Flyers vs. Wild: Luchanko Out; Lineup Under Pressure?

Sitting at last place in the Eastern Conference with a 1-5-1 record, the Philadelphia Flyers host the Minnesota Wild at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center in the hope that they can snap a six-game losing streak in the first leg of this weekend’s back-to-back.

The Flyers did show signs of life on Wednesday in the 6-3 loss to Washington, coming back from a 4-0 deficit to at least make the game competitive at 4-3. Two empty-net goals on offensive miscues ultimately sealed their fate, but the Orange and Black at least did not lay down and die on the ice.

Moral victories don’t count in the wins or points columns, though, and the Flyers are already five points out of a playoff spot.

Yes, it is still very early in the season, but that is a large hole to climb out of at any point in the season, especially with the goaltending and defense looking the way it is.

Their first chance to put the past in the rearview mirror will come against the Wild on Saturday afternoon.

Flyers Game Lineup

Travis Konecny – Sean Couturier – Matvei Michkov

Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Garnet Hathaway

Scott Laughton – Ryan Poehling – Tyson Foerster

Joel Farabee – Noah Cates – Nick Deslauriers

Extras: Bobby Brink, Jett Luchanko

Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen

Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale

Egor Zamula – Erik Johnson

Sam Ersson (S), Ivan Fedotov

Wild Game Lineup

Kirill Kaprizov – Marco Rossi – Mats Zuccarello

Matt Boldy – Joel Eriksson-Ek – Marcus Johansson

Marcus Foligno – Marat Khusnutdinov – Yakov Trenin

Jakub Lauko – Frederick Gaudreau – Liam Ohgren

Jonas Brodin – Brock Faber

Jake Middleton – Declan Chisholm

Jon Merrill – Zach Bogosian

Marc-Andre Fleury (S), Filip Gustavsson

Rookie center Jett Luchanko skated as an extra forward during line rushes at Friday’s practice, so it appears that John Tortorella and the Flyers are prepared to sit him for a third consecutive game. Don’t be surprised if the 18-year-old is returned to the Guelph Storm of the OHL in short order.

Speaking of Tortorella, his lines blender continues to roll, with fourth-line staple Garnet Hathaway jumping into a top-six role to occupy the skilled duo of Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost. Each of those players bring a different element on the ice, and with Tippett serving as the volume shooter, his line doesn’t really need anything else, anyway.

Travis Konecny was classified as day-to-day by Tortorella after the All-Star winger missed Friday’s practice, but the general expectation seems to be that he will play against the Wild on Saturday afternoon.

The same cannot be said for top defenseman Cam York, who was also absent. The difference was that Tortorella had no update for York, who was boarded by Nic Dowd at the end of Wednesday night’s game against Washington.

The fact that the Flyers do not have an update or a timetable for York might indicate that the 23-year-old is currently going through the concussion protocol or working to gain clearance to return to the ice.

How to watch the Flyers game

Saturday afternoon’s Flyers game will be televised on NBC Sports Philadelphia. For fans unable to watch the game, a radio broadcast will be available on 97.5 The Fanatic.

And a closing heads-up for fans: Flyers Charities will be hosting the annual Gritty 5k and it will be impacting traffic to the Wells Fargo Center. Road closures are scheduled for 7:45AM to 9:30AM. Broad Street will be inaccessible to vehicular traffic due to road closures during these scheduled times.

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