Preview: Avalanche look to build on shutout against new look Flyers

The Flyers are playing their first game since a big trade on Thursday.

Following mornings skate on Friday, Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar stated that the team was treating the next five home games as playoff games. The Colorado Avalanche matched the intensity of the statement, dismantling the St. Louis Blues 5-0 on the back of a four goal first period.

“The compete, like I said, the pace, the forechecking, the back-checking and the reloading were all there,” said Avs forward Jonathan Drouin of the Avs effort Friday.

He continued,

“Blacky (MacKenzie Blackwood) made some key saves when he had to. It was a great group effort tonight, I thought we played really well.”

Today in a matinee affair, the Avalanche will look to build on the momentum of Friday’s performance against the struggling Philadelphia Flyers. Like Colorado, Philadelphia recently pulled off a huge trade, sending longtime Flyers forwards Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost to the Calgary Flames in return for forwards Andrei Kuzmenko, Jacob Pelletier, and draft picks.

This will be the Avs final home game before the Four Nations break, and it’ll be important for the Avs to take advantage of the home ice against a Flyers team who is struggling mightily to score goals as of late, and trading two of their better forwards won’t help them find more offense.

Colorado Avalanche

The Avs come into this contest coming off of a dominating performance against the Blues, scoring four goals in the first period, including the first goal in an Avs sweater for Martin Necas in his home debut. The speed Necas plays with has meshed seamlessly in the Avs system so far, and a rapport with Nathan MacKinnon is quickly forming.

As for today, the recipe for success should look the same as it did on Friday night. The Avs weren’t afraid to shoot the puck, and were rewarded early and often on the scoresheet. The Blues simply could not keep up. With this being the final time the Avs will play on front of the Avs faithful until February 26th, the Avs should be ready to come out flying and put on another show for the fans.

Cale Makar and Scott Wedgewood were absent from practice on Saturday. Makar, who blocked a shot with his foot against the Dallas Stars on January 18th, has seemingly been managing that issue ever since, so this should be nothing more than maintenance for the Avs star defenseman.

Conversely, Wedgewood’s situation is a mystery. He has not appeared in game action in 8 days, last playing in Boston against the Bruins to open the Avs recent road trip. Additionally, Trent Miner was recalled from the Colorado Eagles yesterday, so the signs point towards Wedgewood being a scratch today.

As is the case with matinee affairs, the Avs won’t have a morning skate prior to the start of the game, so lineups will be confirmed in warmups.

Projected Lineup

Artturi Lehkonen (62) — Nathan MacKinnon (29) — Martin Necas (88)

Jonathan Drouin (27) — Casey Mittelstadt (37) — Juuso Parssinen (16)

Miles Wood (28) — Jack Drury (18) — Ross Colton (20)

Joel Kiviranta (94) — Parker Kelly (17) — Logan O’Connor (25)

Devon Toews (7) — Cale Makar (8)

Samuel Girard (49) — Josh Manson (42)

Keaton Middleton (67) — Sam Malinski (70)

Mackenzie Blackwood (39)

Philadelphia Flyers

Coming off of a massive trade that saw the team send forwards Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost to the Calgary Flames, the Flyers appear to be a team that is waiving the white flag on their playoff aspirations.

Receiving Andrei Kuzmenko and Jacob Pelletier are below both Farabee and Frost as players as it stands today, and there are concerns on how Kuzmenko will mesh with Head Coach John Tortorella. Given how Tortorella has mishandled young phenom Matvei Michkov so far, the concerns are warranted.

As for the team on the ice, the Flyers have been struggling to put the puck in the net as of late. They have lost four of their last five games, only scoring four goals in that span. They come into today having been shutout in back-to-back contests against the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders.

Trading away two of their better forwards will likely not help them find the back of the net more frequently.

To add insult to injury, the Flyers will likely be without forward Owen Tippett for another game, as he recovers from an injury sustained two games ago when he was hit hard by Devils defenseman Brendan Dillon. Tippett ranks second on the team in goals (14), and third on the team in points (30).

This is a very depleted lineup, and one the Avs should be able to take full advantage of if they show up and play their game.

Projected Lineup

Tyson Foerster (71) — Noah Cates (27) — Travis Konecny (11)

Andrei Kuzmenko (96) — Sean Couturier (14) — Matvei Michkov (39)

Jacob Pelletier (22) — Scott Laughton (21) — Bobby Brink (10)

Nicolas Deslauriers (44) — Jacob Gaucher (78) — Garnet Hathaway (19)

Cam York (8) — Travis Sanheim (6)

Adam Ginning (50) — Rasmus Ristolainen (55)

Nick Seeler (24) — Jamie Drysdale (9)

Samuel Ersson (33)

Ivan Fedotov (82)

Goaltenders

Mackenzie Blackwood is slated to start in goal for today’s matinee. With Wedgewood’s situation unknown as of now, and the sentiment from the team that this next week of action is being treated like playoff action, I would not expect to see Miner appear in any games prior to the break. Blackwood, after a five game skid where he struggled to keep the goals allowed to under three, is coming off of a light 19 save shutout on Friday.

Expect Samuel Ersson to go between the pipes for the Flyers. Ersson, who was named as the replacement in goal for Team Sweden at the Four Nations after an injury knocked Jacob Markstrom out of the tournament, has had his ups and downs this season, but had a decent January, going 6-3-0 with a 2.56 GAA and a .901 SV%. Not amazing numbers, but much better than his season totals of 2.86 GAA and a .890 SV%.