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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (1-6-3) are home on Monday o take on Jared Bednar’s Colorado Avalanche (5-2-1), This is first of two meetings this season between the inter-conference clubs.
Two nights ago, the Flyers skated to their first victory of the season; a hard-earned 3-1 home decision over the Ottawa Senators. Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone had a goal and an assist apiece, while Dan Vladar made 25 saves to secure the win. Trevor Zegras added an empty net goal.
Colorado last played on Friday. Bednar’s club enters this game coming off a 5-2 home win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Monday’s game marks the start of a short two-game Eastern road trip. The Avs visit the New Jersey Devils in Newark on Tuesday.
Offense remains a challenge for the Flyers. Through 10 games, the club still has scored a mere 14 goals. Michkov leads the squad with four goals and five points. Martone (2g, 1a), Zegras (2g, 2a) and Christian Dvorak (2g, 1a) are the only other players with more than one goal to date.
On Tuesday, the Flyers made four roster moves. The team placed defenseman Cam York on IR retroactive to October 8. He remains day-to-day in the bigger picture but wasn’t ready to return for Monday. The club recalled rugged defenseman Hunter McDonald from the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Meanwhile, the Flyers loaned forward Jack Studnicka and defenseman Helge Grans to the Phantoms.
Projected Goalie Matchup
Flyers: Joseph Woll (0-3-2, 2.77 GAA, .916 SV%)
Avalanche: Mackenzie Blackwood (4-2-0, 2.86 GAA, .891 SV%)
Flyers scoring leaders
Points
Matvei Michkov — 5
Trevor Zegras — 4
Christian Dvorak — 4
Porter Martone -3
Travis Sanheim — 3
Travis Konecny — 3
Sean Couturier — 3
Owen Tippett — 2
Nick Seeler -2
Denver Barkey — 2
Goals
Matvei Michkov — 4
Porter Martone — 2
Christian Dvorak — 2
Tyson Foerster — 1
Porter Martone — 1
Trevor Zegras — 1
Owen Tippett – 1
Travis Sanheim — 1
Rasmus Ristolainen — 1
Assists
Sean Couturier 3
Travis Konency — 3
Trevor Zegras — 2
Christian Dvorak — 2
Denver Barkey — 2
Nick Seeler — 2
six players — 1
Where to Watch
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Venue: Xfinity Mobile Arena
Television networks: NBCSP
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Flyers Injury Report
The Flyers are riddled with injuries at present. Following is the known list and their current availability status.
- Tyson Foerster (hand) — game-time decision.
- Sean Couturier (lower body) — game-time decision (seems probable to play)
- Owen Tippett (lower body) — day-to-day
- Travis Konecny (knee) — IR
- Cam York (upper-body) — IR
- Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body) — IR
- Nikita Grebenkin (back surgery) — sidelined at least four months from October
The Flyers have recalled Alex Bump, Cole Knuble (NHL debut) and Jacob Gaucher from the Phantoms. Both Bump and Knuble are likely to play against Colorado. Gaucher serves as insurance in case Couturier can’t go.
Potential Flyers Lineup (will be updated)
Porter Martone – Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak – Alex Bump
Denver Barkey – Sean Couturier – Michael Bunting
Garrett Wilson – Noel Acciari – Cole Knuble
Travis Sanheim – Oliver Bonk
Nick Seeler – Jamie Drysdale
Simon Benoit – David Jiricek
Joseph Woll
Dan Vladar
Available: Hunter McDonald, Jacob Gaucher
Game-time decision (questionable): Tyson Foerster, Sean Couturier
Team Toyota Flyers Spotlight: A Shooting Mentality
Saturday’s game against Ottawa marked the first time all season — and least weighed on the balance of a full game — that the Flyers were able to string together multiple positive shifts in a row. The team improved in all three zones. whether play was in neutral zone (angling check into coverage), the defensive zone (creating breakouts or at least pushing plays outside), or even the offense zone.
The latter has been the most elusive, even as the others subtly showed signs of improvement in positive games. This process cannot stop with Saturday’s game. There are still things to clean up and continue adding into the mix game-by-game.
Behind Enemy Lines: MacKinnon and Makar
Superstar center Nathan MacKinnon and elite offensive defenseman Cale Makar are the undisputed catalysts for the Avalanche. The likes of Arturri Lehkonen (6g,8 points) feed off their creativity. MacKinnon has already racked up 16 points in eight games (8g, 10a) while Makar (3g, 6a) has nine points from the back end. Meanwhile, Martin Necas owns 10 points (4g, 6a) in eight matches.
Flyers Daily: Monday with Meltzer (October 19, 20260
60th Anniversary: Today in Flyers History
At the start of their inaugural 1967-68 season, the Philadelphia Flyers played three road games, winning one and losing two. On October 19, 1967, the Flyers played their first-ever game at the Spectrum. The opponent: the cross-state fellow NHL expansion entry Pittsburgh Penguins.
A crowd of 7,812 fans came out to witness the historic game.
After two scoreless periods, Bill Sutherland – the same player who scored the first goal in franchise history in the team’s opening night game against the California Seals – put the Flyers ahead 1-0 with the first goal in Spectrum history. Leon Rochefort and Ed Hoekstra earned the assists.
On the play, Sutherland pounced on a Rochefort rebound and, from 10 feet from the net, buried the puck beyond Penguins goalie Les Binkley.
Sutherland’s goal would be the only one scored by either team. Flyers goaltender Doug Favell (21 saves) went on to record the first shutout in both franchise and Spectrum history. Binkley finished with 16 saves on 17 shots.
Three nights later, the Flyers downed the visiting Seals, 5-2, to build a three-game winning streak.
