John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (21-20-6) are home on Tuesday evening to take on Todd McLellan's Detroit Red Wings (21-21-4) on Pride Night at Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EST.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
Tuesday's game will complete the season series between the Flyers and Red Wings. At Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 12, a four-goal explosion by Scott Laughton accounted for all the scoring in a 4-1 Flyers victory. Six nights later at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings prevailed by a 6-4 score.
Entering Tuesday's game, the Flyers have gone 4-0-1 over their past five teams to climb back into the Eastern Conference Wild Card picture. The Red Wings had been scorching hot as they rattled off a seven-game winning streak. However, the club is just 1-3-0 over its last four games including a 5-1 loss in Tampa on Saturday and a 4-1 setback in Dallas on Sunday.
Here are five things to watch in the season series finale.
1. Balanced Flyers scoring
Over the Flyers' last 15 games, 16 different players have scored at least one goal, and five players have recorded 10 or more points. Travis Konecny (five goals, 12 assists) leads in overall scoring during that stretch as well as the full season (21 goals, 33 assists, 54 points in 47 games). Over the last 15 matches, Noah Cates and Morgan Frost top the team with seven goals apiece.
The Flyers, in recent weeks, have found balanced scoring across their forward lines: Cates centering Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink, Frost centering Owen Tippett and Konecny and Sean Couturier now centering Joel Farabee and Matvei Michkov.
2. Shot suppression
The Flyers are coming off a game in Newark on Saturday afternoon that saw them hold the speedy New Jersey Devils to a mere 13 shots on goal. Along the way, the Flyer blocked a season-high 33 shot attempts by their opponent. For the season, the Flyers lead the NHL with an average of 18.10 blocked shots per game.
Detroit is not a team that typically generates a high volume of shots on net (25.9 on average, third-lowest in the NHL), although the team has trended positively since McLellan took over as the head coach on December 26.
3. Discipline and special teams
The Red Wings are a team that relies heavily on its potent power play to generate offensive support. Entering Tuesday's game, Detroit ranks second in NHL with a 28.4 percent success rate on the power play.
The first time the Flyers played Detroit this season, Philly took only one penalty and withstood the 4-on-5. This went a long way toward the 4-1 victory.
When the teams met again six nights later, the Flyers got into penalty trouble in the first period, including a high-sticking double minor on Tippett. The Red Wings struck for a power play goal by J.T. Compher.
The Flyers' penalty kill is currently ranked 20th in the NHL at 77.9 percent. On the flip side, the Flyers could help their own cause immensely if their oft-struggling power play (16.5 percent, ranked 28th) can break through against Detroit's 31st-ranked penalty kill (67.8 percent).
4. Michkov watch
The first time the Flyers played Detroit this season, rookie winger Michkov did not record a point but was in the thick of five prime scoring chances for Philly including two one-timers from the circle and a near-miss attempt on a "Michigan" (lacrosse-style) during a delayed penalty.
Michkov hit a dry spell as December rolled into January but has recently shown signs of potentially heating up again offensively. The 20-year-old Russian winger has four points (2g, 2a) over the last five games. In Newark on Saturday, Couturier sent Michkov off on a breakaway, which the rookie finished off with a glove-side wrist shot.
Michkov (14g, 19a, 33 points) is currently second on the NHL rookie scoring leaderboard. Montreal offensive defenseman Lane Hutson (35 assists and 38 points) tops the league among first-year players. San Jose center Macklin Celebrini (13g, 19a) is one point and one goal behind Michkov.
5. Between the pipes
Since the leaguewide holiday break and a return from a recurring lower-body injury, Flyers netminder Samuel Ersson has posted a 6-1-0 record, 1.66 goals against average, .930 save percentage and one shutout (vs. Anaheim). Overall for the season, the Swede has improved to 13-7-2 with a 2.79 GAA and .889 save percentage.
On the Detroit side, ex-Flyer Cam Talbot is 4-1-0 over his five appearances. He turned back 41 of 43 shots in an upset road win against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers but got roughed up by Tampa (five goals on 16 shots) before being relieved by fellow ex-Flyer Alex Lyon.
Lyon got the start in Dallas on Sunday, stopping 21 of 25 shots in the 4-1 loss. Dating back to the Christmas break, Talbot has made six starts to five for Lyon.
