5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Blue Jackets

Playing their final home game of the 2022-23 season, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (26-38-13) will host Brad Larsen's Columbus Blue Jackets (24-47-8) at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday evening. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT.

GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio feed will be on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the teams this season, and the second in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 1-1-1 in the first three games of the season against the Blue Jacket: a 5-2 loss at Nationwide Arena on Nov. 10, a 5-4 overtime defeat at Nationwide Arena on Nov. 15, and a 5-3 home win at the Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 20.
The Flyers have lost each of their last seven games (0-6-1) heading into this match. The Blue Jackets, who are in the cellar of the Eastern Conference and tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for the fewest points in the NHL this season, are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games with three consecutive losses heading into the game.
Here are five storylines that will play out in tonight's game:
1. Will DeAngelo play?
Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo (70 GP, 11 goals, 31 assists, 42 points, minus-27) has been a healthy scratch in each of the last three games. On Easter Sunday, with Masterton Trophy nominee Nick Seeler unable to play due to illness, the Flyers only had five healthy defensemen available other than DeAngelo.
Head coach Tortorella opted to start 13 forwards and five defensemen against Boston. Fourth-line winger Nicolas Deslauriers, who was originally drafted as a defenseman, took pregame warmup reps on defense but played his usual forward spot during the game.
Seeler was still a bit under the weather on Monday but may be able to return for tonight's game. Additionally, with the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms idle tonight, the Flyers have recalled defensive-minded defenseman Adam Ginning. Ginning will make his NHL debut tonight.
If it also works that Seeler is available to play, the Flyers may start 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Ginning and Seeler would play and DeAngelo would remain a healthy scratch in that scenario.
Also of note: Ivan Provorov sustained what appeared to be a shoulder (or arm) injury in the third period of Sunday's game. As he so often does, the player somehow returned to the ice a few minutes later and gritted out the rest of the game. However, he seemed significantly hampered while playing through it.
Except for three games in 2021-22 Provorov was mandatorily forced to sit out due an asymptomatic bout with COVID, the Russian defenseman has never missed a game in his NHL career. He's played 530 of 532 possible games to date. Provorov is 30th on the Flyers' all-time games played list.
2. Starter Hart
After missing five games with a lower-body injury, Carter Hart returned to the net for the Flyers late last week. He played a so-so game by his standards in a 4-1 road loss to the Dallas Stars last Thursday. However, the fact that Hart (and the Flyers team) has not had any opportunity to practice in April was clearly a contributing factor in why he was in less-than-peak form in his first game back from the injury.
On Saturday, Hart got the start in a road game against the New York Islanders. He stopped 15 of 18 shots over the first 40 minutes -- the third goal being on that beat him to the short side under his armpit -- and did not return for the third period. Felix Sandström finished out the game.
There was no reinjury, nor was the decision to remove Hart triggered because he let in one stoppable goal in the New York game. Prior to the game against Boston, Tortorella explained that he pulled Hart with the score 3-0 against the Islanders because he was seriously contemplating the possibility of tabbing Hart to start the Easter Sunday game, too.
However, after talking it over with goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh, Tortorella changed his mind and opted to start Sandström against the Bruins. Having Hart start three games in four nights, especially just a few days after returning from injury, would have entailed more risk than potential reward.
Hart is the likely starter against Columbus. The starter for the season finale in Chicago on Thursday is TBD.
3. Milestone Goal Watch Redux
Several Flyers players have been on the brink of milestone goals for the last few games but a stretch of pointless games has prolonged the watch. Each player now has two games left to score one time. The specific milestones at stake:
James van Riemsdyk is one goal away from the 300th of his NHL career. Travis Konecny is one goal away from his first 30-goal season in the NHL. Morgan Frost is one goal away from a 20-goal season in his first full NHL campaign. Additionally, with a goal scored in Sunday's game against Boston, Owen Tippett is now one goal away from his first 25-goal season in the NHL.
With the home finale being against a Columbus team that carries the NHL's second-worst goals against average (4.03) and yields scoring chances at an equally horrid rate (2nd-worst NHL team in high-danger chances allowed), there should be opportunities for the aforementioned players to score. They'll still have to finish the chances, however.
In Sunday's game against Boston, Frost had three separate Grade A chances in prime scoring range but was unable to solve Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman. JVR had a late-game opportunity in close. Konecny, meanwhile, had all three of his shot attempts in Saturday's game blocked by Islanders' players. On Sunday, TK attempted two shots, putting one on goal and missing the net with the other.
4. Flyers Line Play
The Flyers, who had a desperately needed off day on Monday after playing seven games in 11 nights, will not hold a morning skate today prior to the game against Columbus. Tortorella will address the media at 4:45 p.m. EDT.
Based on Sunday's start-of-the-game lineup with an assumption made that Seeler will feel well enough to play and Ginning also plays, below is a potential 12F/6D lineup. It is very much subject to change over the course of the day prior to game time.
Also note that Joel Farabee ended up playing much of Sunday's game on a line with Noah Cates and Tippett, and the line accounted for two goals. I would expect that the line will either start together or be reunited at some point within the game. JVR, Kevin Hayes or Wade Allison may see some shifts with Frost within tonight's game (in addition to Frost periodically getting out during shifts with Farabee and/or Tippett).
13 Kevin Hayes - 49 Noah Cates - 74 Owen Tippett
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
22 Brendan Lemieux - 58 Tanner Laczynski - 44 Nicolas Deslauriers
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 50 Adam Ginning
79 Carter Hart
32 Felix Sandström
Available: 61 Justin Braun, 77 Tony DeAngelo, 20 Kieffer Bellows.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Columbus Blue Jackets
There is a two-team "race" for the NHL's worst record in 2022-23 between the Blue Jackets and the Chicago Blackhawks (the Flyers' opponent in Thursday's season finale). The consolation prize for the team that finishes last is the highest Draft lottery odds of winning the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.
The highest possible odds are 18.5 percent of obtaining the first overall pick outright. However, when this is combined with the odds of the five teams who are in lottery but cannot obtain the first overall pick (the clubs with the 12th-worst to 16th-worst records in the final NHL standings can move up only a maximum 10 spots), the odds of the bottom team coming away with the first overall Draft pick increase to 25.5 percent.
The Blue Jackets and Blackhawks both have 56 points in the NHL standings. However, the Blue Jackets have three games remaining in their season schedule while Chicago (1-9-0 in its last 10 games, losses in each of the last three games) have two.
The Flyers are essentially locked into the 7th-fewest standings points (7th-highest lottery-winning odds at 6.5 percent). It's still mathematically possible that the Montreal Canadiens could win both of their remaining games (Wednesday on the road against the Islanders and Thursday at home against Boston) while the Flyers could lose in regulation to both the Blue Jackets and Blackhawks.
If that were to happen, the Flyers would finish sixth from the bottom and the Habs would be seventh from the bottom. The difference in terms of Draft lottery odds would be slight: a 7.5 percent chance to win rather than 6.5 percent. In all likelihood, the Flyers will finish in 26th place (seventh from the bottom) in the NHL this season regardless of what the team does against Columbus and Chicago.
Johnny Gaudreau (19 goals, 52 assists, 71 points, minus-33) leads the Blue Jackets in scoring in his first year in Columbus. He's followed by Patrik Laine (22 goals, 30 assists, 52 points, minus-12, 55 games played) and Boone Jenner (26 goals, 19 assists, 45 points, minus-32, 68 games played).
The Blue Jackets have been riddled with injuries throughout the season, and lost key defensemen Zach Werenski and Jake Bean for the whole year in the relatively early stages of the 2022-23 season. Laine is out with a triceps strain and will not play again this season. Neither will veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson (separated shoulder).
Forward Eric Robinson is out for tonight's game with an upper-body injury. Also out: Lane Pederson (upper body), Nick Blankenburg (ankle), Mathieu Olivier (lower leg bone bruise) and goaltender Elvis Merzlikins (lower body).
The Blue Jackets have recalled five players from the AHL's Cleveland Monsters for tonight's game: forwards Trey Fix-Wolansky, Josh Dunne and Carson Meyer as well as defensemen David Jiricek and Jake Christiansen. Jiricek was Columbus' first-round Draft pick in 2022.
13 Johnny Gaudreau - 38 Boone Jenner - 86 Kirill Marchenko
91 Kent Johnson - 96 Jack Roslovic - 64 Trey Fix-Wolansky
19 Liam Foudy - 7 Sean Kuraly -52 Emil Bemström
72 Carson Meyer - 21 Josh Dunne - 41 Hunter McKown
15 Gavin Bayreuther - 2 Andrew Peeke
23 Jake Christiansen - 55 David Jiricek
75 Tim Berni - 27 Adam Boqvist
31 Michael Hutchinson
32 Jon Gillies