Flyers Lineup

Claude Giroux – Sean Couturier – Jake Voracek

Scott Laughton – Kevin Hayes – Travis Konecny

Joel Farabee – Derek Grant – Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Connor Bunnaman – Nate Thompson – Tyler Pitlick

Ivan Provorov – Matt Niskanen

Travis Sanheim – Philippe Myers

Robert Hagg – Justin Braun

Brian Elliott – Carter Hart

Andy Welinski, Andy Andreoff, Morgan Frost, Shayne Gostisbehere, Egor Zamula, Mark Friedman, James van Riemsdyk, Alex Lyon, Kirill Ustimenko

Michael Raffl (lower body), Oskar Lindblom

Game Report

If anyone thought the Flyers might miss a step after having a number of months off due to the coronavirus shutdown, the Philadelphia team has something to say about it.  More and more the Flyers seem to be picking up right where they left off before the NHL pause – and then some.

Alain Vigneault has said all along that somewhere in the round robin play he would start to shake up the roster in order to be sure his entire team is ready for the playoffs, and today was that day.  Brian Elliott got the start in net, giving Carter Hart the backup role for the day. With Michael Raffl out with injury, Joel Farabee slotted into the third line, and James van Riemsdyk watched the game from the press box while Connor Bunnaman made his debut.

Playing against a dangerous Washington Capitals team still searching for their first win in the round robin, the Flyers held their opponent to just 17 shots in the entire game. The game plodded along at times, feeling a bit sluggish in places, in part because of poor ice conditions. One area that was quite lively, however, were the penalty boxes as the two teams cycled in and out of the sin bin quite often in the first two periods.

Philadelphia had six opportunities on the man advantage, but couldn’t convert any of them. It’s the one aspect of the Flyers’ game which has some glaring room for improvement moving forward.

One place that firing on all cylinders? The second line of Scott Laughton, Kevin Hayes, and Travis Konecny. They’ve already been a major factor in each game leading up to this one, and they didn’t disappoint today either. Laughton got the scoring started in the first period when he buried the puck off of a no-look pass from Konecny. 

Hayes then showed off his stickhandling skills in the second period when he dangled around a few Capitals players to patiently allow Travis Sanheim to get into position in front of the net. He then dished the puck to Sanheim, who gave the puck a neat little flip right into the net for a 2-0 lead.

The Philadelphia defense buckled down even more in the final frame, keeping the Caps far away from Elliott’s net. In fact it wasn’t until after Laughton’s second goal of the game, a quick push of the puck off a Hayes centering pass, that Washington even registered their first shot on goal. Unfortunately that shot turned into a goal for the Capitals, but that was the only time they managed to get a puck into the Philadelphia net.

The Flyers now wait until Saturday to play their final game of the round robin, against the Tampa Bay Lightning. With two wins in the books, Philadelphia can’t finish worse than second seed in the East, but a win on Saturday will propel them to the top spot in the Conference.

Plus / Minus

▲  Scott Laughton, Kevin Hayes, Travis Konecny, Brian Elliott, Travis Sanheim

▼  Tyler Pitlick, Derek Grant