The Philadelphia Flyers close out their season-opening three-game road trip with an 8:30 puck drop against the Chicago Blackhawks this evening at United Center. The real debate before this one is if it qualifies as #FlyersAfterDark … 8:30 starts are pretty rare, particularly on Central Time. But … here we are.
The Flyers will likely start Michal Neuvirth in net tonight, although that will not be confirmed until after the team takes its morning skate in Chicago today. We’re expecting a few lineup changes: Matt Meat Read is bumping up to the third line, seemingly playing his way off the edge after a very strong pair of games to start the year. Nick Cousins has been bumped down to the fourth line, and it’s possible that Roman Lyubimov will make his NHL debut on that fourth line as well. Chris VandeVelde would likely be the one to come out should that happen.
We’ll see. Again, all of these lineup changes are based off of practice Monday and could change between now and game time. Update: It’ll be Cousins sitting while Lyubimov checks in for his first game. Hmmmm.
The Blackhawks come into the evening with a 1-2-0 record through their first three games, with all three of their top scorers from a year ago — Artemi Panarin, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews — without a goal so far. Holding those guys scoreless is one way to beat this team, for sure, but it’s also unlikely to continue for long. Let’s hope their early season slump continues for another night.
Special teams will likely be key. (That’s one of those BS game preview transition sentences that feels so stupid to write and I apologize for it.) The Blackhawks were a great power play team last year and have been solid early on, while the Flyers penalty kill has been among the NHL’s best in the early going. Both teams have taken quite a few penalties so far this season, too, with the Flyers racking up 40 minutes through two games and the Blackhawks racking up 38 in three. (To be fair, the Flyers numbers are skewed thanks to the end-of-game misconduct handed to Jakub Voracek on Saturday night.) So … you know, special teams. Key.
Tonight’s game will be on CSN Philly and 97.5 locally. CSN Chicago has the game in the Blackhawks market, while NBCSN will cover the game nationally. You can live stream the game nationally through NBC Live Extra. Our friends over at Second City Hockey have more coverage for you from the Blackhawks perspective.
Here’s what we’re likely looking at for lineups:
Philadelphia lineup
Forwards
- Michael Raffl – Claude Giroux – Wayne Simmonds
- Travis Konecny – Sean Couturier – Jakub Voracek
- Matt Read – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Dale Weise
- Chris VandeVelde – Boyd Gordon – Roman Lyubimov
Defense
- Andrew MacDonald – Shayne Gostisbehere
- Ivan Provorov – Mark Streit
- Nick Schultz – Brandon Manning
Goalies
- Michal Neuvirth
- Steve Mason
Scratches: Nick Cousins
Injured: Michael Del Zotto, Scott Laughton
Suspended: Radko Gudas, Brayden Schenn
Chicago lineup (subject to change?)
Forwards
- Tyler Motte – Jonathan Toews – Richard Panik
- Artemi Panarin – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane
- Vince Hinostroza – Nick Schmaltz – Marian Hossa
- Dennis Rasmussen – Marcus Kruger – Jordin Tootoo
Defense
- Duncan Keith – Niklas Hjalmarsson
- Michal Kempny – Brent Seabrook
- Gustav Forsling – Brian Campbell
Goalies
- Corey Crawford
- Scott Darling
