Playing their third game in four nights, Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers (30-23-11) are in St. Paul on Thursday to take on John Hynes' Minnesota Wild (38-16-11). This is the second and final game of the season series between the teams.
Game time at Grand Casino Arena is 8:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on NBCSP.
The Flyers have 18 games remaining in their schedule: eight at home and 10 on the road. On Wednesday, the team bounced back from Monday's debacle against the Rangers with a very solid 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals. Philadelphia has won five of its last seven games.
The Wild had the night off on Wednesday. The previous night, they shut down the Utah Mammoth in a 5-0 shutout victory. The team is 3-0-1 since opening the month with a home loss to the St. Louis Blues.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch on Thursday.
1. Short shifts
Minnesota has a significant fatigue factor edge heading into this game. The Flyers are not just playing the second half of a back-to-back set. It's Philly's fourth game in six nights.
The Wild are a rested team. Since beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 at home on March 3, Hynes' team has had three game nights and five rest nights. They've been back at home since Monday of the current week.
If the Flyers are to upset the Wild on Thursday, they need to follow the typical way tired teams overcome more rested opponents: short shifts, smart puck management and rolling all four lines as much as possible. Playing from ahead is a near-must. If the Flyers have to chase another game, a tough task against a dangerous opponent becomes a herculean challenge.
2. Vladar's "A" game
Dan Vladar hasn't had many clunkers this season. However, he was not sharp against New York on Monday. Samuel Ersson relieved Vladar after the second period. One of the biggest -- and possibly the single biggest -- things the Flyers need to come away with a win over Minnesota is a quick bounceback from Vladar. He'll need to be on his "A" game against the Wild.
3. Flyers D: The top four
Look for the Flyers defense pairings of Travis Sanheim with Rasmus Ristolainen and Cam York with Jamie Drysdale to shoulder heavy burdens against the Wild. Their challenge: be clean with the puck on breakouts, minimize failed clearing attempts, make intelligent reads when joining the attack and get shots through to the net.
Philly needs all four of these defensemen to be on their games against the Wild. They all played well on Wednesday against Washington, especially Drysdale and Ristolainen.
4. Familiar face: Brink
Traded to Minnesota on deadline day for defense prospect David Jiricek, Bobby Brink will play his first game against the winger's original organization. In Tuesday's win over Utah, Brink was shaken up and early in the game and temporarily left the game. Later, he scored his first goal for his new team.
After Wednesday's win against Washington, Travis Konency joked that he may call for the puck when he's out on the ice against Brink on Thursday in the hopes that his old teammate instinctively sends the puck his way when he hears a familiar voice call to him by his nickname.
