Flyers lines vs. Capitals: Patrick ‘feels fine,’ Morin returns, Hart in net

The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night, which is always fun. The filthy shootout goals by Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier made it even better. On top of that, Carter Hart was great in net and displayed a strong glove in the shootout.

The Flyers have 13 games left and a 3.3% chance to make the playoffs, per MoneyPuck, so they’re playing for pride at this point. 

Wade Allison made his NHL debut on Thursday night and impressed in the win. He was strong in all three zones and led the team in scoring chances.

Flyers Film: Breaking down Wade Allison’s impressive NHL debut

The Flyers take on the Capitals this afternoon before hosting the Islanders tomorrow night.

Here is the projected Flyers lineup against the Capitals:

Flyers forward lines

Alain Vigneault didn’t provide much intel into his forward lines for Saturday’s game. He did say that there would be some players potentially held out due to load management/managing injuries but didn’t specify anyone in particular.

On Saturday morning, however, the Flyers recalled Carsen Twarynski and announced that Tanner Laczynski is out with a lower-body injury.

Nolan Patrick is another candidate to be held out of the lineup. He felt fine on Friday, according to Vigneault, but may need another day or two after taking a puck to the head on Thursday night.

Nolan Patrick “feels fine” after taking puck to head

These are the projected lines for tonight:

James van Riemsdyk – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Claude Giroux – Kevin Hayes – Jakub Voracek
Carsen Twarynski – Scott Laughton – Joel Farabee
Oskar Lindblom – Nolan Patrick – Wade Allison

The only in-game change was swapping Konecny up to the top line for Farabee. We’ll see if that sticks today.

Follow @RGilbertSOP and @PhillyHockeyNow for lineup updates before and during the game.

Flyers defensive pairs

The intel that Vigneault did provide regarding the lineup touched on the defense. Sam Morin will return to the lineup, but Vigneault wasn’t forthcoming with who would come out of the lineup.

A defenseman or two could be banged up with a nagging injury. Ivan Provorov must have a few bruises after the last few games, and Justin Braun looked slower than usual against the Penguins.

Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun
Travis Sanheim – Robert Hagg
Shayne Gostisbehere – Samuel Morin

We’ll project Morin entering the lineup for Myers, who has been rotating with the big man.

Flyers starting goalie

Carter Hart is coming off a 31-save performance and will look to continue his strong play in April.

Alex Lyon will dress and back up Hart, with Elliott starting on Sunday night.

Carter Hart
Alex Lyon

It’s an early one today: puck drop is at 12:30 p.m. ET between the Capitals and Flyers in South Philadelphia.

Around the NHL

• An in-depth look at how former Flyer Jeff Carter played in his first game as a Penguin. (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)
• The Islanders have suddenly gone cold with back-to-back losses to the Bruins. (NYI Hockey Now)
• The Bruins, on the other hand, are seeing immediate dividends from their trade deadline acquisitions, including Taylor Hall.. (Boston Hockey Now)
• Due to COVID-19, Avalanche games are postponed through at least Tuesday. (Colorado Hockey Now)
• San Jose ended up helping their rivals at the trade deadline. (San Jose Hockey Now)
• Robin Lehner and the Golden Knights absolutely dominated the Ducks on Friday night. (Vegas Hockey Now)

Photo: Heather Barry Images