Hart returns as the Flyers host Coyotes on ’90s Night’

Winners of three straight, the Philadelphia Flyers celebrate the 1990s with another ‘Throwback Thursday.’

Tonight, they’ll host the Arizona Coyotes. Less than a month ago, Clayton Keller scored a hat trick versus the Flyers. In overtime, Keller scored with less than thirty seconds remaining, notching the 5-4 game-winner.

Hart will start after a successful road trip with Samuel Ersson between the pipes. Ersson remains as the backup with Felix Sandstrom on a conditioning assignment.

Arizona Coyotes (13-18-5)

The Coyotes are 4-5-1 in their last ten games. They experienced a three-game win streak, too.

Here’s the tentative lineup for Arizona:

Keller-Boyd-Schmaltz 
McBain-Bjugstad-Crouse 
Ritchie-Hayton-Fischer 
Brown-Dauphin-Carcone 

Chychrun-Gostisbehere 
Valimaki-Moser 
Nemeth-Stecher 

Vejmelka 
(Ingram)

Christian Fischer (7G, 6A) mixes a physical style while remaining active in the offensive zone. He did have a turnover late in the second, which escalated into a costly high-sticking penalty. Fischer has one career point against Philadelphia, an assist on a goal by Alex Goligoski from February 2018.

Jakob Chychrun (+9, 33HIT, 16GV, 54.6%CF) collected a powerplay goal against the Florida Panthers. He spent the most time on the ice of any skater on the roster. Chychrun had five shots on goal, four hits, and a blocked shot during his last performance. Earlier in the victory versus the Flyers, Chychrun had the secondary assist on the Keller game-winner.

Philadelphia Flyers (14-17-7)

On the other side, Philadelphia is 5-4-1 in their last ten games. The Coyotes were a mutual opponent within the ten, representing the overtime loss.

“We’ve been in a lot of close games. Some games, we earned a better result; we didn’t get ’em. They all come out of the wash in the long season. They find a way; played good, played bad, inconsistent, but they played hard.”

John Tortorella; 1/5/2023

Here’s the tentative lineup for the Flyers, per Bill Meltzer:

Farabee-Cates, N-Konecny 
van Riemsdyk-Frost-Tippett 
Hayes-Laughton-Allison 
Deslauriers-Brown-MacEwen 

Provorov-York 
Sanheim-DeAngelo 
Seeler-Ristolainen 

Hart 
(Ersson) 

James van Riemsdyk (5G, 10A) has three assists in his last five games. He and Owen Tippett are developing synergy on the ice. As usual, Philadelphia will look for van Riemsdyk in his office atop the crease, where he had two shots on goal against the Anaheim Ducks.

Rasmus Ristolainen (-5, 77BLK, 16GV, 41%CF) popped the bench during the road trip in California. He sacrificed his body, blocking shots on the penalty kill. Over his last five performances, Ristolainen tallied all his points (2A) in 2022-2023. He was the best Flyers defenseman on the ice in Anaheim, and it seems Ristolainen is prioritizing his defensive positioning as John Tortorella previously challenged. He made a fair amount of game-defining defensive plays during the current three-game win streak.

“In LA, Risto blocks a shot; he’s down like he’s dead, gets up, the bench is cheering him on, runs over Kopitar, comes back and blocks another shot, the bench gets even louder. We haven’t had a lot of those moments. You just don’t have a lot of those when you have some struggles that we’ve had.”

John Tortorella; 1/5/2023

Place Your Bets

Flyers moneyline (-145) 
Coyotes moneyline (+125) 
Christian Fischer anytime score (+450) 
James van Riemsdyk anytime score (+200) 
Jakob Chychrun o.5pts (-130) 

Game Information

Watch the Philadelphia Flyers host the Arizona Coyotes on NBC Sports Philadelphia at 7pm. The radio broadcast is available on 97.5 the Fanatic.

(Photo Credit/Alex McIntyre)