In the second game of a six-game homestand, Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (14-8-3) will host Lindy Ruff's Buffalo Sabres (11-11-4) on Wednesday evening. This is the first of three meetings this season between the teams and the lone game in Philadelphia.
Game time at Xfinity Mobile Arena is 7:30 p.m. EST.The game will be broadcast nationally on TNT.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 5-1 home loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday. Shortly after scoring a 5-on-3 power play goal, Flyers leading goal scorer Tyson Foerster suffered an upper-body injury on his next shift. He will miss two to three months. On Tuesday, the Flyers recalled veteran forward Carl Grundstrom from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
The Flyers won three of four games on their recent road trip. Now they'll look to get back on the winning track against an inconsistent Sabres club. Most recently, the Sabres sustained a 5-0 home loss to the New Jersey Devils but bounced back for a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild and a 5-1 triumph against the Winnipeg Jets.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Wednesday in Philly.
1. Reset the process.
Even apart from Foerster's injury, the Flyers had a variety of things go wrong in the Pittsburgh game. The Flyers will need to quickly correct all of the following factors from last game's loss:
- Both sides of special teams. On the power play, the Flyers went 1-for-7 against the Penguins. Most notably, they had back-to-back 5-on-3 opportunities. Foerster scored on the front end. The rest went for naught. Meanwhile the penalty kill yielded three goals on four opportunities.
- Puck management. The Flyers had 27 turnovers against Pittsburgh. Twenty were the Flyers' own giveaways. The other seven were takeaways by the opponent. This must be corrected.
- Shot and chance suppression. The Flyers have improved in these areas for the season on the whole. Against Pittsburgh,the problem wasn't so much about shot volume allowed (27 overall) but about the quality. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers yielded 28 legitimate scoring chances across all game situations. On Monday, team defense and goalie play (namely rebound control) shared the blame.
2. Scoring by committee
Foerster's 10 goals lead the team. Without him, it becomes even more important for the Flyers to have different players spread the wealth. This includes contributions from defensemen and well as from forwards.
In terms of recent trends, here's a look at production over the Flyers' last 10 games: Owen Tippett leads the team with 11 points (three goals, eight assists). He's followed by Trevor Zegras (5g, 4a, nine points), Christian Dvorak (3g, 4a, seven points), Travis Konecny (0g, 7a) Matvei Michkov (5g, 1a, six points), Emil Andrae (1g, 5a, six points), and Sean Couturier (2g, 3a, five points).
With Foerster absent, everyone needs to chip in. This includes Noah Cates (1g, 2a, +4 in the last 10 games), Bobby Brink (1g, 0a, -6), defensemen Cam York (0g, 3a, -7) and Jamie Drysdale (0g, 3a, -1).
3. Opportunity for Grebenkin
Rookie winger Nikita Grebenkin has dressed in 16 games this season, mostly in a fourth line role. Going back to training camp, he's shown flashes of potential. The absence of Foerster may create an opportunity for Grebenkin to play higher in the lineup.
In order for Grebenkin to maintain a potential top-nine spot in the forward rotation, he will need to consistently display some of the traits that enabled him to beat out fellow prospect Alex Bump and other competitors for an opening night NHL roster spot. These include: 1) winning board battles, 2) getting to the net, and 3) consistent engagement. He's done these things in spurts during the regular season.
Meanwhile, positional awareness and play reads are the two main works in progress dating back to camp. With Grebenkin, it's not about effort or willingness. It's about taking his strong shifts and replicating them.
4. Grundstrom's role
At the NHL level, the 28-year-old Grundstrom has played 293 games (one this season with the Flyers). His game is based on his ability to win small-area battles and pay attention to detail.
He has mostly played on the fourth line in the NHL. However, he saw some top-nine duty in 2022-23 with the LA Kings (12 goals, 19 points in 57 games).
While with the Phantoms in the AHL, the Swedish forward has had a bit more offensive responsibility than he has in the NHL. He responded with 15 points in 19 games on top of strong off-puck play.
