The Flyers embark their first their first road trip of the season, and this will be as tough as it gets tonight against the Boston Bruins. It’s a homecoming sort of speak for Kevin Hayes, but the Flyers have officially lost two more key players to injury: Morgan Frost (Shoulder dislocation) and Philippe Myers (Fractured ribs). Frost is out indefinitely, and his timeline is looking like March or April by the time he gets back to full health. Myers on the other hand is week to week per the Flyers, so let’s hope he returns sooner rather than later. The good news is that Sean Couturier and Myers are not out for the year, and it appears help may be on the way.
Today Head Coach Alain Vigneault said that Shayne Gostisbehere practiced yesterday in Voorhees, and he expects him to practice with the team when the team returns home following this four game road trip (Boston and New Jersey). That’s the good news. He also said that Connor Bunnaman will Center the fourth line between Nicolas Aubé-Kubel and Michael Raffl.
Vigneault also indicated that Robert Hägg and Mark Friedman would be paired together tonight. Friedman enters the lineup for the first time this season, and he was chomping at the bit to get his shot. The Flyers appear to be high on Friedman, so I’m expecting him to play a mistake free game like he usually does. The lines and pairings could look something like this tonight:
1.G, Hayes, Farabee
2. Lindblom, Patrick, TK
3. JvR, Laughton, Voracek
4. Raffl, Bunny, NAK
Provy, Sanheim
Gustafsson, Braun
Hägg, Friedman
Hart
What will happen tonight is anyone’s guess. All I will say is the Flyers have been down this road before. The next man up has been a common theme for this team for the past few seasons. They are no strangers to losing key players, so let’s hope the Flyers put forth one heck of a game tonight.
