Flyers Game Day: April 13 vs. Hurricanes

Bill Meltzer’s Flyers blog is powered by Phans of Philly, by Lights On Electric, by New Balance of Mount Laurel, by Cover All Exteriors, and our newest sponsors, The Mens and Boys Store and Carl’s Cards and Collectibles.

Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (41-27-12) are home on Monday to host Rod Brind’Amour’s Carolina Hurricanes (52-22-6). If the Flyers win this game, the team will clinch third place in the Metropolitan Division and an automatic playoff spot against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal round.

Carolina is playing the front end of a back-to-back set. They finish their regular season schedule in Elmont on Tuesday against the New York Islanders. Carolina has already clinched first place tn the Metro. Their magic number to clinch the Eastern Conference regular season championship — guaranteeing the home ice advantage for the first three rounds of the playoffs — is down to one.

The Flyers (94 points, 26 regulation wins) enter Monday with one mission: win and they’re in. They don’t want any of backup scenarios to come into play.

Philadelphia enters Monday’s game coming off a 7-1 road blowout victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday evening. The Flyers received stellar performances up and down the lineup. However, special mentions go out to team captain Sean Couturier, top defenseman Travis Sanheim and goaltender Dan Vladar. Meanwhile, the recently struggling penalty kill went 3-for-3 with a shorthanded goal by Noah Cates.

With a back-to-back set to end the regular season, Brind’Amour may divide which players he dresses and which ones he rests between the two games. Carolina has won three games in a row and has a 23-12-4 road record this season. The Flyers have actually been better on the road (23-14-4) than they’ve been at home this season (18-13-8).

Dating back to November 26, 2021, the Flyers are 1-9-7 in their last 17 games against the Hurricanes. Their most win over the Canes came back on Nov. 15, 2023 (3-1 road win). Since then, the Flyers are 0-4-4 in eight meetings with Carolina.  Monday is a tremendous opportunity to flip the script in the team’s most important game since the 2020 playoffs.

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 80 games)

Travis Konecny — 68 points (27g, 41a)
Trevor Zegras — 66 points (25g, 41a)
Owen Tippett — 51 points (28g, 23a)
Christian Dvorak — 51 points (18g, 33a)
Matvei Michkov — 47 points (18g, 29a)
Noah Cates — 46 points (18g, 28a)
Travis Sanheim — 37 points (11g, 26a)
Sean Couturier — 36 points (12g, 24a)
Jamie Drysdale — 32 points (8g, 24a)
Cam York — 26 points (4g, 22a) in 73 games
Tyson Forster — 16 points (13g, 3a) in 27 games
Denver Barkey — 16 points (5g, 11a) in 41 games
Nikita Grebenkin — 14 points (4g, 10a) in 55 games

Goaltender stats

Dan Vladar — 51 GP, 28-14-7, 2.44 GAA, .905 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 held a 10:30 a.m. EDT morning skate on Monday at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The team, as expected, ran line rushes identical to Saturday’s game lineup in Winnipeg. Likewise, Dan Vladar will get the start in goal with a chance to secure the final available playoff slot (third place in the Metro Division) available in the Eastern Conference.

Tyson Foerster – Trevor Zegras – Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny – Christian Dvorak – Porter Martone
Alex Bump– Noah Cates – Matvei Michkov
Luke Glendening – Sean Couturier – Garnet Hathaway

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

Dan Vladar
[Samuel Ersson]

Scratches: Carl Grundstrom (healthy), Alex Bump (healthy), Noah Juulsen (healthy), Nikita Grebenkin (upper body), Garrett Wilson (healthy), David Jiricek (healthy).

Flyers Daily: Monday with Meltzer

In a special nearly hour-long Monday with Meltzer edition of Flyers Daily, Jason Myrtetus and I tackle a host of “Ask Billy” questions from viewers. We do an in-depth review of Saturday’s 7-1 victory in Winnipeg. We devote portions of the show to talking about team captain Sean Couturier, top defenseman Travis Sanheim and defense partner Rasmus Ristolainen. Of course, there’s also some focus on rookie winger Porter Martone and second-year player Matvei Michkov. A theme that runs common with these two youngsters: offensive hockey sense.

Phantoms Update

John Snowden’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms (30-33-6) have off Monday and Tuesday after winning back-to-back weekend home games against the Bridgeport Islanders (7-3) and Cleveland Monsters (4-3 via shootout) on Saturday and Sunday.

The Phantoms have three remaining games on their schedule. On Wednesday, they have a head-to-head road clash with the Springfield Thunderbirds (30-31-8). This is a must-win game in regulation for the Phantoms. The Phantoms (66 points, 20 regulation wins) trail Springfield by two points and a tiebreaker disadvantage (26-20 RW, already clinched by Springfield) for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.

If the Phantoms beat Springfield, the final weekend of the regular season will determine their playoff fate. A regulation loss on Wednesday would make beating out Springfield mathematically impossible due to the tiebreaker. Lehigh also will enter Wednesday trailing the Hershey Bears by three points (69 to 66) plus the tiebreaker (24-20, clinched by Hershey). Plain and simple, the Phantoms need a regulation win come Wednesday and then a weekend road sweep of the Charlotte Checkers (43-22-5).