The Flyers haven’t been doing so great lately — they’ve lost four games straight and just can’t seem to buy a win right now. And tonight, they look to right the ship by beating the team that started that skid.
Since the Blue Jackets beat the Flyers last Friday, we’ve seen a couple different kinds of games. Games where the Flyers get outplayed and lose, games where the Flyers look good but still get the loss, we’ve seen it all. The only real constant has been, well, the losing.
The good news is that the Blue Jackets are not a very good team. They currently sit 29th in the NHL, giving up a league high 3.53 goals per game. That’s right, they give up more goals than Buffalo.
Of course, the Flyers have their own woes as well, namely the penalty kill. They’ve been certifiably terrible in that regard, and going up against a team that has the 6th best power play could spell trouble.
To be honest, the thing I’m looking forward to the most tonight is seeing a little more of Scott Laughton. He was legitimately great in their last game against the Wild, which is even more impressive when you consider the fact that he was playing with R.J. Umberger and Vincent Lecavalier. If he can stay up with the big club and make a half decent line out of those two, I think we’ll all be happy. His performance tonight will obviously factor into the team’s decision.
Last time these two teams met, we didn’t run a preview, instead opting for a tribute to Steve Scott Hartnell. So here’s the rundown on the Blue Jackets. Ryan Johansen is pretty damn good, and seems to have some formidable cast mates with Nick Foligno and Hartnell. They finally look like a team that can contend in the NHL, and it seems like all the right ingredients are more or less there.
…but they’ve been plagued with injuries, an incredibly low PDO, and whatever else that’s keeping them from picking up wins.
As for goaltending, former Flyer Sergei Bobrovsky has put up decent enough numbers, but an early season injury has led to the Jackets leaning on Curtis McElhinney, who is hot garbage. Bob has since returned from injured reserve, so we may just see him tonight (no word on starting goaltenders just yet).
The bottom line is that the Flyers need to start winning, like, right now. I know it’s still early in the season, but digging yourself into a hole before Thanksgiving can prove to be disastrous later. Let’s do this.
Game starts at 7 on Comcast SportsNet. Go Flyers.
