Game 78 Preview: Flyers @ Stars
In the third match of a four-game road trip, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (29-35-13) are in the Lone Star State on Thursday to take on Peter DeBoer's Dallas Stars (42-21-14). Game time at the American Airlines Center is 8:30 p.m, EDT.
The Flyers, who are 0-3-1 in their last four games after rattling off a five-game winning streak during a seven-game homestand, have five games remaining in their 2022-23 season. The Stars are locked in a three-team fight (Stars, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild) for first place in the Central Division. All three teams have 98 points. Colorado holds one game in hand over the other two clubs, while Dallas has a commanding lead in the regulation wins tiebreaker over the Avs and Wild.
Flyers assistant coach Rocky Thompson is expected to be the acting head coach behind the bench for the second straight game. The Flyers opened the current trip with back-to-back 4-2 losses to the Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues. In both games, the Flyers trailed 3-0 in the third period, scored twice to draw back within 3-2, but were unable to tie the game before yielding an empty net goal.
Several Flyers players have milestones within reach heading into this game:
* Travis Konecny is one goal away from the first 30-goal season of his NHL career, despite missing 22 games this year due to injury. * In his first full NHL season, Morgan Frost is one goal away from a 20-goal campaign. He will also look to extend a career-best five-game point streak (5g, 2a) with a tally or an assist in this game. * James van Riemsdyk is one goal away from the 300th of his NHL career.
Carter Hart is expected to get the start in goal tonight after missing the last five games with a lower-body injury.
For more, see today's "Five Things" on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com. Potential lineups, subject to change are below:
FLYERS
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny 86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 57 Wade Allison 25 James van Riemsdyk - 13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton 44 Nicolas Deslauriers xxxxx - 22 Brendan Lemieux
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York 6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen 24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo 47 Ronnie Attard
79 Carter Hart [32 Felix Sandström]
STARS
21 Jason Robertson - 24 Roope Hintz - 16 Joe Pavelski 14 Jamie Benn - 53 Wyatt Johnston - 63 Evgenii Dadonov 18 Max Domi - 91 Tyler Seguin - 10 Ty Dellandrea 42 Fredrik Olofsson - 12 Radek Faksa - 11 Luke Glendening
4 Miro Heiskanen - 20 Ryan Suter 23 Esa Lindell - 2 Jani Hakanpà¤à¤ 6 Colin Miller ´- 55 Thomas Harley
29 Jake Oettinger [41 Scott Wedgewood]