The Game: 7:00 p.m. EST, NBC Sports Philadelphia and 97.5 The Fanatic
It was a wild weekend for the Philadelphia Flyers. They beat a red-hot Minnesota Wild team in a dramatic 7-5 win, and then played three minutes of hockey in a 4-3 loss to the abysmal Montreal Canadiens. Tonight, the boys in Orange and Black are on the road in Boston for the annual Mother’s Trip. Should be a scheduled loss, right? Considering the Bruins are a significantly better team?
Not so fast! The Bs have been…mediocre? Their stars have been somewhat invisible? Their big offseason additions have largely flopped? And who the heck is Cole Koepke?? The Bruins are 4-4-1 to start the season and are in a four-way tie for fourth in the Atlantic Division. The vibes are most definitely off in Boston, and a lot of it could be pinned on GM Don Sweeney.
Sweeney spent big in the offseason, landing both Elias Lindholm (as a weak Patrice Bergeron replacement) and large defenseman Nikita Zadorov on not-so-great contracts. Neither has panned out as planned, with Lindholm rocking a lousy 41.9 Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 and five points, and Zadorov with three points and a 48.4 Corsi-for percentage. Not what you want to see from guys moving past their prime on long-term contracts with significant trade protection.
Those two signings pale in comparison to Sweeney’s biggest misstep, though: another summer playing games with goaltender Jeremy Swayman. Last year, the Bruins and Swayman were the rare instance RFA contract negotiations went to arbitration, and it left a sour taste in everybody’s mouths. This summer, the Bruins traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators, meaning Swayman would have to take over the starter’s job in net–except, the Bruins hadn’t actually signed Swayman yet. Yes, the Bruins traded one half of their elite goaltending tandem before signing the other guy to an extension. Things only got worse from there in a press conference with team president Cam Neely:
Yikes! Not exactly how a team should be conducting negotiations with its young, franchise goaltender. Luckily for the Bruins, they finally got Swayman on a contract: $8.25-million AAV through 2032 (and, like a financial goalie hug, Ullmark signed a deal with an identical AAV through 2029 with the Senators). All was well.
…Or was it? Let’s check in on Swayman–who missed the entire preseason and a game of the regular season–and see how he’s holding up: a 3-3-1 record, .900 save percentage, 2.97 GAA, and a .429 quality-start percentage. Not the start you want from a guy who’s set to be your franchise goalie, but has only ever played as part of a tandem and not carried a true starter’s workload. Things get worse when you consider the Bruins’ backup is Joonas Korpisalo.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg: Brad Marchand scored his first goal of the season in a 4-3 overtime win against the Maple Leafs, David Pastrnak only has six goals and eight points–which now leads the Bruins in scoring, but before that it was bottom-sixer Cole Koepke. All is not well in Boston, after all.
That isn’t to say the Flyers are doing much better (though they do get Korpisalo tonight, which gives them a chance). The team has had no consistency in lines, no consistency in production, and there’s such a clear disconnect between the players that a completed pass makes you say, “Hey, they actually completed a pass that time.” The injury to Cam York doesn’t help matters, though Travis Sanheim shouldered the load with aplomb on Sunday night, and Rasmus Ristolainen has been fine in a top pair role. How long that keeps up is anyone’s guess, but it seems to be stable for now.
Players to Watch
Emil Andrae
At long last, Emil Andrae got to play a game in the NHL this season–and it looks like he’ll be in again tonight. A one-game sample size doesn’t carry a ton of weight statistically but, against Montreal in 14:52 of 5-on-5 ice time, Andrae finished with a 65 CF% and a 53.51 expected Goals-for percentage–not too shabby for a guy thrown in the lineup for a tired team on the second half of a back-to-back. With any luck, Andrae will retain his spot on second power play unit, and we’ll get a chance to see how his offense translates at the next level.
Rasmus Ristolainen
So…do we need to have a conversation about Risto?
Like, a good conversation? Granted, he’s only been in an elevated, true first-pair role for two games so far, but Ristolainen has been stellar to start the season. His career trajectory has done a complete about-face since John Tortorella and Brad Shaw joined the coaching staff (pay no attention to receiving a 5-year contract extension in the middle of the 2021-22 season). Having Ristolainen on the team is no longer detrimental, but beneficial–who thought this day would ever come? Still, he won’t be a part of this team when it’s contending again, so his improved play should make an eventual trade much easier to pull off. Put him on the second power play to rack up some points and boost that value even further, I (sentient blog) say!
David Pastrnak
Pasta loves playing against the Flyers. In 31 games, he has scored 26 goals and 43 points–more than he’s managed against any other team on both counts. If you’re into sports betting, “Pastrnak any time goal” is probably the safest gamble on a night full of hockey games. It is worth mentioning, though, that Pastrnak hasn’t been his usual dominant self, so tonight probably goes one of two ways: he continues to be meh, or playing the Flyers wakes up the Rocket Richard contender within and he goes off.
…It’s probably the latter, isn’t it?
Projected Lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Travis Konecny — Sean Couturier — Matvei Michkov
Owen Tippett — Morgan Frost — Tyson Foerster
Joel Farabee — Scott Laughton — Bobby Brink
Noah Cates — Ryan Poehling — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae — Erik Johnson
Sam Ersson
(Ivan Fedotov)
This seems…right? At last?? What a stunning moment for this team: lines that make sense! Only major thing of note is Emil Andrae getting a second game while Yegor Zamula stays in the press box.
Boston Bruins
Pavel Zacha – Elias Lindholm – David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Justin Brazeau
Trent Frederic – Matthew Poitras – Morgan Geekie
John Beecher – Mark Kastelic – Cole Koepke
Mason Lohrei – Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo
Nikita Zadorov – Andrew Peeke
Joonas Korpisalo
(Jeremy Swayman)
Gameday Tunes
The Flyers are headed up north to Boston, and Clairo’s coming to Philly this weekend. No better softcore music for an autumnal Tuesday.
