In the final game of a four-game homestand, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (20-14-6) will host Martin St. Louis's Montreal Canadiens (17-17-5) on Wednesday evening. Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
After this game, the Flyers will have reached the statistical midpoint (Game 41) of their 2023-24 season schedule.
This is the first of three meetings this season between the teams, and the lone game in Philadelphia. The Flyers and Habs will rematch at the Bell Centre in Montreal on March 28 and April 9. Last season, the Flyers went 1-1-1 against the Canadiens.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday. The Canadiens come into this tilt with two wins in their last three games, including a 4-3 (1-0) shootout win at home against the New York Rangers on Saturday. The Habs were unable to protect a 3-0 lead but rescued a victory in the shootout.
Here are five things to watch in Wednesday's game.
1. Drysdale's Debut
While the Flyers players didn't find out until after Monday's game, the news of a major trade that brought highly touted young defenseman Jamie Drysdale to the Flyers in exchange for the rights to forward prospect Cutter Gauthier ended up overshadowing Philadelphia's loss to the archrival Penguins.
With a much larger than normal media contingent on hand at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees on Tuesday, Drysdale was on the ice for his first practice as a Flyer. He skated on right defense alongside Travis Sanheim.
Drysdale is likely to make his Flyers debut against the Canadiens. That will be known for certain on Wednesday morning. The Flyers have a 10:30 a.m. morning skate at the Flyers Training Center.
Presuming that Drysdale jumps immediately into the Flyers' lineup, he'll play on the power play right away (Tortorella confirmed that part of the plan after Monday's game). Whether it's Egor Zamula or a veteran who exits the lineup in Drysdale's first game remains to be seen.
Head Coach John Tortorella is not one to announce lineup tweaks (or the next game's starting goaltender) ahead of gameday. He often says that line combinations and defensive pairs featured in practice are not necessarily the personnel arrangement that will start the next game together. He'll announce his goalie and lineup tweaks (if any) on game day.
Drysdale will wear uniform No. 9 for the Flyers. He faces some adjustments in transitioning from the Ducks' man-to-man defensive system to the Flyers' zone coverage style. There are also differences in terms of breakouts, up-ice expectations (Tortorella wants the fleet-footed Drysdale to be very aggressive in joining the attack up-ice), and other details. Those adaptations won't happen overnight but Drysdale has solid hockey sense and it shouldn't take an inordinate amount of time to adjust.
2. Defensive structure
With the exception of a few games, Tortorella has noted that the team's commitment to its defensive structure has dipped in recent weeks. The Flyers of late have often given up too much space in the middle of the ice and yielded chances from the slot.
Against Pittsburgh, the Flyers allowed 40 shots on goal and 22 scoring chances of the high-danger variety. Goalie Carter Hart's net was under siege. The Penguins, especially Evgeni Malkin, made the Flyers pay.
On Wednesday morning, Tortorella and the rest of the coaching staff, are planning a video review for the players to see specifically where some key aspects of the process have gotten off track. There are a lot of examples from the game against the Penguins.
For the Flyers to break out of their current run of game-to-game inconsistency, they'll need to recommit to the things that spurred their strong run before the Christmas break. Since then, results have varied too much from game-to-game (or period-to-period).
3. Supporting offense still needed
The Flyers top-line forward trio of Joel Farabee, Sean Couturier and leading scorer Travis Konecny have been reliably solid on a nightly basis. More is needed from the rest of the lineup. The middle six of the forward lineup have been inconsistent.
Lately, the Flyers' fourth line has too often gotten hemmed in the defensive zone. That line needs to get back to creating energy and generating forechecking pressure and up-ice physicality.
In terms of scoring, more consistency of production is needed from the second and third lines. Beyond the top line, there's some legitimately skilled hockey players but the Flyers need more reliable production from the collective group.
In the team's last six games, they've only gotten three goals from forwards other than Farabee, Couturier or Konecny: one apiece from Brink (in Calgary), Frost (at home against Calgary) and Tippett (power play goal on Monday against Pittsburgh).
Even with the defense chipping in a few goals, more offensive production is needed. The Flyers' cannot afford to be a one-line team, burning the candle at both ends in terms of ice time for the top trio. There's a risk of burnout by the stretch drive if that continues.
Frost has had back-to-back good games in terms of underlying process, and he had a goal and an assist in the last Calgary game. However, while he set up two really good scoring chances for linemates and his line spent most of their shifts attacking, he didn't have any scoring chances of his own in the Pittsburgh game. Frost also turned the puck over twice in dangerous areas up high in the attack zone (although only one was charged as a giveaway).
Tippett scored a nice power play goal in the Pittsburgh game but his shot selection and execution over the last few weeks has been less than ideal. Hopefully, the goal he bagged last game will get him back on track. Last season, both Tippett (four goals) and Frost (two goals, two assists) had good success in games against Montreal. The Flyers hope that carries over into this year's season series.
Foerster had three scoring chances -- including two prime chances -- in Monday's game. Tortorella acknowledged that Foerster may be pressing on Tuesday but added that the same could be said of numerous other players. Foerster has not scored in the last 15 games and has posted five assists in that span.
Brink's goal in the game in Calgary is his only point in the last five games but he has seven points over the last 15 matches. Atkinson's last goal was on Nov. 11 in Los Angeles. Over his last 24 games, Atkinson has six points (0g, 6a).
4. Flyers Special Teams vs. Montreal Special Teams
The Flyers have scored a power play goal in back-to-back games. They went 1-for-6 against Calgary (but generated good chances on three of the unsuccessful power plays). Philly was 1-for-2 against Pittsburgh.
For the season, the Flyers rank 31st in the NHL at 10.8 percent success (14-for-130). They've allowed two shorthanded goals. The Canadiens' penalty kill ranks in a tie for 28th in the NHL at 72.7 percent success (opponents are 36-for-132). They've scored four shorthanded goals: two by Sean Monahan and two by Joel Armia.
The Flyers allowed a power play goal to Pittsburgh in the opening minute of Monday's game but went on to go 5-for-6 on the night. The bigger issue was the sheer number of penalties they took.
For the season the Flyers rank second in the NHL on the penalty kill at 86.2 percent. Opposing power plays are 18-for-130. Philadelphia leads the NHL with 10 shorthanded goals scored: five by Konecny, two by defenseman Sean Walker, and one apiece by Laughton, Ryan Poehling and Garnet Hathaway.
The Canadiens' power play ranks 23rd in the NHL at 17.9 percent (24-for-134). They've given up six shorthanded goals.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens bring a 9=7-3 road record into this game. The Habs have gone 5-4-1 in their last 10 games overall.
Nick Suzuki leads Montreal in scoring with 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists) in 39 games. He's followed by Cole Caufield (11g, 16a, 27 points), defenseman Mike Matheson (6g, 21a, 27 points), Monahan (10g, 13a, 23 points) and Juraj Slafkovsky (4g, 10a, 14 points). In 23 games this season, Alex Newhook has 13 points (7g, 6a).
In net, Sam Montembeault has made 17 starts and one relief appearance (9-5-3 record, 2.93 goals against average, .906 save percentage). Jake Allen has made 14 starts (4-8-2, 3.52 GAA, .906 save percentage), Cayden Primeau, the son of former Flyers captain Keith Primeau, has started eight games (4-4-0, 3.30 GAA, .898 SV%).
