5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Red Wings

John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (27-32-12) are home on Saturday afternoon to take on Derek Lalonde's Detroit Red Wings (31-31-9). Game time is 1:00 p.m. EDT.

GAME NOTES
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 third and final meeting of the season between the inter-conference clubs, and the second game in Philadelphia. The Flyers earned a 2-1 win at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Jan. 21 and a 3-1 victory at the Wells Fargo Center on March 5.
The Flyers are playing the sixth game of a seven-game homestand. They are 3-1-1 to date on the homestand. Including today's game, the Flyers have 11 games remaining on their season schedule.
Two evenings ago, the Flyers defeated the Minnesota Wild via shootout, 5-4 (1-0), at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Red Wings have been alternating single road and home games for much of March. Today's game will be Detroit's fourth game in less than six nights. On Thursday, the Red Wings lost at home to the St. Louis Blues, 4-3.
Detroit got off to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Simon Edvinsson (1st NHL goal) and Jake Walman (8th of the season). The Red Wings took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission but a three-goal outburst by the Blues in the second period proved to be the difference in the game. Alex Chiasson (5th) got a goal back, assisted by Lucas Raymond and Dylan Larkin, with 2:16 left in regulation but the Red Wings couldn't generate an equalizing goal.
Detroit starting goalie Magnus Hellberg allowed three goals on 13 shots before being replaced at 12:40 of the second period by Alex Nedeljkovic, who made eight saves on nine shots.
Here are five things to watch in today's game.
1. Farabee and Foerster: Four-game streaks
Flyers left winger Joel Farabee has rattled off a four-game goal scoring streak after putting a 26-goal goalless drought to an end. He's been getting to the next regularly of late and getting rewarded for it via deflection and rebound opportunities.
Farabee is one of three Flyers players -- the other two are Noah Cates and Ivan Provorov -- to dress in every game this season. He has 13 goals and 33 points on the season. Over the last 45 games, he has 18 points (8g, 10a).
Rookie right winger Tyson Foerster, drafted by the Flyers in the first round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, has posted six points (2g, 4a) in seven games since making his NHL debut on March 9 in Carolina.
Foerster brings a four-game point streak into today's game. All six of his points to date have come over the team's last four games.
2. The Other Young Guns: Tippett, Cates and Frost
When former Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher and current interim general manager Danny Briere were respectively asked about the group of players whom they foresee as staying put during the team's rebuilding process, the names of Owen Tippett, Noah Cates and Morgan Frost came up.
Tippett has been scorching hot of late in terms of generating scoring chances at a proific rate. Throughout March, he's frequently used his combination of size and speed to beat defenders one-on-one. Tippett compiled his first career hat trick on March 17 against Buffalo and followed it up the next day with two assists against Carolina.
Over the past week, however, Tippett has been playing through a nagging minor injury (to use Tortorella's terminology. he's "playing nicked up"). Tippett took maintenance days off from practice on Monday and Friday. He hasn't quite had his extra gear at his disposal the last two games but has still generated five shots on goal and logged 22:41 of ice time on 31 shifts against Minnesota in Thursday's game.
For the season, Tippett is third on the Flyers in scoring with 39 points (21 goals and 18 assists). In the last 45 games, he's tied with Scott Laughton for second on the team in goals (14) and is fourth on the team in points (28).
Quietly, playmaking center Frost has actually outpointed Tippett in the 45 games since the former was moved up in the lineup by Tortorella and given the chance to play with skilled linemates (one of whom, for two lengthy spells, was Tippett himself). Over the last 45 games, Frost is tied for second on the team in scoring with 30 points and leads all Flyers forwards with 19 assists. Frost's 26 even-strength points in that stretch lead all Philadelphia players.

Frost has been hot of late since Foerster and newcomer Brendan Lemieux were placed on his line. He has points in each of the last three games and has posted five points overall (1g, 4a) in that stretch. For the season, the 23-year-old has 14 goals, 22 assists and 36 points.
Two-way forward Cates, who was converted from wing to center this season by Tortorella, has been a stalwart presence in the lineup from a defensive standpoint throughout the season. More recently, he's also started to produce points with more regularity and has been featured on PP1.
Over the last 45 games, Cates is seventh on the Flyers with 23 points (8g, 15a): one point behind Kevin Hayes. For the season, the 24-year-old Cates has posted 32 points (11g, 21a) to rank seventh in scoring this season among all NHL rookies. He may garner some votes for both the Calder Trophy (NHL Rookie of the Year) and Selke Trophy (best defensive forward), although he's not likely to win either award.
3. Activating the defensemen
The Flyers have had trouble scoring goals for the majority of the 2022-23 season, ranking 30th leaguewide with an average 2.68 goals per game. Things were especially rough in February, as the club mustered a meager 1.80 goals per game on average over 10 games.
Things have gotten better in March, especially during the current homestand. For the month to date, the Flyers have averaged 3.00 goals per game through the first 10 games. Much of the uptick has come during the current homestand (4.40 GPG over the last five games).
One major reason for the recent surge: Flyers defensemen have bee jumping into the play with more frequency and confidence. The root cause has cleaner breakouts through the defensive zone, improved forechecking pressure up-ice and through the neutral zone. This has, in turn, created more opportunities for the Flyers defensemen to join the attack.
The 2022-23 season has been an especially tough campaign for Travis Sanheim. However, during the current homestand, he's started to show the form he displayed for much of last season when he won the Barry Ashbee Trophy. Sanheim's effectiveness is largely dependent on him using his feet and building the confidence to make plays.
Sanheim has three points in the last two games and four points over the last five. He had a two-goal night against Florida on March 21. Against Minnesota last game, Sanheim started a breakout from the defensive zone, rejoined the play up ice and dished the puck for his 100th career assist.
Meanwhile, DeAngelo had two helpers against the Wild and has posted five assists in the last four games. Ivan Provorov scored a goal in the Florida game and collected an assist against Buffalo. Rasmus Ristolainen blasted home a power play goal in the Minnesota game. Nick Seeler scored a gorgeous goal against Vegas in the first game of the homestand.
Additionally, Cam York chipped in assists in the recent games against the Sabres and Panthers. Egor Zamula had two assists against Florida, generated as he triggered a rush from the end zone on one play and made a touch pass at the attack blueline on another.
In today's NHL, getting regular offensive contributions from the D corps collectively is a very important component to having an effective attack. That's been lacking for Philadelphia for the season overall but has been a significant positive factor during the homestand.
4. Flyers line play
Tippett and Nicolas Deslauriers (day-to-day with an upper-body injury, did not play on Thursday) were the only Flyers players who did not participate in Friday's practice in Voorhees. Everyone else was accounted for.
Typically, as long as Carter Hart is healthy and the Flyers are not on a back-to-back gameday scenario, Hart is virtually automatic to start. He had a bit of an uneven performance against Minnesota on Thursday but went 3-for-3 in blanking the Wild during the shootout.
At Friday's practice, the injury-rehabbing Travis Konecny stood for Tippett during reps. Kieffer Bellows, who played very sparing minutes on Thursday against Minnesota after Deslauriers was a late scratch, filled in at the same spot during practice on Friday.
Projected lineup (based on Thursday, subject to change)
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 74 Owen Tippett
22 Brendan Lemieux - 48 Morgan Frost - 52 Tyson Foerster
25 James van Riemsdyk . 13 Kevin Hayes - 57 Wade Allison
20 Kieffer Bellows - 21 Scott Laughton - xxxxx
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
54 Egor Zamula
79 Carter Hart
32 Felix Sandström
Available: 58 Tanner Laczynski, 61 Justin Braun
Questionable: 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (upper body)
5. Behind enemy lines: Detroit Red Wings
With Ville Husso dealing with a lower-body injury and Hellberg having had a bit of a rough, abbreviated outing on Thursday, the Red Wings will start Nedeljkovic in goal against the Flyers. It will be his first NHL start since Dec. 8.
NHL All-Star Game participant Larkin leads the Red Wings in scoring this season with 26 goals and 68 points. Dominik Kubalik is two goals away from hitting the 20-goal milestone on the season. Dynamic young defenseman Moritz Seider (5 goals, 30 assists, 35 points) has averaged 23:06 of ice time and contributed 175 credited hits along with 176 blocked shots.
Potential starting lineup (subject to change)
23 Lucas Raymond - 71 Dylan Larkin - 24 Pius Suter
57 David Perron - 18 Andrew Copp - 81 Dominik Kubalik
22 Matt Luff - 90 Joe Veleno - 11 Filip Zadina
48 Alex Chiasson - 21 Austin Czarnik - 52 Jonatan Berggren
53 Moritz Seider - 96 Jake Walman
2 Olli Määttä - 38 Robert Hägg
82 Jordan Oesterle - 3 Simon Edvinsson
39 Alex Nedeljkovic
[45 Magnus Hellberg]