The Flyers (12-12-3) kicked off their five-game road trip Saturday with an impressive 6-2 onslaught of the Sabres without a major piece of their lineup.
They'll likely be without Sean Couturier again today as they begin the Western Canada portion of this trip against a dangerous 17-9-2 Winnipeg team.
• When: 3 p.m. ET with Flyers Pregame Live at 2:30 p.m.
• Where: Bell MTS Place
• Broadcast: NBCSP+
• Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app
• Without Couturier out Saturday, Dave Hakstol opted to move Claude Giroux back to center over elevating Nolan Patrick in the lineup.
Saturday was Giroux's first game back in the middle since 2016-17. He didn't miss a beat. He posted his 10th career four-point game with a shorthanded goal and three assists. He now has 25 points in his last 16 games and is on pace to become the sixth player in NHL history to register back-to-back 100-point seasons at 30 years old or older.
Given the circumstances, I would not be opposed to seeing Giroux move back to center, or at least until new GM Chuck Fletcher is able to upgrade the center position in the middle six. Giroux and James van Riemsdyk have excellent chemistry together, and that was evident against Buffalo. JVR had a goal and an assist against the Sabres, and he needs to be higher in the lineup with a playmaker in the middle.
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Center is a position this team needs to upgrade because Patrick hasn't developed as expected. They need more from the position. Until then, Giroux in the middle makes sense.
• How about this? The Flyers' penalty kill may have finally turned things around.
Since allowing three power-play goals to Tampa on Nov. 17, the Flyers have killed off 16 of their last 17 penalties and have two shorthanded goals in the last two games.
The Flyers' power play remains poor with no goals in their last seven games, but the biggest takeaway is that this penalty kill somehow has figured things out.
• The Flyers really struggled with defending Jack Eichel on Saturday and it doesn't get any easier today against Patrik Laine.
Laine is a lethal goal scorer and leads the NHL with 21 goals. Interestingly, Laine has just three assists in 28 games, so his stat line is strange. Slowing down Laine will be a major challenge for this Flyers team that's struggled with team defense all season long.
• Ivan Provorov has looked lost way too often in his third season, and that was the case briefly Saturday when Tage Thompson undressed the defenseman.
Lo que ha hecho Tage Thompson con la cintura de Ivan Provorov #NHL pic.twitter.com/zDSIRikNOT— JoseMau Martin (@jmaumartin) December 8, 2018
Provorov, though, rebounded nicely and scored his third goal of the season with an absolute snipe job. Provy showed extra emotion after his goal as if an enormous weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Provorov finished strong and was a plus-5 on Saturday.
If the Flyers want to turn this season around, they're going to need Provorov to get back to form. There's no reason to have long-term concerns about him. Hopefully, Saturday was a turning point.
• It's a roll of the dice with Flyers goaltending, but Anthony Stolarz is on a roll right now and it's wise for the new regime to see what they have in the 24-year-old. Stolarz deserves to start again Sunday despite it being a back-to-back and a long flight.
Michal Neuvirth is "healthy," but the Flyers know what they have in him. Ride Stolarz and see what you have in him. He kept the Flyers in the game against Buffalo. I would like to see what he can do against a very strong Jets team.
Projected lineup
Forwards
James van Riemsdyk-Claude Giroux-Travis Konecny
Jakub Voracek-Nolan Patrick-Wayne Simmonds
Michael Raffl-Scott Laughton-Dale Weise
Oskar Lindblom-Jori Lehtera-Jordan Weal
Defensemen
Shayne Gostisbehere-Ivan Provorov
Andrew MacDonald-Robert Hagg
Travis Sanheim-Radko Gudas
Goalies
Anthony Stolarz
Michal Neuvirth
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