Flyers Game Day: March 26 vs. Blackhawks

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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers ((34-24-10) are home on Thursday evening to take on Jeff Blashill’s Chicago Blackhawks (27-31-13).This is the second and final meeting of the season series between the teams.

Factoring the regulation wins tiebreaker, the Flyers currently sit fifth in the race for an Eastern Conference wildcard spot. Philadelphia is five points (four standings points plus the tiebreaker disadvantage) behind the Ottawa Senators for the final wildcard spot. Philly is seven points out of third play in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers would need to pass the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders to move into an automatic playoff spot.

The Flyers come into Thursday’s game needing to immediately put aside Tuesday’s costly 3-2 regulation home loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Couturier opened the scoring in the first period. However, a five-minute lapse at the start of the middle frame proved fatal. Philly trailed the rest of the night. A late goal by Jamie Drysdale reduced the final margin to a one-goal loss.

Chicago is in last place in the Central Division. While many fans have their eye on the Blackhawks’ NHL Draft lottery odds, Blashill and his team are in spoiler mode for opposing clubs on the playoff bubble. Chicago has gained points in seven of their last 10 games (4-3-3 record). On Tuesday, the Hawks skated to a 4-3 regulation road win over the New York Islanders. Frank Nazar netted what proved to be the game-winning goal.Nick Lardis, Ilya Mikheyev and Tyler Bertuzzi also scored for Chicago.

Where to watch

Time and broadcast: 7:00 p.m. EDT on NBCSP
Listen online: FlyersRadio 24/7
RAV4 keys to the game for Philadelphia: click here
In-game watch party (Maher Media): click here

Leading scorers: Flyers (through 69 games)

Travis Konecny — 60 points (25g, 35a)
Trevor Zegras — 56 points (22g, 34a)
Owen Tippett — 42 points (24g, 18a)
Christian Dvorak — 42 points (14g, 28a)
Noah Cates — 38 points (15g, 23a)
Matvei Michkov — 37 points (16g, 21a)
Travis Sanheim — 31 points (8g, 23a)
Sean Couturier — 30 points (8g, 22a)
Jamie Drysdale — 28 points (8g, 20a)
Cam York — 25 points (4g, 21a) in 63 games
Nikita Grebenkin — 14 points (4g, 10a) in 54 games

Goaltender stats

Dan Vladar — 44 GP, 23-12-7, 2.43 GAA, .907 SV%
Samuel Ersson — 28 GP, 11-10-5, 3.28 GAA, .864 SV%
Aleksei Kolosov — 4 GP, 0-2-0, 4.00 GAA, .830 SV%

Projected Flyers Lineup

The Flyers will not hold a morning skate on Thursday. The projected lineup is based off Tuesday’s combinations combinations and Wednesday’s practice.

Alex Bump – Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey– Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett
Carl Grundstrom – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Sean Couturier – Luke Glendening – Garnet Hathaway

Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Noah Juulsen or Emil Andrae

Dan Vladar
[Samuel Ersson]

Scratches: Emil Andrae or Noah Juulsen (healthy), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body), Garrett Wilson (healthy).