The Vancouver Canucks are back in action at Rogers Arena on Friday night as they welcome the Philadelphia Flyers for the first of two meetings between these two teams over the next nine days.
We don’t see the Flyers often but over the next week and a half, there’s going to be a lot of blue and orange clashing.
Friday night will be Alex Edler Night at the rink. Edler will be honoured pregame and signed a one-day contract to retire with the organization that drafted him in the third round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft before he went on to play 925 games with the Canucks.
Be sure to be in the building early to take in all the festivities and celebrate one of the best defencemen in the history of the Vancouver Canucks.
When the puck drops, the club will look to bounce back on home ice after their season-opening loss to the Flames. The Canucks only lost back-to-back home games three times last season and want to use their home-ice advantage from the loud crowd before they head out on the road for a four-game road trip out east.
The Flyers will play their first game of the season on Friday, and it will be the first NHL game for the highly touted young winger out of Russia, Matvei Michkov.
Michkov was selected seventh overall in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and has been impressing scouts and fans for the past few years with his high-end puck skills and ability to create offence out of nothing.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- Michkov will join Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny on the Flyers’ top line.
- The Flyers will have multiple teenagers in their lineup on Friday. Jett Luchanko is a right-shot centre who was selected 13th overall in the most recent NHL Entry Draft. After playing a couple of seasons in the OHL with the Guelph Strom, Luchanko shined throughout the preseason and earned a spot on the Flyers’ third line for their season-opening game.
- Samuel Ersson is the projected starter between the pipes for the Flyers. Ersson was a rookie last season and finished 10th in Calder Trophy voting. He won his one and only game against Vancouver last season, stopping 18 of the 19 shots he faced.
- Cam York and Travis Sanheim are expected to be two defencemen who eat up a ton of minutes for the Flyers this season.
- Sanheim led the Flyers in ice time per game last season with an average of 23:48 over 81 games.
- York was a first-round pick in the talented 2019 draft and should play in the 22–25–minute range over the year.
- York and Sanheim will pair up on the Flyers’ top penalty killing unit and have built up a lot of chemistry after playing over 1000 minutes of five-on-five hockey as a pairing last season. Only 10 pairings played over 1000 minutes of five-on-five last season – Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek were one of them with 1183 minutes of five-on-five ice time together.
The Story: Rick Tocchet Wants to See the Canucks’ Identity Shine
The Canucks’ head coach praised the Flyers for being one of the top three hardest-working teams in the NHL and needs to see his players prepared from the first drop of the puck.
Game management was a focus of Rick Tocchet’s when he met with the media on Thursday following his team’s practice.
“I think we gave Calgary some life with the shorthanded goal, and I think they started winning more battles. We didn’t go through a guy. I don’t like it when guys circle,” said Tocchet.
The bench boss spoke about the identity of the Canucks and how his team can get back to their bread and butter and be focused on outworking their opposition in the process of playing to their identity.
Taking away time and space and being gritty in the defensive zone is where Tocchet wants to see his team improve for Friday’s game. He wants to continue to see the new players on the roster grow confidence and chemistry with the team as well as the structure and system that the Canucks want to play with.
When and Where to Watch
Friday night’s game is a 7:00 pm puck drop and can be viewed on Sportsnet or listened to with Brendan Batchelor on the call with Sportsnet 650.
If you are coming down to the rink, be sure to come early to take in all the Alex Edler Night festivities!
