In the latter match of weekend back-to-back home games, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (2-5-1) play host to Martin St. Louis's Montreal Canadiens (3-4-1) on Sunday evening. Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT.
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.
Sunday's game is the first of a three-game season series between the Flyers and Canadiens. The teams will rematch in Philadelphia on March 25 before the season series concludes at Bell Centre in Montreal on April 5.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a rollercoaster 7-5 home win against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon. The victory snapped a six-game winless streak and provided Philly its first regulation win of the season.
The Canadiens were also in action on Saturday, capturing a much-needed 5-2 home triumph over the St. Louis Blues. Coming into Saturday's game, the Canadiens had been winless in their previous four matches (0-3-1) and had lost five of their last six games (1-4-1).
Here are five things to watch in Sunday's game in Philly.
1. Couturier coming off a monster performance
From a mental standpoint, Flyers captain Sean Couturier needed a day like Saturday's win over Minnesota as desperately as the entire Flyers team needed the lift that his five-point performance (hat trick and two assists) provided.
Couturier's first goal of the game, scored at 1:18 of the first period as he parked himself near the net, was the 500th point of his NHL career. More urgently, it ended a personal 32-game goal drought for Couturier. In the second period, Couturier stabilized the game and restored momentum as his low-to-high play on a delayed Minnesota penalty resulted in Matvei Michov's fourth goal of the season. In the final stanza, Couturier swept home his second goal of the game for a 5-4 lead. He assisted on Rasmus Ristolainen's eventual game-winning goal with 2:34 remaining in regulation. Finally, the captain punctuated the victory with an empty-net tally off an unselfish pass from Noah Cates.
Saturday's game was one of the three most memorable performances of Couturier's NHL career. Keep in mind that Couturier has had to overcome two surgeries on his back and a core muscle surgery over the last three years.
The other two candidates for Couturier's ultimate performances came in the playoffs:
- Game 2 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal against Pittsburgh. A 19-year-old rookie Couturier shut down Evgeni Malkin at 5-on-5 and recorded a hat trick.
- Game 6 of the 2018 ECQF against Pittsburgh. Hobbling on a torn right MCL sustained in a collision at practice with Radko Gudas the previous week, Couturier almost singlehandedly forced a Game 7 with a hat trick and two assists. Two nights earlier, in Game 5, Couturier forced a sixth game in the series with the game-winning goal at 18:45 of the third period.
Couturier's breakout performance against Minnesota didn't come out of the blue. He'd been building toward it with progressively better and better outings, albeit in losing causes for the team, in each of the three previous games. The reward finally came on Saturday on both the scoresheet and the win column. Now the captain will be called upon against the Habs to help the Flyers make it back-to-back wins. At 3-5-1, there'd be a perceptible path toward putting the six-game winless spell into the rearview mirror.
2. Off-wing chemistry: MM and TK
The high-skill wing duo of 19-year-old rookie Michkov (nine points in his first eight NHL games) and NHL All-Star Travis Konecny (power play goal, four assists on Saturday) have quickly found strong chemistry with Couturier. Michkov strongly prefers playing right wing. Konecny does as well, but the right-handed shooter has been moved to his off wing for the purpose of being teamed up with Michkov on the same line. Previously, there was an attempt by Tortorella to have Michkov and Konecny together on their natural side (left-handed shooter Michkov on left wing, Konecny on the right). So far, however, having both Michkov and Konecny together on their off-wings has clicked instantly.
Additionally, neither Konecny nor Michkov are north-south style players. Both like to roam around after the puck is dropped for a faceoff, so there will be times when Michkov is on the left side or middle of the ice with Konecny rotating to the right, or vice versa with Michkov available on the left side for a pass or shot.
Couturier's role on the line: Help guard the house in the defensive zone and, up ice, create some space for his wingers and get to the net for tips or rebounds.
3. An opportunity for Andrae
The Flyers got bad news this past week as they learned key defenseman Cam York would miss a minimum of two weeks with an upper-body injury suffered in Wednesday's game in Washington. The absence of York has two immediate ramifications: 1) Rasmus Ristolainen has been moved up to the top blueline pairing with fellow veteran Travis Sanheim and 2) second-year pro Emil Andrae has been recalled from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the second time this season.
When Nick Seeler missed the start of the regular season with a lower-body injury, the Flyers recalled Andrae during their season-opening road trip. However, Andrae did not dress in any of the games. It was noted that having all three of York, Jamie Drydale and Andrae in the same lineup would make for a bit of an undersized defense corps in half of the starting spots.
York's injury creates an opportunity for Andrae. Accustomed to being a power play regular (even during his short Flyers stint early last season, Andrae played on the power play), there's a chance that Andrae could at least temporarily replace Egor Zamula on the Flyers' second unit on the power play. At 5-on-5, Andrae and Zamula could see time together as a pairing. Alternatively, the Flyers have the option of playing one of the young defensemen alongside veteran Erik Johnson (six games played to date).
4. Big chance for the Belarusian
Along with Andrae, the Flyers recalled rookie goaltender Aleksei Kolosov from the Phantoms. At least temporarily, with defenseman York going on IR, the Flyers will carry three three goalies on the NHL roster: Samuel Ersson, Ivan Fedotov and the 22-year-old Kolosov.
There's competition for playing time on the NHL squad. Ersson's roster spot is secure but could be challenged within the workload share. Fedotov is still working to adapt to the National Hockey League in looking around screens, moving laterally and sealing the five-hole. Unlike the hulking Fedotov, Kolosov is a bit on the smaller side of average for a contemporary NHL goalie but he's extremely athletic and even acrobatic. His lateral movement in particular is well above-average, although there are other adjustments that are a work in progress in their own right.
At the AHL level, the Belarus native has started three of the four games that the Phantoms have played to date, including back-to-back nights last weekend against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Overall for the Phantoms to date, Kolosov is 1-2-1 with a 3.29 goals against average and .875 save percentage.
5. Risto on the rise
Earlier in his Flyers career, veteran defenseman Ristolainen frequently played on a blueline duo with Sanheim. More recently, Sanheim (moving from the left side of his pairing to his off-side) has been a fixture alongside York. By necessity, York's injury has at least temporarily brought about a Sanheim-Ristolainen reunion.
Even apart from his game-winning goal Ristolainen scored on Saturday, he had one of his best all-around games of his Flyers career. He doled out five hits (while not running himself out of position), made two timely blocks of opposing shot attempts, muscled several Wild players away the puck and logged 25:25 of ice time. Sanheim played a massive 27:49 to lead all players on either team.
Playing on the top pairing and pulling down large-scale ice time is nothing new in the 30-year-old Ristolainen's NHL career. For many years, he led the Buffalo Sabres in ice time and has also had some big minutes-eating games periodically in his three-plus campaigns with the Flyers. Assistant coach Brad Shaw has helped Ristolainen simplify his game over the past couple years to be less hit-reliant and more positionally sound.
During York's absence, Ristolainen's ice time shares are going to continue resembling his TOI levels of the past. For the Flyers to take the next steps in climbing out of the early season hole and back toward competitiveness in the Metro Division, the team will need many more performances from Ristolainen and his pairing with Sanheim on the order of Saturday's game.
