Viva Las Vegas: Flyers vs Golden Knights Preview

Tonight, every team in the NHL plays and lucky for us east coast Flyers fans the boys play the last game of the night. Already being out in Vegas you knew it would be a late one but tonight will be even later as this game doesn’t start until 11:00pm EST. On a positive note they won’t be on the same time as game 7 of the NLCS so you’ll be able to catch the Phillies then hop right on over to the Flyers if you aren’t out celebrating a hopeful game 7 win.

The Flyers are coming off an overtime loss on Saturday night to the Dallas Stars. Now, I was at a wedding so I was unable to catch the action but from the highlights and things I’ve seen it seemed like the boys delivered another solid showing. They battled back from down 2-0 and even piled on three shorthanded goals not sure the last time that’s happened if ever.

Tonight they get the chance to test their skill against the defending Stanley Cup champions in what should be another tough game to start this season. Vegas doesn’t seem to be suffering from any sort of Stanley Cup hangover as they are off to a hot 6-0-0 start. They’ve won their last two games 5-3 0ver the Blackhawks and Jets. Can the Flyers who are currently leading the Metro division hand Vegas their first loss of the season?

Lineups:

Flyers

Tippett-Couturier-Atkinson

Konecny-Laughton-Foerster

Farabee-Cates-Brink

Deslauriers-Poehling-Hathaway

York-Sanheim

Zamula-Walker

Andrae-Seeler

Hart

Ersson

Any Changes?

Don’t expect any lineup changes for the Flyers tonight other than the starting goaltender. Errson got the start on Saturday night but you can expect Hart to be in net once again tonight. Torts seems to be happy with the lines and the teams performance so far and has stated he does’t want to put Frost back in the lineup in a checking or 4th line role.

It sucks for Frost as he struggled in the first two games and hasn’t had the chance to crack the lineup again but I get why Torts doesn’t want to change things just yet. The team has played well and Frost has no business playing in a checking line role or a 4th line role. When the times right he will get back in the lineup and will have his chance once again to prove he belongs. His problem has been the same for the last few seasons, he just isn’t consistent enough and until he is, he is always going to be at risk for being a scratch.

On the defensive side with Staal and Risto sidelined we are getting an extended look at both Emil Andrae and Egor Zamula. This could be a final showing of sorts for one of them if not both of them to show they belong in the lineup full time as Risto could be back any day now. Both guys have played well and it’s great to see the young defense playing solid to start this season as it was one of the biggest concerns going in.

Hart should be back between the pipes tonight and rightfully so. He has been fantastic to start the season and will face his toughest task yet with the high powered Golden Knights. Hart is 2-1-1 in four starts vs the Knights in his career with a 2.73 GAA and a .931 SV%.

Golden Knights

Barbashev-Eichel-Marchessault

Howden-Stephenson-Stone

Cotter-Karlsson-Amadio

Carrier-Roy-Kolesar

McNabb-Theodore

Pachal-Martinez

Korczak-Hague

Hill

Thompson

For Vegas, Alex Pietrangelo is day-to-day with an injury but their defense is still going to be tough for the Flyers to go against. We’re well aware just how great their offense is and to see them get off to this kind of start is scary. They look like they are on a mission to repeat and the Flyers will have to play their best game of the season if they want to come away with a victory.

Again, tonight’s game is a late one as it won’t start until after 11pm and you can catch the action on ESPN. Also, with all 32 teams in action today ESPN is doing their version of redzone so be sure to check that out. I’m interested to see how it is and wonder if they could make it a feature going forward.

Follow us on Twitter for all your Flyers coverage @FlyersFanLife

-Walsh

Featured Image

Other Image

By Keith Walsh | October 24, 2023