Flyers Game Day Preview: #43 VS Anaheim Ducks

Travis Konceny and the Philadelphia Flyers (17-20-5) are set to take on Mason McTavish and the Anaheim Ducks (17-19-5) Saturday night at 7 p.m. EST in the Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers are coming off a 4-1 loss to the streaking Stars and have won just one game in their last six. The Ducks are 3-3 in that time span.

Projected Lines

Forwards

Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Travis Konecny

Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink

Scott Laughton – Ryan Poehling – Matvei Michkov

Olle Lycksell – Sean Couturier – Garnet Hathaway

Defensemen

Cam York – Travis Sanheim

Egor Zamula – Rasmus Ristolainen

Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale

Goalie

Sam Ersson

Power Play Units

PP1: Travis Konceny – Morgan Frost – Joel Farabee – Owen Tippett – Jamie Drysdale

PP2: Bobby Brink – Noah Cates – Tyson Foerster – Matvei Michkov – Rasmus Ristolainen

Penalty Kill Units

PK1: Scott Laughton – Joel Farabee – Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen

PK2: Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway – Nick Seeler – Egor Zamula

Lycksell Draws In

Flyers forward Olle Lycksell is set to draw back into the lineup per head coach John Tortorella. Joel Farabee comes out for the first time in 216 games.

“I think he cares. He fights the other night. It’s hard for me to take him out…Sometimes, you take players out for punitive stuff; sometimes, you take players out just to let them get away for a bit. This isn’t punitive.” John Tortorella said Saturday morning about pulling Farabee from the lineup.

Tortorella tacked on, saying that he did not know where the Farabee situation would go from here.

Lycksell, the AHL All-Star, has only appeared in one game at the NHL level this season and did not register a point. He has six points (1G, 5A) in 27 career NHL games.

Olle had been working on the fourth line in the left wing spot with Joel Farabee at practice, so it’s fairly safe to assume he slots into that fourth line left wing.

The Return of Cutter

I guess you can never return to a place you never called home, but Saturday’s game will be a homecoming of a sort for Ducks rookie Cutter Gauthier, who infamously requested a trade out of Philadelphia while he was still at Boston College.

In an interview with The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz, Gauthier said, “I am anticipating a lot of boo’s for sure… They’re probably not the happiest fans with me.”

Gauthier is likely right. He was booed on his own home ice when the Flyers took on the Ducks in late December.

The Flyers took round one versus Anaheim, 3-1 in Anaheim, and will look to go for the season sweep.

How to Watch

TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia/ESPN+

Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic

Puck drop is at 7 p.m. EST.