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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (6-5-1) are in la belle province on Tuesday to take on Martin St. Louis’ Montreal Canadiens (9-3-0). The Flyers finished off a 3-2-0 homestand on Sunday with a 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.
So far this season, Tocchet’s team has gone a good job of cutting down their goals against average and the quality of opposing scoring chances. Entering Tuesday, the Flyers carry a team goals against average of 2.58 (tied for 5th leaguewide). By comparison, at the same point last season. the Flyers had a 3.67 GAA (ranked 28th) through 12 games.
That’s the glass half-full side of the coin. The half-empty side: the Flyers rank 32nd (last) in the NHL in shots per game (23.5) and tied for 27th in goals per game (2.58 average). Meanwhile, the club ranks 28th in expected goals at 5-on-5.
On the special teams side, the penalty kill has been stellar: 90.5 percent (tops in the NHL so far). The penalty kill (18.9 percent, ranked 20th) has been inconsistent from game-to-game and opportunity to opportunity. Additionally, the Fyers have already yielded three shorthanded goals. Consequently, the team’s net power play percentage is just 13.5 percent.
Where to watch
Time and broadcast: 7:00 p.m. ET on NBCSP and NHL Network
Listen online: FlyersRadio 24/7
Four keys to the game for Philadelphia: click here
In-game watch party (Maher Media): click here
Projected Flyers Lineup
Philly had a day off on Monday. Meanwhile, the lineup below reflected the juggled combinations the team rolled out in the third period of Sunday’s game. However, there are two tweaks in the projected lineup: Dan Vladar returns to the net and Emil Andrae replaces Egor Zamula.
Note: these are speculative and unconfirmed. The lineup below will be updated during the day.
Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak –Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov – Sean Couturier – Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin – Noah Cates – Travis Konecny
Rodrigo Abols – Jacob Gaucher – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae – Noah Juulsen
Dan Vladar
[Aleksei Kolosov]
Scratches: Nicolas Deslauriers (healthy), Egor Zamula (healthy), Adam Ginning (healthy)
Injured reserve: Tyson Foerster (foot/ankle)
Let’s Go Flyers