On Military Appreciation Night presented by Toyota, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (5-8-2) will host Ryan Warsofsky's San Jose Sharks (5-9-2) at Wells Fargo Center. Game time 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.
This is the first of two meetings this season between the Flyers and Sharks. The clubs will rematch on New Year's Eve at SAP Center.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 4-3 (2-1) road shootout loss to the Florida Panthers in Sunrise on Saturday. It was one of Philadelphia's better all-around efforts this season for 60-plus minutes.
Joel Farabee, Anthony Richard and Garnet Hathaway tallied in regulation. Scott Laughton had a pair of helpers. Owen Tippett had the lone Philly goal in the shootout. Samuel Ersson stopped 28 of 31 shots through 65 minutes including three overtime saves. He was 3-for-5 in the shootout.
Here are five things to watch in Monday's game.
1. Laughton line building chemistry
Last game's Five Things spotlightighed the individual recent play of Tippett, Travis Konecny and Farabee. For Monday's game, keep an eye on Farabee's entire line with Laughton and Bobby Brink.
For the Flyers, it's vital to get more clicking offensively at five-on-five than just the top line of Sean Couturier centering Tippett and Konecny. In the last two games, Farabee, Laugton and Brink have been quite effective in making things happen up the ice.
2. More needed from Frost, Foerster and Michkov
The Flyers desperately need Morgan Frost, Tyson Foerster and Matvei Michkov to start producing at five-on-five. Michkov did not dress in the last two games. Foerster and especially Frost received limited ice time in Florida.
However, it is notable that Foerster (moving across the slot) and Frost (lurking near the net looking for a potential deflection) helped make linemate Richard's goal possible by disrupting goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky on a delayed penalty. The Flyers need a much higher volume of positive plays, particularly at even strength, from Foerster and Frost.
3. Sustain improved puck movement
Perhaps the most encouraging aspects of the road games against Tampa Bay and Florida came in terms of improved breakouts, entries and forechecking pressure at five-on-five. The addition to the lineup of rookie defenseman Emil Andrae has been a bright spot in terms of triggering attacks with pace.
It remains to be seen when Cam York returns to the Flyers lineup from IR whether the recent pairing of Travis Sanheim (on left defense) and Jamie Drysdale remains intact. Alternatively, the Flyers may revert to pairing Sanheim on right defense with York on the left side.
However the Flyers arrange the pairings, the aforementioned blueliners are the ones the Flyers most heavily rely upon to trigger breakouts and support the attack once in the offensive zone. Sanheim in particular has been assertive in jumping into plays effectively of late.
4. Power play reset
The Flyers power play supplied the majority of the team's offensive production through the season's first eight games. Little was working at 5-on-5 but the power play was clicking.
In that span, Michkov had three power play goals and three power play assists. Frost led the team with four power play helpers. Konecny (3 PPG, 1 PPA) also had four power play points. Tippett (3 PPA) and Drysdale (1 PPG, 2 PPA) each had three power play points.
Since that time, the Flyers power has gone cold. Entering the San Jose game, the Flyers are in a 1-for-18 funk on the man advantage. The lone goal in that span was Konecny's 5-on-3 powerplay tally against Carolina during the first game of the Flyers' three-game road trip. Tippett and Michkov assisted.
Overall, the Flyers power play has slipped to 18.4 percent (9-for-49) for the season. Philly ranks 18th in the NHL in power play efficiency to date. It's still a major improvement from recent seasons but the Flyers need to get back on track to where they were in the first eight games.
On the penalty killing side, the Flyers have remained rock steady from the get-go of the regular season. They enter Monday's game ranked third in the NHL with an 89.8 percent success rate on the PK. A footnote: last season, the Sharks managed to score a combined three power play goals against Philly's normally stout PK: two by Filip Zadina and one by William Eklund.
This season to date, the San Jose power play ranks tied for 22nd (16.3 percent success rate). The penalty kill ranks 14th at 82.3 percent.
5. Behind enemy lines: San Jose Sharks
The Sharks 2-5-1 on the road to date and 5-5-0 over their last 10 games, are in the second game of a four-game eastern road trip and the latter match of a back-to-back. On Sunday in Newark, the Sharks eked out a 1-0 win over the New Jersey Devils. Nico Sturm's second-effort backhander on a counterattacking rush late in the first period stood as the game's only goal after deflecting into the net off a New Jersey defender. Former Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood made 44 saves to nail down the shutout victory.
Through 16 games, Mikael Granlund leads the Sharks with 16 points (6g, 10a). He's followed by fellow veteran Tyler Toffoli (6g, 5a) and Swedish forward Fabian Zetterlund (6g, 4a) and Eklund (2g, 7a). With the Sharks having played on Monday and Blackwood having a very busy night in goal, Vitek Vanecek (seven starts and one relief appearance, 2-5-0 record, 3.32 GAA, .898 save percentage) could get the nod in net against the Flyers.
The battle between Warsofsky's Sharks and Tortorella Flyers presents a secondary story line of pitting the NHL's youngest head coach against the league's senior bench boss. Warsofsky, who turned 37 on Oct. 26, is in his first season as an NHL head coach. Tortorella is in his 23rd season as an NHL head coach. Warsofsky is the NHL's first head coach born after 1985, while Tortorella is the lone still-active NHL head coach born prior to 1960.
