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Game 54 Preview: Flyers vs. Predators
Playing the third game of their four-game homestand, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (22-22-9) are home on Saturday afternoon to take on John Hynes' Nashville Predators (24-19-9). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 12:30 p.m. ET.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the inter-conference teams, and the lone game in Philadelphia. Back on October 22 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, the Flyers earned a 3-1 win.
The Flyers enter today's game coming off arguably their best game of the 2022-23 season from a structure and discipline standpoint as they defeated the Edmonton Oilers via shootout, 2-1 (2-1). Hayes (16th goal of the season) notched the lone regulation tally, while Morgan Frost and James van Riemsdyk converted their shootout opportunities. The Flyers rendered the Oilers' lethal power play a non-factor by not taking a single penalty all night. Hart was outstanding, too, and authored 34 saves on 35 shots in regulation and overtime before stopping Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the skills competition.
The Predators have an exceptionally light schedule on either end of the All-Star Break, playing just three games in the first 15 days of February and only a single road game (today's) in the first 18 days of the month. On Tuesday, the Predators stumbled in their first period of play after the break to an even greater extent than the Flyers did against the Islanders in the first period of Monday's 2-1 loss. The Preds were strafed for three goals in the opening period and went on to lose to the Vegas Golden Knights by a 5-1 score. Duchene (15th goal of the season) tallied the lone Predators' goal. Saros made 25 saves in a losing cause.
With winger Kieffer Bellows on waivers, the Flyers have recalled Olle Lycksell from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Assuming he is in the Flyers' starting lineup, he would start in the fourth-line right wing slot. Lycksell leads the Phantoms in scoring this season with 34 points (9g, 25a) in 34 games played. The Phantoms were in action on Friday night in Hartford.
For an in-depth game preview, see today's Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Flyers
25 James van Riemsdyk - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 74 Owen Tippett
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - xxxxxxx
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
Predators
Filip Forsberg - Cody Glass - Matt Duchene
Nino Niederreiter - Ryan Johansen - Mikael Granlund
Cole Smith - Juuso Pärssinen - Colton Sissons
Yakov Trenin - Tommy Novak - Tanner Jeannot
Ryan McDonagh - Roman Josi
Mattias Ekholm - Jeremy Lauzon
Kevin Gravel - Dante Fabbro
Juuse Saros
[Kevin Lankinen]
*********
Phantoms Update
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (23-17-5) earned a 5-2 road win over the Hartford Wolf Pack (19-18-9) on Friday evening. The Phantoms built a 3-1 lead, survived a third period scare in which they were getting outshot, 9-0, and the lead was trimmed to a single goal. Lehigh Valley then finished strong to notch power play and empty-net goals to pull away late.
Max Willman notched a pair of goals (5th and 6th of the season), while Zayde Wisdom (2nd), Elliot Desnoyers (PPG, 15th) and Olle Lycksell (ENG, 9th) tallied one goal apiece. Bobby Brink had two nifty primary assists, Cooper Marody also had two helpers, and Desnoyers had an assist in addition to his goal.
Samuel Ersson played very well in stopping 33 of 35 shots. He yielded only a second-period backdoor goal to Turner Eleson (11th) and a third-period power play point shout through traffic by Zac Jones (7th). When the Phantoms needed a big save, Ersson made it.
On Saturday, the Phantoms are right back in action. They will host the Bridgeport Islanders (19-18-8) at the PPL Center in Allentown.
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