Flyers vs. Devils: Projected lines and what to watch for in season finale

We’re here. It’s almost over. The Philadelphia Flyers play their final game of the 2020-21 NHL season tonight against the New Jersey Devils. It’s been a long and disappointing season, but now just one game separates the Flyers from an important offseason.

This could be the final game in Orange and Black for a handful of Flyers. The expansion draft opens up the possibility of a key player being taken, and Chuck Fletcher may want to shake things up with a trade anyway.

Oskar Lindblom is the Flyers’ nominee for the Masterson Trophy

But before all that, here’s everything you need to know for tonight’s season finale against the Devils.

Projected lines and pairs

Flyers forward lines

The Flyers forwards, on paper, have been fairly good this season. They’ll run with a familiar lineup tonight against the Devils.

Here are the projected lines for tonight’s game.

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

There are a few changes on the right side with Allison moving up and both Voracek and Aube-Kubel moving down. Allison has been one of the few bright spots this season over the past few weeks for the Flyers.

Flyers defensive pairs

Shayne Gostisbehere will return to the lineup after his two-game suspension. However, that doesn’t mean that Cam York is coming out of the lineup.

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

Gostisbehere replaces Samuel Morin on a pair with Phil Myers.

Flyers starting goalie

Brian Elliott starts tonight in the season finale.

Brian Elliott
Alex Lyon

Elliott is a pending free agent, so this could be his last start as a Flyer.

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

What to watch for

1. Farewell, Flyers?

As mentioned above, this could be the final game with the Flyers for several players.

Brian Elliott is the lone UFA in the lineup, but there are a handful of players that could be moved this offseason. A few veterans are included in that group, and we’ll get into those more later this week after the season is officially over.

2. Saving dignity against the Devils

The Flyers were pretty much embarrassed by the Devils in their four-game series last week. Claude Giroux won the series opener for the Flyers, but it was all Devils after that.

Tonight, in the final game of the season that’s also in front of home fans, the Flyers are going to need to put in a good effort to end the season on a high note.

3. It’s finally over

The Flyers came into this season with high hopes after last year’s success. They won a playoff series for the first time since 2012 and brought back most of the same group with younger players expected to continue developing. However, after a strong start –– at least in terms of their record –– the Flyers fell apart after their COVID pause.

Was this season a fluke? Maybe. But a lot went wrong and Fletcher and Co. will have to fix things this offseason if they want to keep their jobs after next season.

Photo: Heather Barry Images