Game 40 Preview: Flyers vs. Blue Jackets
Interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (13-18-8) will host Brad Larsen's Columbus Blue Jackets at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday evening. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET (NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic).
The Flyers have gone winless in their last nine games (0-6-3). They need to defeat Columbus to avoid the ignominy of enduring two separate winless streaks in the same season. The club started the season with an 8-4-3 record through the 15 games but have gone 5-14-5 since that time.
Philadelphia enters this game coming off a 4-3 (1-0) shootout loss at home against the New York Islanders on Tuesday. Despite deficits of 1-0 and 2-1, the Flyers outplayed the Islanders for most of regulation. However, the Flyers were unable to protect or add to a 3-2 lead in the third period. The Islanders prevailed in a marathon shootout when Oliver Wahlstrom ended the proceedings in the bottom of the ninth round. The Flyers are 0-for-16 on shootout attempts this season and 0-4 in games decided in the skills competition.
The Blue Jackets are 2-3-0 in their last five games and 3-7-0 over their last 10. On Saturday, the visiting Blue Jackets were on the wrong end of a 9-2 blowout at the hands of the Florida Panthers. One game earlier, however, Columbus scored a 6-0 upset shutout win on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Thursday's game marks the first game for Cam Atkinson against the Blue Jackets since being traded for Jakub Voracek. Voracek, who exited COVID-19 protocol late on Wednesday evening, spent 10 seasons with the Flyers prior to returning to his original NHL club. He was originally considered doubtful to be ready for this game without the benefit of a practice but he made the trip to Philadelphia and will be in the Columbus lineup.
For an in-depth look at tonight's matchup, see today's
Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
Flyers
86 Joel Farabee - 28 Claude Giroux - 89 Cam Atkinson
23 Oskar Lindblom - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 20 Gerry Mayhew
71 Max Willman - 82 Connor Bunnaman - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov -61 Justin Braun
45 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
3 Keith Yandle - 70 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
[35 Martin Jones]
Blue Jackets
14 Gustav Nyquist - 38 Boone Jenner - 28 Oliver Bjorkstrand
29 Patrik Laine - 42 Alexandre Texier - 93 Jakub Voracek
16 Max Domi - 96 Jack Roslovic - 52 Emil Bemström
50 Eric Robinson - 7 Sean Kuraly - 59 Yegor Chinakhov
8 Zach Werenski - 2 Andrew Peeke
5 Gavin Bayreuther - 22 Jake Bean
46 Dean Kukan - 32 Jake Christiansen
70 Elvis Merzlikins
[90 Joonas Korpisalo]
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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