Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers-Jackets: Lineups, Notes, Starting Goalies, How to Watch

Published

2 years ago

April 11, 2023

Johnny Gaudreau, Noah Cates, Philadelphia Flyers

Columbus left winger Johnny Gaudreau (left) battles to get past the Flyers' Noah Cates earlier this season. Photo: AP.

The Philadelphia Flyers will play their final home game of the season Tuesday, hosting a Columbus Blue Jackets team that is the favorite in the Connor Bedard Sweepstakes.

Philly (29-38-13) has lost seven straight, but is heavily favored in the 7 p.m. matchup. Columbus (24-47-8) has lost seven of its last eight, getting outscored by a 39-8 margin in those defeats.

Adam Ginning will make his NHL debut for the Philadelphia Flyers.

Before the game, the Flyers will hand out several awards. My vote for the team’s MVP is Carter Hart, while Nick Seeler gets my nod as the team’s best defenseman.

It’s a return home for South Jersey native Johnny Gaudreau, who has 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) in 16 career games against Philly. The Columbus left winger has 71 points in 77 games. Next season, he could be on a line with Bedard.

Flyers’ expected lineup

Hayes-Cates-Tippett

Farabee-Frost-Konecny

JVR-Laughton-Allison

Deslauriers-Laczynski-Lemieux

Defense

Provorov-York

Sanheim-Ristolainen

Ginning-Braun

Goalie

Hart (21-23-10, 2.94 GAA, .907 SP)

Blue Jackets’ expected lineup

Gaudreau-Jenner-Marchenko

Johnson-Roslovic-Fix-Wolansky

Robinson-Kuraly-Foudy

Dunne-McKown-Bemstrom

Defense

Bayreuther-Peeke

Berni-Boqvist

Christiansen-Jirieck

Goalie

Gillies (1-0, 4.61, .846)

Breakaways

Eric Robinson (12 goals), who, like Gaudreau, played at Gloucester Catholic High, will be a game-time decision because of an unspecified injury. He has two goals over his last four games. … Travis Konecny (29 goals), Morgan Frost (19 goals), and James Van Riemsdyk (299 career goals) are looking for important goals on their personal resumes. … Both teams are near or at the bottom of the pack in most statistical categories, including goals scored. The Flyers have scored 2.64 goals per game (29th), the Jackets have averaged 2.60 per game (30th). … Columbus is allowing a whopping 4.03 goals per game. … Columbus has won two of the three games in the series, scoring 5-2 and 5-4 (OT) victories on its home ice. The Flyers defetaed the Jackets, 5-3, in their last meeting on Dec. 20. Konecny and Owen Tippett each had two goals in that win. … Konecny has 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists) in 21 career games against Columbus. … The Flyers are 18-16-12 in the all-time series.