Flyers at Capitals: Projected lines, odds & trends, and what to watch for

The Philadelphia Flyers only have three games left: two against the Capitals and one against the Devils. They begin their final two-game series of the season tonight against the Capitals.

Cam York to rotate defense partners, quarterback power play in NHL debut Friday night

Cam York will make his much-anticipated NHL debut for the Flyers. It’s been a month –– and season, really –– of NHL debuts for the Flyers and York is the cherry on top.

Here’s everything you need to know for tonight’s game against the Capitals.

Projected lines and pairs

Flyers forward lines

Alain Vigneault has found a few line combinations that have worked in recent games. He’ll keep those top two lines together with a minor tweak in the bottom six.

Here are the projected lines for tonight’s game.

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

Lindblom and Allison together on the wings could be a good thing for the Flyers moving forward. They both drive play and can chip in offensively as well.

Flyers defensive pairs

Cam York will make his NHL debut paired with Justin Braun, but he’ll move around the defense as well.

Braun had been playing on the top pair with Provorov for quite some time, so it’ll be interesting to see how the other two pairs look.

Ivan Provorov –  Travis Sanheim
Samuel Morin – Philippe Myers
Cam York – Justin Braun

Shayne Gostisbehere is serving a two-game suspension for boarding Mark Friedman.

Flyers starting goalie

Brian Elliott starts tonight with Alex Lyon getting the nod on Saturday.

Brian Elliott
Alex Lyon

In all likelihood, this sets up Elliott to play in the season finale on Monday.

Follow us on Twitter (@PhillyHockeyNow) and keep an eye out for lineup updates as we get closer to game time.

Betting odds and trends

via Covers

• The Flyers are rather heavy underdogs at +165 against the Capitals (-185) with the total set at 6.5 goals.

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Flyers trends

• 4-9 in their last 13 games as a road underdog.
• 3-7 in their last 10 games playing on 2 days rest.
• 2-5 in their last 7 road games.
• 7-18 in their last 25 games as an underdog.
• 5-13 in their last 18 vs. a team with a winning record
• 1-4 in their last 5 overall.

Capitals trends

• 21-5 in their last 26 games as a favorite.
• 25-10 in their last 35 overall.
• 17-7 in their last 24 games following a win.

Head-to-head trends

• Flyers are 0-5 in the last 5 meetings.
• Favorite is 16-6 in the last 22 meetings.
• Over is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.

What to watch for

1. How does Cam York look in his NHL debut?

All eyes will be on Cam York tonight as he makes his NHL debut. The rookie defenseman will be wearing No. 45 for the Orange and Black.

York should be feeling good after his performance on Wednesday night. He had an assist and a nice breakaway goal for two power-play points in the Phantoms’ win over the Hershey Bears.

Tyson Foerster and Cam York connect for a pair of goals in Phantoms win

Tonight, York will be paired with Justin Braun and also get a chance on the power play as well, Alain Vigneault said.

This is the beginning of York’s audition for a spot on the Flyers’ blue line next season. They’re going to need some help on defense and York could be a big part of the solution.

2. Playing against a familiar face

Michael Raffl will face off against the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time in his career. The Flyers traded Raffl to the Capitals at the trade deadline.

Raffl played 504 games over the course of eight seasons in Philadelphia. He was a great teammate and did his job no matter where he was in the lineup.

There are sure to be some good-natured chirps and laughs from Raffl and his old friends.

3. The Tom Wilson Saga

Tom Wilson has been the main character in the NHL’s Soap Opera this week. He received a slap on the wrist in the form of a $5,000 fine for a rather dangerous incident in Monday night’s game.

The Wilson incident sparked a lot of discourse around the NHL Department of Player Safety. Shayne Gostisbehere was suspended two games for boarding in Tuesday night’s game and the Capitals and Rangers had quite the first period on Wednesday night.

Pavel Buchnevich, who was on the receiving end of the Wilson “roughing” incident, received a one-game suspension for a retaliatory crosscheck to the face of Anthony Mantha.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens tonight, if anything, between Wilson and the Flyers.

Photo: Heather Barry Images