Flyers Game 65, Slumping Squads; Lines, Notes, & How to Watch vs. Devils

The Philadelphia Flyers (27-29-8) will host the New Jersey Devils (33-25-6) in the season series finale Sunday afternoon.

The Flyers are coming off three straight losses–all of which the team looked flat out depleted. The two games before that both went to overtime, and the Flyers are 1-3-1 in their last five games.

While the Flyers have been quite bad lately, the Devils have also had their fair share of struggles. The Devils are 1-4-0 in their last five games.

A win would give the Flyers the season series vs Jersey. The puck drops at the Wells Fargo Center at 1:00 p.m. EST. on Sunday.

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Projected Lines

Forwards

Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink

Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Matvei Michkov

Jakob Pelletier – Ryan Poehling – Travis Konecny

Nicolas Deslauriers – Rodrigo Abols – Olle Lycksell

Defensemen

Cam York – Travis Sanheim

Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale

Egor Zamula – Rasmus Ristolainen

Goaltender

Ivan Fedotov

Power Play Units

PP1: Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov – Travis Konecny – Tyson Foerster – Rasmus Ristolainen

PP2: Sean Couturier – Owen Tippett – Bobby Brink – Travis Sanheim – Jamie Drysdale

Penalty Kill Units

PK1: Noah Cates – Travis Konecny – Rasmus Ristolainen – Travis Sanheim

PK2:  Ryan Poehling – Nicolas Deslauriers – Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale

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Figuring it Out

At this point in the season, losses may be more ideal than wins from a fan’s perspective. However, it’s nearly impossible to tell a group of professional athletes to be content with losing games. That said, the Flyers are still trying to figure things out.

The Flyers are trying to battle a plethora of issues, including depth, loss of leadership, a lack of confidence, and more.

The Flyers are trying to figure out their identity, which is less than ideal at this point in the season.

With Scott Laughton out of the room, a bottom-six made up of primarily depth/AHL forwards, and struggling players, the Flyers still have much to figure out before their turn for the worse gets much worse than it has already.

Slumping Squads

If you think things are bad for the Flyers, take a look up at their North Jersey foe. The Devils were once cruising on their way to one of the three Metropolitan division playoff bids. There was a better chance at them catching the Capitals than the Devils being caught. The injury bug has plagued New Jersey all year. Right when they thought it couldn’t get worse, it did.

Since the holiday break, the Devils have not been able to string more than two wins together, and have two four-game losing streaks, and will look to avoid their third Sunday against the Flyers.

Right when they got back to full health, the deadline was just a few days away and things started to look bright for the Devils. However, two key injuries to Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton have derailed the Devils, and things look bleak once again.

New Jersey still bought at the trade deadline, and all of their reinforcements should be in the lineup on Sunday. Currently, the Devils are 33-25-6, with 72 points–a four-point lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers. They will have to fend off Columbus and New York (Rangers) as the season goes on.

The Devils will look to get back on track Sunday against the slumping Flyers.

Previous Matchups

The Flyers are 2-1-0 against the Devils this season. The Flyers took the first game on the road in Newark, with many blocked shots leading the way for the Flyers. Dougie Hamilton scored an early goal in that game, but Sam Ersson locked in, and did not let one past him for the rest of the game.

Just 11 days later, the Flyers hosted the Devils in a game where two goals scored just 28 seconds apart would give the Flyers a quick 2-0 lead. Garnet Hathaway stretched the lead to three, and a late Scott Laughton empty-netter would be the dagger after a late comeback attempt by New Jersey brought them back within one before the score.

That previous game, which was just two days later, the Devils dominated the Flyers, blanking them in Newark. That would have been the first of three games in a row in which the Flyers were shut out.

The series finale at the Wells Fargo Center gives the Flyers a chance to win the season series against their Metropolitan division rival.

How to Watch

TV: TNT/ TruTV/HBO Max

Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic

The puck drops at 1:00 p.m. EST. at the Wells Fargo Center.

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