Some sort of lineup change for the Flyers in tonight’s matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets seemed inevitable after they were unceremoniously trampled by the worst team in hockey, the Edmonton Oilers, on Thursday night. And surely enough, the one change that many likely expected to come is the one that we’ll see.
Courtesy of the Courier-Post’s Dave Isaac, Brandon Manning will likely be back in the lineup next to Radko Gudas on the third pairing. He’ll swap in for Evgeny Medvedev, who had this happen to him the other night:
Blows right by Medvedev. That McDavid kid is pretty good.. pic.twitter.com/sXKZtg6IKh
— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) March 4, 2016
To be sure, that play was not a good look for Medvedev, and as our own Charlie O’Connor mentioned today, it was easy to see the writing on the wall almost as soon as it happened.
Right or wrong, the second that Medvedev got burned by McDavid in Thursday’s game, you knew he was getting scratched on Saturday.
— Charlie O’Connor (@BSH_Charlie) March 5, 2016
Still, the decision to scratch Medvedev is an unfortunate one, given that as recently as Thursday we’d said that we were hoping to see more, not less, of the Russian veteran down the stretch:
Since early November, defenseman Evgeny Medvedev has been in and out of the Dave Hakstol doghouse. He’s been a repeated healthy scratch, and the coaching staff has expressed frustration with the Russian’s inconsistent play in the defensive zone and struggles in transitioning to the smaller ice surface of North America.
If they want to take a serious run at the playoffs, however, it’s time to put those concerns aside.
That obviously will not happen today. Unfortunate, but not too surprising.
Slightly more fortunate news comes in the form of forward Brayden Schenn’s status: he’s expected to play after leaving Thursday night’s game following an incident in which his unhelmeted head hit the ice.
No surprise – Dave Hakstol said Steve Mason would be starting for the #Flyers tonight. Also Brayden Schenn says he expects to play
— Marc Narducci (@sjnard) March 5, 2016
The hope is that Schenn — who apparently was wearing a tinted visor in practice — is truly at full health following his incident on Thursday. If he is, then that’s a big break for Schenn and the Flyers, who have gotten some great play from him in recent weeks.
And, also per Narducci’s tweet above, Steve Mason will start for the first time in two weeks, as he goes up against his old team.
For Columbus, Brandon Saad didn’t travel with the team to Philadelphia after suffering an upper-body injury in last night’s game against Edmonton, so he’ll be out. Scott Hartnell is back and sitting on 299 career goals, so you can go ahead and bet all of your material possessions that he’ll get No. 300 against the Flyers faithful tonight. And finally, we don’t know yet who is in net for Columbus, but we’ll guess that Curtis McElhinney gets the nod after Joonas Korpisalo faced 36 shots just last night.
Expected lineups for both sides below (Columbus lines via Daily Faceoff).
| 2015-16 NHL Season :: Game 64 of 82 | ||
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| 27-30-8, 62 points 8th in Metropolitan | 29-23-11, 69 points 5th in Metropolitan | |
| Saturday, March 5, 2016 :: 7:00 p.m. ET | ||
| Wells Fargo Center :: South Philadelphia, USA | ||
| Get the Columbus perspective at The Cannon | ||
| How to Watch / Listen In Philly | ||
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| HOW TO WATCH / LISTEN Elsewhere | ||
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| Projected Lineups | ||
| Jenner – Dubinsky – Atkinson | 1st Line | Schenn – Giroux – Simmonds |
| Foligno – Wennberg – Hartnell | 2nd Line | Raffl – Couturier – Gagner |
| Calvert – Karlsson – Bourque | 3rd Line | Laughton – Cousins – Read |
| Clarkson – Campbell – Boll | 4th Line | VandeVelde – Bellemare – White |
| Murray – Jones | 1st D Pair | MacDonald – Gostisbehere |
| Goloubef – Savard | 2nd D Pair | Schultz – Streit |
| Tyutin – Prout | 3rd D Pair | Manning – Gudas |
| McElhinney / Korpisalo | Goalies | Mason / Neuvirth |
| Notable Scratches | Medvedev, Umberger, Voracek, Weal | |
