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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (39-26-12) are in Motown on Thursday for a key game against Todd McLellan’s Detroit Red Wings (40-29-9).
The Flyers and Red Wings have split the first two games of the season series. In Detroit on March 28, the Flyers won 5-3. Philadelphia built a commanding lead, withstood a three-goal push by Detroit and finally regained an insurance goal. Owen Tippett led the way with a hat trick and an assist.
At Xfinity Mobile Arena on April 2, the Flyers came back from a 1-0 deficit and later cut a 3-1 deficit to 3-2. Detroit ultimately prevailed, 4-2.
Two nights ago, the Flyers rattled off a 5-1 road win over the New Jersey Devils. Trevor Zegras (24th and 25th) and Tyson Foerster (12th and 13th) scored two goals apiece. Matvei Michkov notched a pair of assists to reach the 45-point mark on the season.
The Red Wings, meanwhile, saw their home game against Columbus slip away on Tuesday. Detroit was unable to protect a 3-2 lead in the final 20 seconds of regulation. The Wings later led the shootout but were unable to get one final save to win or prolong the finale. The result was a 4-3 (3-2) loss. The Red Wings really needed two points from the game, not one. The match result also had the effect of preventing the Flyers from having any margin for error on Thursday night.
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 78 games)
Travis Konecny — 66 points (27g, 39a)
Trevor Zegras — 65 points (25g, 40a)
Owen Tippett — 51 points (28g, 23a)
Christian Dvorak — 49 points (17g, 32a)
Matvei Michkov — 45 points (17g, 28a)
Noah Cates — 43 points (17g, 26a)
Travis Sanheim — 36 points (10g, 26a)
Sean Couturier — 32 points (10g, 22a)
Jamie Drysdale — 31 points (8g, 23a)
Cam York — 26 points (4g, 22a) in 69 games
Tyson Forster — 16 points (13g, 3a) in 25 games
Denver Barkey — 14 points (5g, 9a) in 39 games
Nikita Grebenkin — 14 points (4g, 10a) in 55 games
Goaltender stats
Dan Vladar — 49 GP, 27-13-7, 2.40 GAA, .907 SV%
Samuel Ersson — 31 GP, 13-11-5, 3.15 GAA, .867 SV%
Aleksei Kolosov — 4 GP, 0-2-0, 4.00 GAA, .830 SV%
Flyers Lineup
The Flyers will hold an 11:30 a.m. EDT morning skate on Thursday. Lines below will be updated as needed.
Tyson Foerster – Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny – Christian Dvorak – Porter Martone
Alex Bump– Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Denver Barkey – Sean Couturier – Luke Glendening
Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Noah Juulsen
Dan Vladar
[Samuel Ersson]
Scratches: Carl Grundstrom (healthy), Garnet Hathaway (healthy), Emil Andrae (healthy), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body), Garrett Wilson (healthy).
Flyers Playoff Outlook
Entering Thursday’s game, the Flyers narrowly retain their automatic playoff spot as the third-place team in the Metropolitan Division. They control their own destiny, not needing help from any other team’s outcome in a particular game. In order to maintain the status they’ve worked so hard to reach,however, the Flyers must keep winning.
With four games apiece remaining, the Flyers (92 points, 25 regulation wins) have a two-point lead on the Columbus Blue Jackets (90 points, 27 regulation wins). Because the Blue Jackets own the tiebreaker advantage over the Flyers, it’s vital for Philadelphia to stay at least one point ahead of Columbus and the New York Islanders (89 points, 28 regulation wins) at the end of the regular season.
Doing so would keep Philly in automatic playoff position in the Metro, and avoid the need to worry about the dogfight for the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. That is the situation in which the Red Wings (89 points, 29 RW) find themselves.
Entering Thursday’s match, the Red Wings trail the Ottawa Senators (92 points, 35 RW) by three points for the final wildcard spot in the East. The Senators have already clinched the tiebreaker over the Red Wings. Therefore, Detroit in reality has to make up a four-point gap. Their season is not yet mathematically on the line on Thursday but it’s a practical must-win game.
Home › Forums › Flyers Game Day: April 9 @ Red Wings
Tagged: nhl, philadelphia-flyers