanheim - 70 Rasmus Ristolainen 3 Keith Yandle - 24 Nick Seeler
79 Carter Hart [35 Martin Jones]
MAPLE LEAFS -- TBD
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