Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images
The Washington Capitals host the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night for the lone time during the regular season and second of three meetings overall in 2023-24 (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network locally, NHL Network nationally). Philadelphia has won the last three head-to-head meetings, including a 4-3 shootout victory on Broad Street on December 14.
Schedule
Philadelphia: heads on the road for the lone time in four games and second in a span of six (1-2-0), begins set of back-to-back as the Ottawa Senators will await them in the City of Brotherly Love
Washington: open two-game homestand, continue stretch where they host four of six (1-1-0) before heading on a five-game Western Canadian road trip
How Each Team Is Doing
Philadelphia: has dropped four of their previous five (1-3-1) before a 6-2 win over Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday
Washington: had five-game point-streak (4-0-1) spanned in an 8-3 loss to Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday but has points in six of their last eight (4-2-2) since ending six-game winless streak (0-5-1)
Standings
Philadelphia: 31-22-7 (.575 points percentage — third in Metropolitan Division, seventh in Eastern Conference); trails Carolina Hurricanes (who have a game in hand) by seven points for second in division, leads New Jersey Devils (one) by five, Washington (two) by six, and both the Pittsburgh Penguins (four) and New York Islanders (two) by seven
Washington: 27-22-9 (.543 points percentage — fifth in Metropolitan Division, 10th in Eastern Conference); six points behind Tampa Bay (with three games in hand) for second wild-card spot
Team Leaders
Neither team has a player ranked among the top-20 league-wide in goals, top-35 in points, nor the top-55 in assists. With Konecny out, right-wing Owen Tippet (21) has the most goals among Flyers expected to play while left-wing Joel Farabee (44) has the most points.
Team Statistics
Both teams are among the bottom-12 in goals while Philadelphia’s power play is the worst. However, their penalty kill is just .2% behind the Los Angeles Kings for the NHL lead. Philadelphia also ranks fourth in shots and third in shots-against.
Injuries/Illnesses/Suspensions
Philadelphia
- D Rasmus Ristolainen (upper-body)
- D Jamie Drysdale (upper-body)
- Konecny (upper-body)
- G Carter Hart (personal leave)
Washington
- C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
- RW T.J. Oshie (upper-body)
- C Evgeny Kuznetsov (NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program)
- C Nic Dowd (upper-body)
- D Martin Fehervary (lower-body)
- RW Tom Wilson (personal)
Expected Goalie Matchup
The following graph shows Friday’s expected matchup in the crease. Charlie Lindgren is coming off of his worst game of the season, where he allowed eight goals on 31 shots (.742) at Little Caesar’s Arena.
Projected Lines
Philadelphia
Tippett – Scott Laughton – Tyson Foerester
Farabee – Morgan Frost – Bobby Brink
Noah Cates – Ryan Poehling — Garnet Hathaway
Nicolas Deslauriers – Sean Couturier – Olle Lycksell
Cam York – Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Sean Walker
Egor Zamula – Marc Staal
Ersson
Felix Sandstrom
Scratched: RW Cam Atkinson, D Ronnie Attard
Washington
Ovechkin – Hendrix Lapierre – Ivan Miroschnichenko
Max Pacioretty – Strome – Sonny Milano
Aliaksei Protas – Connor McMichael — Anthony Mantha
Beck Malenstyn – Michael Sgarbossa – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Rasmus Sandin – Carlson
Joel Edmundson – Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev – Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: D Ethan Bear, RW Pierrick Dube
Betting Odds (BetMGM)
Philadelphia: -120, Washington: +100
Over-under: 6 (-110 both over/under)
By Harrison Brown
