Interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (12-12-5) are at home on Tuesday to take on Peter Laviolette's Washington Capitals (18-6-7). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed on ESPN+/Hulu. The radio broadcast is 97.5 The Fanatic and FlyersRadio247.com.
This is the second of four meetings this season between the teams, and the first of two in Philadelphia. The Flyers and Capitals will rematch on Feb. 26 at the Wells Fargo Center and April 12 at Capital One Arena in DC.
On Nov. 6 in Washington, the Flyers skated to a 2-1 victory. Philadelphia played a stellar opening 40 minutes, and took a 2-0 lead to the second intermission with a 2-0 lead after mid-second period tallies by Derick Brassard and Sean Couturier . Brett Leason narrowed the game to 2-1 early in the third period but Martin Jones (31 saves on 32 shots) and the Flyers withstood a 15-shot barrage and a latter period penalty kill to seal the win.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 4-3 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators. Travis Sanheim (2nd goal of the season) scored the winning goal off a 2-on-0 feed from Cam Atkison. Claude Giroux (11th) and Oskar Lindblom (3rd) also scored for the Flyers.
The Flyers have posted a 4-0-1 record over their last five games. The Capitals are 2-2-1 over their previous five games.
Washington enters this game coming off a 3-2 home loss to the LA Kings on Sunday. The Capitals took a 2-0 lead in the latter half of the second period after goals by Connor McMichael (4th) and Justin Schultz (2nd). LA pushed back for three unanswered goals to defeat Washington.
Here are five things to track in this game.
As of this writing, the Flyers are missing three players from the lineup due to the players being in COVID-19 protocol: Kevin Hayes , Morgan Frost and Max Willman. Additionally, Brassard (hip) is not yet ready to return to game action and Ryan Ellis (lower body) and Nate Thompson (shoulder surgery) are on IR.
Hayes left the ice early during the Flyers' practice on Monday at the FTC in Voorhees. The player was informed that he had to depart and was being placed in COVID-19 protocol. With Couturier taking a maintenance day, the Flyers' forward lines were jumbled and likely to be different from the combos that start Tuesday's game.
More encouragingly, Carter Hart returned to the ice to participate in practice on Monday. He missed Saturday's game due to illness. The Flyers returned goalie Felix Sandström to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
For the Capitals, TJ Oshie, Nicklas Bäckström, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Michael Sgarbossa are in COVID-19 protocol.
Claude Giroux's first period goal in Saturday's game against Ottawa tied him with Hockey Hall of Fame left wing for second on the Flyers' all-time scoring leaderboard with 833 career regular season points with the team. Giroux's next point will put him in sole possession of the spot.
Additionally, Giroux's next assist will be the 600th of his NHL regular season career. He's already second in assists in Flyers franchise history.
The Capitals have scored first in 22 games so far this season, and have posted a 15-4-3 record in this games. In the nine games where opponents have scored first -- including the previous game against the Flyers this season, the Capitals are 3-2-4. The Flyers are 10-2-3 when scoring first, and 2-10-2 when trailing first.
When outshooting opponents, the Capitals are 12-3-4. When getting outshot, Washington is 6-2-2. The Flyers are 6-4-1 when outshooting opponents, and 4-8-4 when outshot.
Tweet from @billmeltzer: Flyers vs. Capitals: Goal/Shot differentials by period, special teams, GF/GA by situation. pic.twitter.com/F9haRPjmdt
4. Behind Enemy Lines: Washington Capitals
Due to the NHL's postponements of both the Capitals' (at New York Islanders) and Flyers' (at Pittsburgh Penguins) scheduled games on Thursday, this game will be the final one for the Flyers and Capitals until after the leaguewide holiday break. As such, especially in light of the depleted depth on both teams, look for the top players in both teams' lineups to log even more ice time than usual.
Future Hall of Fame shoo-in Alex Ovechkin enters this game third in the Art Ross Trophy race with 47 points. He's two points behind Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for the NHL scoring lead. Additionally, Ovechkin's 22 goals are one behind Draisaitl for the Rocket Richard Trophy. With an average 22:03 of ice time, Ovechkin is fourth in average ice time among all NHL forwards this season. In this game, the Capitals will have to work around the absence of Kuznetsov (22:01 TOI) and Oshie (18:27).
On the blueline, the Capitals have two players who average north of 20 minutes played per game: John Carlson (23:36 TOI) and Dmitri Orlov (20:48).
5. Players to Watch: Sanheim and Carlson
Sanheim has been in a good groove for much of the last month. Of late, he's also been collecting some points by joining the play up-ice. The Flyers second-pair duo of Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen has developed good chemistry together, while logging heavy ice time. Against Washington, the Flyers' top four of Ivan Provorov (24:23 TOI), Justin Braun (20:02 TOI), Sanheim (22:25) and Ristolainen (21:13) to do the heavy lifting. Veteran offensive defenseman Keith Yandle (15:43 TOI) has been struggling for much of the season. Kevin Connauton (13:18) has played capably since being claimed off waivers.
Over the course of Carlson's career, the offensive-minded defenseman Carlson has posted 28 points (2g, 26a) and a minus-14 rating against the Flyers. This game will be the 50th of his career against the Flyers.
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