Facing the defending Stanley Cup champions doesn't exactly have a very good "ring" to it right now.
The Flyers (15-21-6, 36 points) will attempt to snap a seven-game winless streak Tuesday when they face off with the Washington Capitals (25-12-4, 54 points) for the first of four meetings this season.
Let's take a look at tonight's essentials:
• When: 7:30 p.m. ET
• Where: Capital One Arena
• Broadcast: NBCSN
• Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app
• Scoring has completely dried up for the Flyers dating back to their road trip in Western Canada. Over their last 15 games, the Flyers have mustered just one goal or none at all in seven of those contests.
They've been outscored 57-31 over that same stretch of games with a 3-9-3 record.
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• After going with rookie Carter Hart Monday night against the Blues, interim head coach Scott Gordon will give newly acquired Mike McKenna his first start in net since joining the Flyers on Saturday.
Interestingly for McKenna, the Flyers will not only mark the seventh different team he's played for throughout his 11-year career, but the 35-year-old will also become the seventh different goaltender the Flyers have used this season, tying the NHL record.
I didn't expect this to be my career path, but it is what it is and I'm proud of it.
McKenna sent out this tweet Sunday evening providing some insight as to why he wears No. 56.
Here's why I wear 56. That's my Dad on his way to one of his @SCCAOfficial Runoffs National Championships. pic.twitter.com/Tfdm5cvgYT— Mike McKenna (@MikeMcKenna56) January 6, 2019
• Hard to believe but on the morning of Nov. 15, both the Capitals and Flyers were tied in the standings with 19 points. Since then, Washington has completely sobered up from its Stanley Cup hangover and has gone 17-5-1, the second-best mark in the NHL over that time. Meanwhile, the Flyers have plummeted to 6-13-5 over that same stretch.
• The next goal Wayne Simmonds scores will be the 200th in his eight-year Flyers career. Simmonds would become the 15th different Flyer to reach the 200-goal plateau. The last player to do so was Claude Giroux on Feb. 18, 2018, in a 6-4 win over the Rangers.
• There's been no slowing up this season for "The Great 8." Alex Ovechkin has continued his torrid scoring pace and his assault of the NHL record books. By reaching the 30-goal mark, Ovechkin became just the second player in NHL history to score at least 30 goals in each of his first 14 seasons. Former Capitals forward Mike Gartner owns the record with 30 goals in his first 15 NHL seasons.
Of the top-15 goal scorers in NHL history, Ovechkin's 0.61 goals/game ranks second behind only Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux with 0.75 goals/game average.
• Caps first-year coach Todd Reirden was just recently named head coach of the Metropolitan Division All Stars.
Reirden is the second first-year coach to be behind the bench for this year's All-Star Game in San Jose as he joins Calgary's Bill Peters, who took over the Flames after he was fired by the Hurricanes following the 2017-18 season.
• After tonight's game at Capital One Arena, the Flyers and Caps will play the remainder of their three games all in the month of March: March 6 and March 14 in Philadelphia with the finale on March 24 in D.C.
Projected lineup
Forwards
Claude Giroux-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom-Nolan Patrick-Jakub Voracek
James van Riemsdyk-Jordan Weal-Wayne Simmonds
Michal Raffl-Scott Laughton-Dale Weise
Defensemen
Ivan Provorov-Travis Sanheim
Shayne Gostisbehere-Radko Gudas
Robert Hagg-Christian Folin
Goalies
Mike McKenna
Carter Hart
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