Flyers hope to avoid losing fourth straight, visit Canucks

Continuing their four-game road trip out west, the Philadelphia Flyers visit the Vancouver Canucks. It’s the final matchup between the teams this season. In their first meeting, the Flyers scored three consecutive goals to defeat the Canucks, 3-2.

A lot changed in Vancouver since their loss to the Flyers in October. Rick Tocchet replaced Bruce Boudreau as the head coach, Bo Horvat is now on the New York Islanders, Thatcher Demko is out of the lineup, and the team continues to slide in the NHL standings.

Embarrassed by the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, the Flyers hope to avoid a fourth straight loss.

Vancouver Canucks (21-30-4)

On Wednesday, the New York Rangers defeated the Canucks 6-4. In the last ten games, Vancouver is 3-6-1. They match Philadelphia, on a three-game losing streak.

Elias Pettersson (25G, 41A) notched two assists on Wednesday. He leads the team with 66 points, appearing to be the face of the franchise since Horvat departed to Long Island.

Along the blue line, Quinn Hughes (+10, 48BLK, 38TK, 58.5%CF) is the Canucks’ workhorse. Hughes is second on the team in points with 51 (5G, 46A) and averages 24:48 of ice time, the most on the roster by more than two minutes. On a point-per-game pace, his craftiness on defense creates a ton of breakout and scoring chances.

Hughes is the playmaker, and Luke Schenn (+4, 252HIT, 27GV, 41.7%CF) brings the boom. Schenn totaled 252 hits, leading the league and 30 more than Nicolas Deslauriers in second place. He’s attracting interest ahead of the trade deadline from more than a few top NHL teams.

Here’s the projected lineup for the Vancouver Canucks:

Kuzmenko-Pettersson-Beauvillier
Podkolzin-Studnicka-Boeser
Di Giuseppe-Miller-Garland
Joshua-Aman-Dries

Hughes-Bear
Stillman-Myers
Burroughs-Schenn

Delia
(Silovs)

Philadelphia Flyers (22-24-10)

John Tortorella had little to say about his team’s performance after being dominated by the Kraken from start to finish.

“You guys don’t need me for your stories tonight, do you? You pretty much got your information, don’t you?”

John Tortorella; 2/17/2023

Instead of a day off, Tortorella put his skaters and goaltenders on the ice to practice in Vancouver.

Travis Konecny (26G, 25A) ended a thirteen-game goal-scoring drought, scoring twice. Offering two bright moments in a dismal team performance, he could jump-start a new surge of offense severely missed:

“With TK or any goalscorer, no matter what; empty-netter, off his ass, whatever it may be, it always helps that. Hopefully, that’ll relax him a little bit and get him back on track.”

John Tortorella; 2/17/2023

Ivan Provorov (-8, 130BLK, 54GV, 42.9%CF) has two assists in as many games, including one against Seattle. He has 21 points (3G, 18A) and is finding chemistry alongside Cam York on the top pair. As the trade deadline looms, the Provorov talks have quieted, but he’s an interesting name to watch.

Here’s the projected lineup for the Philadelphia Flyers, per Sam Carchidi:

Hayes-Cates-Tippett
van Riemsdyk-Frost-Konecny
Farabee-Laughton-Allison
Deslauriers-Brown-Lycksell

Provorov-York
Sanheim-Ristolainen
Seeler-DeAngelo

Hart
(Ersson)

Place Your Bets

Philadelphia Flyers moneyline (+100)
Vancouver Canucks moneyline (-120)
Ivan Provorov o0.5 points (+185)
Elias Pettersson anytime goalscorer (+130)

Game Information

You can watch the Philadelphia Flyers take on the Vancouver Canucks on NBC Sports Philadelphia at 10pm. Radio coverage will be on 97.5 The Fanatic and Flyers Radio 24/7.

(Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire)