Flyers Game 5, Finding A Better Start; Lines, Notes, & How to Watch vs. Wild

The Philadelphia Flyers (1-2-1) host the Minnesota Wild (2-3-0) in their third straight home game. Philadelphia lost its last contest 5-2 against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, while the Wild are on the second leg of a back-to-back after being dominated by the Washington Capitals 5-1 on Friday.

Returning to action, Philly will look for a much quicker start in Saturday’s contest than Thursday’s – a point of emphasis from the bench boss Saturday morning.

Can the Flyers find that quick start? The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. EST at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Read More: Mistakes Haunt the Flyers in 5-2 Loss to the Jets

Flyers Lines & Pairs vs. Wild

Forwards
Travis Konecny – Sean Couturier – Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak – Owen Tippett
Nick Deslauriers –Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway

Defensemen
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Egor Zamula – Noah Juulsen

Goaltenders
Dan Vladar
Sam Ersson

Special Teams
PP1: Drysdale, Couturier, Michkov, Tippett, Konecny
PP2: Sanheim, Cates, Zegras, Foerster, Brink

PK1: Cates, Foerster, Seeler, Sanheim
PK 2: Dvorak, Hathaway, Ginning, Juulsen

Finding a Faster Start

The Philadelphia Flyers played a great offensive second period against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. Unfortunately for them, Connor Hellebuyck was on fire that period. While a good second period is good, it does not mean much when the offense was dormant in the first period.

Facing off against a Minnesota team that is bound to be hungry and searching for a fast start after being outshot 45-14 in their 5-1 loss to the Capitals on Friday, the Flyers cannot afford to start slow again.

After Saturday’s morning skate, head coach Rick Tocchet said, “We got to get to our game right from the national anthem, not after 20 minutes.”

Finding a faster start will be a point of emphasis for the Flyers Saturday night.

Read More: 3 Flyers Takeaways: Rookie Mistakes, Michkov’s Improvement, & Hellebuyck’s Impact

Previous Matchups

Last season, the Flyers and Wild split their season series, with the home team winning each matchup. Philadelphia won the first meeting thanks to a Sean Couturier hat trick, as well as a Rasmus Ristolainen game-winner. It was a 7-5 Flyers win. That was also the game where John Tortorella first deployed Konecny-Couturier-Michkov, which will likely be the Flyers’ top line Saturday night.

Game 2 was less kind to the Flyers, who traveled to Minnesota to take on the Wild in a 4-1 loss. Travis Sanheim scored the lone Flyers goal of the game, assisted by Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway.

Couturier and Konecny tied for the team lead in points against the Wild last season with five each. Couturier had three goals and two assists, while Konecny tallied a goal and four assists.

The newly dubbed $136 million man, Kirill Kaprizov, led Minnesota in points against the Flyers last season, tallying four points with a pair of assists and goals.

How to Watch Flyers vs. Jets

TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia, ESPN+ (Out of Market)
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic

The puck drops at Xfinity Mobile Arena at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Read More: PhHN Daily: Tippett Trade Rumors; Tkachuk Update; Calder Favorites