John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (13-12-4) are home on Thursday evening to host Derek Lalonde's Detroit Red Wings (11-13-4). Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 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.
Thursday's tilt is the first of three meetings this season between the Flyers and Red Wings. The clubs will clash again on Dec. 18 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The season series will wrap up back in Philadelphia on January 21.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 5-3 road win on Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The victory halted a three-game winless skid (0-2-1) for the Flyers after Philly rattled off a 4-0-1 stretch in the course of five games in eight nights through Thanksgiving week.
On Monday, the Red Wings ended a four-game winless drought of their own with a 6-5 (2-1) road shootout victory against the Buffalo Sabres. Detroit has posted a 1-3-2 record over its last six games.
Here are five things to watch in Thursday's game:
1. Konecny's points binge
The Flyers leading scorer and a Team Canada representative at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-off, Travis Konecny is off to a career-best scoring pace through the first 29 games of the 2024-24 season (15 goals, 19 assists, 34 points).
The 27-year-old two-time NHL All-Star Game participant has played some of the most consistent offensive hockey of his NHL career over the last six weeks. Dating back to Nov. 5 in Raleigh, Konecny has posted at least one point in 16 of the last 18 games. He'll attempt on Thursday to make it 17 of 19 games on the scoresheet.
Konency is coming off a two-goal performance -- power play and five-on-five tallies -- in Columbus on Tuesday. Over his last 18 games, Konency has potted 10 goals and added 14 helpers for 24 points (a 1.33 points per game average).
2. Tippett takes aim at 6-in-6
No Flyers line has been hotter offensively of late than the trio of left winger Owen Tippett, center Morgan Frost and right winger Matvei Michkov. A regular unit during training camp and the preseason, the trio was split up early in the regular season amid struggles by Frost and Tippett and teamwide issues at 5-on-5.
Reunited eight games ago, the line has rediscovered -- and built upon -- the chemistry it displayed before the season. On Tuesday in Columbus, Tippett scored a goal, Michkov had a pair of primary assists and Frost tallied one goal and one assist.
Tippett brings into Thursday a stretch of notching five goals in his last five games. Over the past eight games, Tippett has six points (5g, 1a, +7). Notably, among Tippett's five goals, Michkov has produced the primary assist on four.
Michkov's hot run predates his reunion with Frost and Tippett. The leading candidate for the Calder Trophy (NHL Rookie of the Year), the Russian winger leads all first-year NHL players with 27 points (11 goals, 16 assists) in 27 games played.
In the last eight games, Michkov has rattled off 11 points ( 4g, 7a, +8). Three of his points have come on the power play and eight at even strength.
Frost, as with Tippett, has six points (3g, 3a, +7) over his last eight games. He has recently been playing on the second power play unit, along with Tippett. Michkov is a fixture on the first unit. Five of Frost's six points in the last eight games came at 5-on-5, the other one was a game-tying goal in Nashville with the Flyers attacking 6-on-5.
3. Special teams: Power play recovering, PK struggling
The Flyers power play has gone 3-for-11 in four December games after experiencing a very rough 16-game stretch that saw the club go just 4-for-41 (9.8 percent). Previously, the Flyers opened the season by going 8-for-31 (25.8 percent).
For the season overall, the Flyers are tied with the Dallas Stars for 25th in power play efficiency at 17.4 percent. It's trending up, but there's still a long way to go.
On the flip side, the Flyers penalty kill -- normally one of the team's biggest strengths under associate coach Brad Shaw -- has struggled mightily of late.
At Thanksgiving, the Flyers ranked third leaguewide in the NHL on the penalty kill at a rock solid 85.7 percent (10 opposing power play goals on 70 man advantage opportunities against the Flyers). Since then, the Flyers' PK has been struggling.
Over the Flyers last six games, opponents are 8-for-19 on power plays against the Flyers (a 57.9 percent PKing percentage for Philly). As a result, the Flyers have dropped to 16th leaguewide at 79.8 percent PKing.
4. Taking leads, holding leads
With the Flyers' improved structure and recently finding a bit of a groove offensively -- their full season production rate of 2.93 goals per game on average is tied for 20th with the Toronto Maple Leafs -- they've found themselves chasing fewer games of late than during the season's first six weeks.
Even during the 0-2-1 week the Flyers endured last week, the team held third period leads in two of the games. The other one, a low-energy effort against Utah HC, was tied at 1-1 and 2-2 after Philly erased two one-goal deficits.
Closing out games once leading in the third period has been a concern over the last week. Even in Tuesday's win in Columbus, the Flyers dominated for 50 minutes and sealed a win early but allowed a pair of late "garbage time" tallies that turned a four-goal cushion into a final two-goal margin.
If the Flyers are able to establish a lead over Detroit by the third period, tightening up their closeouts -- in part by avoiding crunch time penalties such as in the recent losses to Carolina and Boston -- will become the No. 1 order of business before the final buzzer.
5. Behind enemy lines: Focus on Larkin
Red Wings center Dylan Larkin leads all Detroit forwards in ice time, averaging 20:23. He is tied for second on the team in scoring this season with 23 points (12g, 11a) in 28 games played. Larkin has six power play goals among his nine power play points.
Alex Debrincat has posted identical overall goal and assist totals to date. Lucas Raymond leads the club overall with 30 points (11g, 19a).
Larkin, who combines excellent speed with above average size, has posted five points (all assists) over his last five games. His last goal was on Nov. 25 against the New York Islanders: nine games ago.
Larkin scored 30-plus goals in each of the last three seasons heading into the 2024-25 campaign. Last year, he tallied a career-best 33 goals among his 69 points in 68 games.
The American center was unavailable against the Flyers in the first game of last year's season series (a 1-0 Philly win). He dished out major damage in the second and third meetings (7-6 (2-0) shootout and 3-0 wins for Detroit). Over the latter two games, Larkin notched two goals and an assist. That included a game-tying goal in Detroit's shootout win.
Another factor to watch: Larkin is an excellent faceoff man, especially in left circle draws. For the season, he's won 56.7 percent of his faceoffs thus far. Larkin has won north of 54 percent of his faceoffs in each of his last three campaigns overall.
On Thursday night, with the Flyers holding the last line change, look for Tortorella to try to get Sean Couturier's line and the Cam York with Travis Sanheim out head-to-head with Larkin's line when possible at 5-on-5. There is also some trust for Noah Cates's line and Rasmus Ristolainen's defense pair to check Larkin if the top line or D pair has just had a shift.
From a Detroit standpoint, the Red Wings would ideally like to get a Larkin line vs. Frost line matchup or have the line go out against Jamie Drysdale's pairing with Nick Seeler. For one, this could force the Flyers hottest offensive line to have to focus more on defending than attacking. From a Flyers standpoint, it would be preferable to get the Frost line with Michkov and Tippett out for offensive zone starts against Detroit's bottom six.
