Playing the final game of the 2024 calendar year and the third match of a five-game road trip, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (16-17-4) will visit Ryan Warsofsky's San Jose Sharks (11-22-6) on Tuesday. Game time for the New Year's Eve match at SAP Center is 8:00 p.m. EST.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second and final meeting of the season series between the Flyers and Sharks. On November 11 at Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers skated to a 4-3 (2-0) shootout win. Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov each tallied regulation and shootout goals. Erik Johnson also scored for the Flyers, while Samuel Ersson stopped 28 of 31 shots. Vitek Vanecek made 40 saves for the Sharks, who erased a 3-0 deficit to force overtime.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a tough-to-swallow 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday. Philly held a 4-2 lead in the second period and 4-3 edge within the third period but went on to lose in regulation. Overall, December has been a tough month for the Flyers (4-7-1),
The Sharks last played on Saturday, sustaining a 3-1 home loss to the Calgary Flames. December has been one of the worst months for the Sharks in their recent history. The team has won just two of 12 games (2-9-1).
Here are five things to watch in Tuesday's game:
1. Michkov vs. Celebrini
As the calendar prepares to flip to 2025, Flyers rookie winger Michkov and Sharks rookie center Macklin Celebrini are among the top candidates for the Calder Trophy. Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson is also in the Calder race through the first three months of the season, along with New York Islanders winger Maxim Tsyplakov.
Entering Tuesday's game, Michkov and Celebrini are tied for the league's goal-scoring lead among rookies with 12 tallies apiece. Michkov, who snapped a seven-game point drought in Sunday's game with a goal and an assist, paces all NHL rookies thus far in assists (17) and overall points (29).
Tempers flared between Michkov and Celebrini in the previous game this season between the Flyers and Sharks. Celebrini goaded Michkov into a roughing penalty at the end of regulation. The Flyers went on to successfully kill the ensuing 4-on-3 situation in overtime. Michkov earned the last laugh that night by scoring what proved to be the deciding goal in the shootout.
2. Couturier line
After Sunday's game in LA, Tortorella opined that "most of" the players in the Flyers lineup had made positive contributions in the game. He did not specify which players fell short of the mark in his estimation.
However, based on the eye test and the stat sheet, Tortorella may have been referring to the top line of Sean Couturier centering Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny as one that failed to perform to the head coach's expectations against the Kings. Couturier, in fact, sat on the bench with the game still up for grabs during crunch time in the third period.
The Flyers captain has been challenged previously by Tortorella, including twice this season when he was either moved down in the lineup or, very briefly, relocated from center to left wing. Both times, Couturier responded by making big plays.
Couturier's five-point game (hat trick, two assists) against the Minnesota Wild on October 26 came shortly after he was deployed at fourth line left wing at the start of the home opener against Vancouver the previous week. At the time, Tortorella publicly stated that career-long center Couturier might be more effective as a winger at this stage of his career because it would lessen the amount of ice he had to traverse.
With the five-point explosion against a very good Minnesota club, Couturier made a loud-and-clear statement that he can still play center (and handle upper lineup minutes) in the NHL.
More recently, Couturier was briefly moved down in-game to fourth line center in the December 18 match in Detroit. Couturier had entered the game with just one point (zero goals, one assist) in his previous seven matches. The captain's response? He generated two assists in that game, including a perfect set up to Ryan Poehling for a slam dunk at the far post.
On Tuesday in San Jose, the Flyers could use another big response game from their captain. Likewise, Flyers leading scorer Konecny (16g, 25a, 41 points in 37 games played) is a breakout candidate against the Sharks after the road trip started with back-to-back individual performances that did not meet his usual standard.
Tippett (11g, 11a, 22 points) had been on a scorching hot run until just before the holiday break. He's cooled off a bit in his last three games. Overall, Tippett has posted six goals and 10 points in the team's 12 games to date in December.
Tortorella is likely to keep Tippett together with Konecny and Couturier at least at the start of Tuesday's game. However, the Flyers head coach is not shy at all about throwing line combinations into a blender in any given game and he often does so fairly early in a game where they thinks certain combinations may need a shakeup.
3. Flyers special teams
The Flyers drag an 0-for-16 power play drought into Tuesday's game. The club has dropped to 29th in the NHL in power play success rate (14.7 percent) for the season as a whole. San Jose ranks 17th on the penalty kill at 79.1 percent.
At Thanksgiving, Philadelphia's penalty kill ranked third in the NHL at 85.7 percent on the PK In the 16 games since Thanksgiving, however, the PK has been a struggle (61.8 percent, next-to-last in the NHL).
Overall, the PK has dropped to 22nd leaguewide (77.9 percent). The Sharks power play enters the game ranked 21st (18.2 percent).
4. Attention to detail: Winning key draws
In several recent installments of 5 Things, we've devoted sections focused on issues that have popped up in terms of puck management and defensive structure. The Flyers took some generally positive steps in the first two games since the holiday break although there were still a couple of costly breakdowns.
Ahead of playing San Jose, we'll look at another facet of the game: winning faceoffs. On a raw stat sheet, all faceoffs are created equal regardless of zone, manpower on the ice and other game situations.
In reality, some faceoffs are more important than others. That's especially true on the first offensive zone faceoff of a power play and the defensive zone draw that starts a penalty kill. The Flyers have had issues of late in both situations and several opposition goals have been scored within a few seconds of a clean faceoff win in the Flyers' end zone.
5. The F-Troop: Farabee, Foerster, and Frost
Joel Farabee has exited the holiday break with goals in back-to-back games to start the current five-game road trip. Overall, he has six goals and 14 points while dressing in all 37 games.
One-third of the Flyers' hottest line with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink, Tyson Foerster has potted four goals and added two assists for six points over his last five games. He has increased his overall season production to 10 goals at 17 points in 36 games.
Center Morgan Frost has five points (3g, 2a) over his last five games. He's currently on a line with Scott Laughton and Michkov and previously was with Tippett and Michkov. Overall, Frost has 17 points (7g, 10a) in 33 games played.
