Flyers Game Day: April 11 @ Jets

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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (40-27-12) are in Manitoba on Saturday to take on Scott Arniel’s Winnipeg Jets (35-31-12).

The Flyers (92 points, 25 regulation wins) enter Saturday with a tenuous hold on third place in the Metropolitan Division. For Philly, the math is currently simple: win and they need not worry about how the New York Islanders (91 points, 29 RW) or Columbus Blue Jackets (90 points, 27 RW) fare in their respective games on Saturday. Lose and the Flyers need the other two teams to also lose.

Philadelphia enters Saturday’s game coming off a 6-3 road loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.Discipline and special teams were the Flyers’ undoing in similar fashion to their 6-4 road loss to the Washington Capitals on March 31.

The Flyers saw their three-game winning streak snapped in Detroit last game. Meanwhile, the Jets carry a three-game winning streak of their own into Saturday’s match. They have points in eight of their last 10 games (7-2-1). Winnipeg (82 points, 28 RW) sits three points behind the Los Angeles Kings (85 points, 20 RW) for the final wildcard playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Kings host the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EDT.

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 79 games)

Travis Konecny — 67 points (27g, 40a)
Trevor Zegras — 66 points (25g, 41a)
Owen Tippett — 51 points (28g, 23a)
Christian Dvorak — 50 points (18g, 32a)
Matvei Michkov — 45 points (17g, 28a)
Noah Cates — 43 points (17g, 26a)
Travis Sanheim — 36 points (10g, 26a)
Sean Couturier — 33 points (10g, 23a)
Jamie Drysdale — 32 points (8g, 24a)
Cam York — 26 points (4g, 22a) in 72 games
Tyson Forster — 16 points (13g, 3a) in 26 games
Denver Barkey — 15 points (5g, 10a) in 40 games
Nikita Grebenkin — 14 points (4g, 10a) in 55 games

Goaltender stats

Dan Vladar — 50 GP, 27-14-7, 2.47 GAA, .904 SV%
Samuel Ersson — 32 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 practiced at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Friday before leaving for Winnipeg. Lines below reflect Thursday’s starting lineup. The combos will be updated if needed later in the day.

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 – Emil Andrae

Dan Vladar
[Samuel Ersson]

Scratches: Carl Grundstrom (healthy), Garnet Hathaway (healthy), Noah Juulsen (healthy), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body), Garrett Wilson (healthy).

Flyers Playoff Outlook

Entering Saturday’s game, the Flyers’ playoff math remains simple: Win and they retain third place in the Metropolitan Division heading into the back-to-back set at home on Monday and Tuesday. Lose in regulation and the Flyers (92 points, 25 regulation wins) are at the mercy of both the New York Islanders (91 points, 29 RW) and Columbus Blue Jackets (90 points, 27 RW) to lose their respective games in regulation.

If all three teams win on Saturday, the Flyers could still potentially drop from third in the Metro to out of the playoffs come Sunday. Philly is idle while the Islanders (vs. Montreal Canadiens) and Blue Jackets (vs. Boston Bruins) play on Sunday. However, the Flyers will have two remaining games to play while the other two have a single game left apiece. As such, Philly would still control its own fate.

Saturday’s best case scenario: the Flyers defeat Winnipeg by any means, the Islanders lose to the Ottawa Senators in regulation, and the Blue Jackets lose in regulation to Montreal.That would put Philly back to three points up on the Islanders and four on Columbus. In that scenario, no matter what happens on Sunday, the Flyers will enter Monday’s home game against Carolina in third place in the Metro.