I know, I know the Phillies have another important game 3 of the NLCS today but the Flyers also host one of the best players in the world tonight in Connor McDavid. Plus, Phillies start at 5:00pm so they will be just about over by the time the Flyers start so you can switch right over.

Tuesday night was a madhouse down in south Philly with the Phillies, Flyers, and an international soccer game all going on around the same time. That will not be the case tonight as the Phillies are out in the desert and theres no soccer game at the Linc to my knowledge. So if you’re heading down to watch the boys tonight it should be much easier.

If you were locked in on the Phillies Tuesday, you didn’t get the chance to see the Flyers take down the Vancouver Canucks in a 2-0 shutout win. The crowd was not as full as it usually is for the home opener due to obvious reasons but the Flyers put on one hell of a game.

Vancouver came into that game hot, having started 2-0-0 taking down Edmonton in both of those games. Carter Hart and the Flyers defense shut the door on them though as a first career goal from Egor Zamula and a penalty shot goal from Sean Couturier got the job done for the Flyers. Now tonight they look to keep that momentum going as they take on the Edmonton Oilers.

Coots' highlight reel goal is #EasyToCelebrate with the Bud Light Glass Pass.

Stick taps to @budlight, who will be upgrading seats for the Orange & Black faithful all season long. pic.twitter.com/GaeOvmwrnA

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 18, 2023

Lineups:

Flyers

Tippett-Couturier-Atkinson

Konecny-Laughton-Foerster

Farabee-Cates-Brink

Deslauriers-Poehling-Hathaway

York-Sanheim

Staal-Walker

Andrae-Seeler

Hart

After a dominating game on Tuesday against the Canucks you didn’t expect John Tortorella to change up the lineup too much if at all and he really didn’t. Morgan Frost remains a healthy scratch as he admittledly had not played well in the first two games. After scoring his first career goal on Tuesday, Egor Zamula will not be in the lineup as he is replaced by Emil Andrae. I know people are going to hate that as big Z played well but this is what you have to expect during the early part of the season they aren’t ready to scratch the vets just yet.

The line of Farabee, Cates, and Brink had a solid showing Tuesday and they will get the chance to continue to build on that tonight. They didn’t end up on the scoresheet but the three of them played very well together and had some decent chances.

One of the more noticeable things on Tuesday night was the fact that Torts put both Brink and Foerster on the same powerplay unit. Doing that shows that he has some confidence in those two to provide offense on the powerplay and hopefully they will be able to deliver if that continues tonight.

Carter Hart will once again be in net for the Flyers coming off that 26 save shutout against Vancouver. Hart has looked very good this season in the first three games and will look to continue that tonight against a high powered Oilers offense. Hart is 3-3-0 vs the Oilers in his career with a 3.02GAA and a .909SV%.

Oilers

Kane-McDavid-Draisaitl

Foegele-Nugent Hopkins-Hyman

Holloway-Mcleod-Brown

Erne-Janmark-Ryan

Ekholm-Bouchard

Nurse-Ceci

Kulak-Broberg

Skinner

Campbell

The Oilers come into this game 1-2-0 on the season. They dropped their first two games of the year to the Vancouver Canucks and picked up their first win on Tuesday against the Nashville Predators. All of their big guns scored on Tuesday night as McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, and Hyman all had goals in a 6-1 win.

Jack Campbell was spectacular in net stopping 43 of 44 shots he faced in what was the Oilers best all around game so far. They will look to carry that performance into tonights game against the Flyers as we should be in for a very entertaining game.

Final Thoughts:

The Flyers are 2-3-0 against the Oilers in their last five games as they split the season series last year with the both teams winning on home ice. Edmonton is a very fast team and the Flyers will have to try and match that speed or at least contain it if they want to have a chance to win tonight.

The second period of Tuesday game was dominated by the Flyers, I mean they really took it to Vancouver as they outshot them 23-3 in the period. Sure they didn’t score but Thatcher Demko was playing incredible and robbed the Flyers on quite a few chances. If they can have another period like that against these Oilers and projected starter Stuart Skinner I expect them to score more than two goals tonight.

Special teams will be a key in tonights game as the Oilers have on of the most dangerous powerplays in the league. McDavid and Draisaitl are a lethal combo at 5 on 5 and even more dangerous on the powerplay. The Flyers PK has been decent so far this season and they were 3-3 on kills Tuesday night. They shouldn’t test that too much in tonights game though as they will need to play disciplined so the Oilers aren’t getting too many high quality chances.

Tonight’s game starts at 7:30pm so once the Phillies are over flip the channel and check out the Flyers.

Follow us on Twitter @FlyersFanLife for all of your Flyers coverage.

-Walsh

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Hart Image