Playing each other for the third time in 12 days, John Tortorella’s Philadelphia Flyers (23-22-6) will complete a home-and-home set on Wednesday against Sheldon Keefe’s New Jersey Devils (28-18-6). Game time at Prudential Center in Newark is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised nationally on TNT/MAX. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
Thus far in the four-game season series between the Flyers and Devils, Philadelphia is 2-0-0 with a 3-1 road win on Dec. 18 and, two nights ago, a 4-2 victory at home, After Wednesday’s game, the season series will conclude at Wells Fargo Center on March 9.
On Monday in Philadelphia, the Flyers received goals from Bobby Brink (power play), Joel Farabee, Garnet Hathaway and Scott Laughton (empty net). Samuel Ersson made 31 saves to defeat Jake Allen (22 saves on 25 shots). Rasmus Ristolainen had a pair of assists to become the eighth Finnish defenseman in NHL history to reach 300 points for his career. In the Jan. 18 game, Matvei Michkov (breakaway), Brink (power play) and Travis Konecny (empty net) scored.
On the New Jersey side, offensive defenseman Dougie Hamilton tallied in both previous games against the Flyers. Timo Meier scored a late third-period goal on Monday to temporarily cut the Flyers’ lead to a single goal before Laughton sealed the win with an empty netter. Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes assisted on the Meier goal.
Here are five things to watch in Wednesday’s season series rubber match.
1. Shot suppression Part III
On January 18, the Flyers blocked 33 shots in their 2-1 win over the Devils at Prudential Center. Two nights ago, the Flyers blocked 32 New Jersey shot attempts in the 4-2 win. The Flyers will attempt on Wednesday night to continue to take time and space away from the Devils and to get sticks and bodies in the way of the shooters.
Of course, shot blocking alone won’t be enough to accomplish a third win over the Devils in a 12-day span. The Flyers will also need to channel the same high level of puck support up-ice and through the neutral zone that they used especially well in limiting the Devils to a meager 13 shots on net in the first meeting. With Nico Hischier missing from the Devils’ lineup in Monday’s game, the Flyers also won 62 percent of the faceoffs in the game. Noah Cates led the way, by going 12-for-17 (71 percent). Instant puck possession, at least stemming from offensive zone and defensive zone draws, can go a long way toward keeping a speedy and skilled team like the Devils at bay.
2. Player to watch: Tyson Foerster
While Cates has deservedly received accolades for his play over the last six or seven weeks, the work that Tyson Foerster has turned in along the walls, as the first forechecker, tracking back defensively and in providing puck support has also been an indispensable part of the success that the Cates line has been having.
Foerster scored on a 2-on-1 rush against the Islanders last week. He was the puck carrier, joined by Morgan Frost. Foerster looked off the defender as if he was thinking to pass, and then fired home a shot from the left circle. That goal was especially nice to see because Foerster hasn’t scored much from that spot of the ice this season. Most of his 13 goals this season (13g, 10a, 23 points) have come by getting to the net, but he’s still a scoring threat from the top to the bottom of the left circle when he’s shooting the puck the way he’s capable of doing.
The first time the Flyers played the Devils, Foerster had two assists. One came on Brink’s power play goal that proved to be the game winner. He helped out behind the net to poke the puck to Cates. A wide-open Brink went to the low slot and converted Cates’ centering pass. Later, with the Devils attacking 6-on-5, Foerster hustled to sweep the puck out of the defensive zone ahead to Konecny for an empty net goal. These two sequences are prime examples of the sorts of plays that Foerster has been making with regularity.
In terms of goal scoring, the tally against the Islanders represents Foerster’s lone goal in his last 11 games (1g, 3a). Nevertheless, if his overall game stays as strong as it has been since the latter part of November, the point should start coming again. In similar fashion to the nine-game stretch (Dec.18 to January 5) in which Foerster was rewarded with six goals and three assists.
3. Couturier feeling better
Flyers captain Sean Couturier missed Monday’s game due to illness. With Laughton returning from personal leave following the sudden passing of his father-in-law, the veteran winger/center substituted in the middle for Couturier and delivered a very strong all-around performance on top of assisting on Farabee’s goal and scoring the empty-net goal that sealed the 4-2 win.
Couturier returned to practice on Tuesday and seems likely to play in Newark on Wednesday. With Hischier still day-to-day with an apparent upper-body issue and Jack Hughes playing despite a finger injury (which seemed to hinder him a bit at times in Monday’s game), having Couturier back in the Flyers’ lineup could present an advantage to the Flyers. Couturier’s line with Farabee and Michkov was showing promise prior to Couturier’s brief illness-related absence.
It remains to be seen if Couturier will center Farabee and Michkov regularly in Wednesday’s game, although the captain sent Michkov off for a breakaway goal in the Dec. 18 game. Tortorella juggled line combinations throughout Monday’s game. In addition to centering Farabee and Michkov, Laughton saw shifts centering Konecny and Tippett on Monday. Konecny also saw shifts with Cates and Foerster. In the third period on Monday, Tortorella shortened the bench.
Michkov, fourth-line center Rodrigo Abols and winger Anthony Richard played very sparingly in the third period. Brink and Frost were also periodically skipped on shifts defending the lead in the last five minutes as Tortorella mixed in Hathaway and went on an every-other-shift basis with Cates and Laughton. Having Couturier back in the lineup opens another option.
4. Between the pipes: Ersson’s final January start
With the Flyers currently in another stretch of three games in four nights and looking at a back-to-back (hosting the Islanders on Thursday immediately after visiting the Devils), the goaltending chores for Thursday’s game are expected to be assigned to Ivan Fedotov. That means Wednesday’s game in Newark could be Sam Ersson’s final start for the January portion of the Flyers’ schedule.
Ersson took First Star honors in Monday’s home win over the Devils. He has had an excellent month across January ever since returning from a lower-body injury. For the month, the Swedish goalie has posted a 6-2-0 record, 2.24 goals against average, .913 save percentage and one shutout. Dating back to the end of the leaguewide holiday break, Ersson’s last 10 starts have seen him go 8-2-0 with a 1.96 GAA and .925 save percentage.
The Flyers have struggled to win with their backup netminder(s) in goal. The last win by a Flyers’ goalie other than Ersson came on December 12 with Aleksei Kolosov — since loaned to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms — in net. Over the team’s last 21 games, the Flyers are winless in the nine games with Fedotov (0-2-2, 2.72 GAA, .887 SV%) or Kolosov (0-3-0, 4.51 GAA, .814 SV%) in goal. Fedotov’s prospects for ending that stretch will be a main topic for Thursday’s “5 Things”. For now, Ersson will try to backstop the team to another win against the Devils and conclude his January workload in similar fashion to most of previous performances this month.
5. Risto and Hath
Ristolainen and Hathaway have turned in yeoman work in the team’s two wins over the Devils this month. They’ve checked very effectively. They’ve brought a needed physical presence into play. They’ve also even contributed offensively in Monday’s win, which is not their main role (although Ristolainen has seen power play time in recent weeks and sporadically over the season) but is a boon when they Flyers can get it on top of the other things those two role players bring.
In Monday’s win, Hathaway scored on a deflection to open a 3-0 lead in the second period. He nearly added another goal in the third period, as he skated a relatively rare shift with Frost as his center. On a 2-on-1 rush, Hathaway took a feed from Frost and fired off a dangerous shot from the bottom of the left circle. Devils goalie Allen made one of his better saves of the game to prevent Hathaway from restoring a three-goal margin for Philly.
Ristolainen, meanwhile, atoned for an early-game high-sticking double-minor by assisting on each of the Flyers’ first two goals of the game. Defensively, he killed a couple New Jersey offensive pushes in the neutral zone or just inside the blueline before they could become dangerous. He also dished out a pair of clean body checks and blocked two shot attempts.
Up and down the lineup, the Flyers received strong performances in grinding out a win in the first half of the home-and-home. But Risotainen and Hathaway deserved individual notice for their overall work beyond their offensive contributions on that particular note. More of the same will be needed on Wednesday.
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