Game 42 Preview: Flyers vs. Capitals
John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (16-18-7) begin the statistical second half of the 2022-23 season tonight when they take on Peter Laviolette's Washington Capitals (23-14-6) at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.
This is the third of four meetings between the teams this season. The Flyers are 0-1-1 thus far in the season series. The season series will conclude this Saturday, when the Flyers and Capitals square off in DC for the latter match of the current home-and-home set.
Both the Flyers and Capitals have played good hockey of late. Washington has points in nine of its last 10 games (7-1-2) and is 13-3-3 in its last 19 games dating back to Dec. 1. This past weekend, Washington got two key players who had missed the entire season up to that point -- Nicklas Bà¤ckström and Tom Wilson -- into the lineup for the first time in 2022-23. The team, however, will be without key veteran offensive defenseman John Carlson until late in the regular season or the postseason. In the Dec. 23 game against Winnipeg, Carlson was hit in the head by a slapshot.
The Flyers' stretch of winning hockey is more modest. However, the team has won five of its six games to date since the end of the leaguewide Christmas break. The Flyers are coming off a 4-0 road win against Buffalo (the NHL's highest-scoring team this season) on Monday while the Capitals rode a first period goal by ex-Flyer Erik Gustafsson to a 1-0 win over Columbus on Sunday.
Jan. 11: Flyers vs. Capitals
— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) January 11, 2023
Key team stats (via https://t.co/ZQd16CzPgL) entering the first game of the home-and-home set. pic.twitter.com/nGXyhGGaA7
Carter Hart will get the start in tonight's game per Tortorella. There had been speculation that Samuel Ersson, who stopped all 28 shots he faced in the Buffalo game, would get rewarded with the start in the home game against the Caps. Instead, the Flyers are sticking with their original goalie rotation plan heading into the current 3-in-4 against Toronto (Hart), Buffalo (Ersson) and the Capitals (Hart). Tortorella also said the Flyers would stick with the same four forward line combinations and same three defensive pairs they've regularly featured of late.
The Capitals did not have a morning skate on Wednesday. Thus, while the Flyers' lineup below is confirmed, the Capitals projections are based directly off last game and are subject to change. Laviolette will speak to the media late this afternoon. Darcy Kuemper recorded a 38-save shutout against the Blue Jackets on Sunday (his fourth shutout of the season) and would seem to be the likely starter against the Flyers after the Capitals had open nights on the game schedule on Monday and Tuesday.
For an in-depth preview of tonight's game -- team trends, matchups, keys to victory for Philadelphia, etc. -- see Wednesday's Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Flyers (confirmed)
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny 25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett 13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison 44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York 6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo 24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart [33 Samuel Ersson]
Capitals (based on last game, subject to change)
8 Alex Ovechkin - 19 Nicklas Bà¤ckström - 73 Conor Sheary 17 Dylan Strome - 92 Evgeny Kuznetsov - 43 Tom Wilson 15 Sonny Milano - 20 Lars Eller - 77 T.J. Oshie 9 Marcus Johansson - 26 Nic Dowd - 21 Garnet Hathaway
56 Erik Gustafsson - 57 Trevor van Riemsdyk 9 Dmitry Orlov - 3 Nick Jensen 27 Alexander Alexeyev - 42 Martin Fehervary
35 Darcy Kuemper 79 Charlie Lindgren
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Preview: Phantoms vs. Bridgeport
Ian Laperriere's Lehigh Valley Phantoms (15-13-4) return to action tonight on the road against the Bridgeport Islanders (14-13-7). The game is the front end of a home-and-home set that will continue on Friday at the PPL Center in Allentown. Wednesday's game is the first of a 3-in-4 for the Phantoms. After the home-and-home with the Islanders, the Phantoms will host the Syracuse Crunch on Sunday.
The Phantoms enter this game coming off a strong weekend performance, as they took three of four possible points on the road against the Rochester Americans (regulation win) and Toronto Marlies (shootout loss). The Amerks and Marlies are two of the top three teams in the North Division.
One of the Phantoms' main focuses this week has been to shore up the penalty kill. It's been a problem for much of the season, and Lehigh Valley got strafed by the Marlies' power play in particular. Entering Wednesday's game, the Phantoms rank 31st in the 32-team AHL at 71.0 percent (opponents are 38-for-141) on the penalty kill. On the flip side, the Phantoms have scored four shorthanded goals.
On the other hand, the Phantoms' power play ranks 5th in the NHL at 23.9 percent (26-for-109) with four shorthanded goals allowed.
Olle Lycksell, who rejoined the Phantoms over the weekend after a brief recall to the Flyers, returned to the Phantoms and had a strong weekend. He enters Wednesday's game leading the Phantoms with 22 points (6g, 16a) in 21 games. Tyson Foerster has nine goals and 21 points to date.