In the middle of a quieter part of their game schedule, the Blackhawks are back on the road for a Saturday matinee against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Philly is in a similar rebuilding status as Chicago and has had a roller-coaster ride of a season to start. After a 1-5-1 start, the Flyers won three of four, lost two in a row, won four of five and are now on a two-game losing skid after losing to the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes earlier in the week. That Carolina game was on Wednesday, so it’s a well-rested Philadelphia side for this game.
The main attraction here is 19-year-old Matvei Michkov, the Russian forward who was picked No. 7 overall in the 2023 NHL Draft and came over to North America for the start of this season, diminishing fears it’d be a longer time before he arrived — if he did at all. He’s had an impressive start with 15 points (6 G, 9 A) in 18 games despite bouncing around the lineup and even seeing time as a healthy scratch thanks to the tough-love efforts of coach John Tortorella. He’s not the only weapon here, though: Travis Konecny leads the team with 23 points (11 G, 12 A) in 20 games, Travis Sanheim has 12 (5 G, 7 A) from the blue line and Owen Tippet is the fourth player in double digits with 10 (4 G, 6 A) in 20. It’s not the most robust offense, but it is 21st in the league at 2.70 goals per game. There’s enough depth here to make the Blackhawks hurt if they allow it.
But the Flyers are one of the worst possession teams in the league, with the worst 5-on-5 shot attempt share in the league (43.96 percent) and the 29th-ranked 5-on-5 expected goal share in the league (44.26 percent). Combine that with a subpar blue line and a trio of goalies who won’t inspire much confidence and it all adds up to the second-highest rate of goals against in the league at 3.50 per game. There should be goals available for the Blackhawks in this game, even for as offensively challenged of a team as they’ve been this season.
No morning skate of course, but here’s what Philly’s lineup was at practice on Friday:
Lines and pairs today: Tippett – Couturier – Richard Farabee – Frost – Brink Foerster – Cates – Michkov Fourth line is a rotation of Poehling, Hathaway, Deslauriers and Laughton. They're rotating everyone in and out. No TK. He got banged up early on Wed but stayed in the game.
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieoconn.bsky.social) November 22, 2024 at 11:12 AM
As for the Hawks, Thursday’s win offered some respite from the doom and gloom hovering around the team that had lost five of six before it knocked off the reigning Stanley Cup champions. Jason Dickinson is still expected to play after not practicing on Friday following his brief absence during Thursday’s game against the Panthers. Since Chicago won that last game, the expectation here is that the lineup against the Flyers will be the same one from a few nights ago:
Blackhawks lines in warmups vs. Panthers are as expected: Bedard-Dickinson-Anderson Hall-Donato-Teravainen Mikheyev-Foligno-Bertuzzi Maroon-Reichel-Smith Vlasic-Murphy Allan-Martinez Kaiser-Brodie Mrazek
— Ben Pope (@benpopecst.bsky.social) November 21, 2024 at 7:06 PM
Mrazek was confirmed as the starter at Friday’s practice.
The lineup problem from Thursday’s game remains present in this one, as the most potent (only?) offensive weapon the Blackhawks have is being used on Chicago’s checking line. Dickinson’s line with Bedard and Joey Anderson was buried by Sasha Barkov’s line a few nights ago. Philadelphia doesn’t have anyone near Barkov’s quality, so there could be more looks at the net for Bedard available, but it still feels like a woeful misuse of Bedard’s talents to have him attempting to slow down the best the league has to offer instead of seeking out the ideal matchups for him to light up scoreboards every game.
But the next lineup shuffle could be just a couple of opposing goals away, at least?
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Flyers
44.52% (29th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 43.96% (32nd)
44.88% (28th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 44.26% (29th)
2.35 (30th) — Goals per game — 2.70 (21st)
3.00 (t-13th) — Goals against per game — 3.50 (31st)
45.6% (29th) — Faceoffs — 51.1% (13th)
21.2% (13th) — Power play — 16.9% (21st)
79.3% (16th) — Penalty kill — 86.6% (4th)
(All stats from this season)
How to Watch
When: Noon CT
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
TV: NHL Network, CHSN (How to Watch) Good luck finding it!
Webstream: N/A (h/t to SCH user DSkiNY who pointed out that this game being broadcast nationally on the NHL Network, which means no ESPN+ option. Will the game be blacked out locally on NHL Network? No idea!)
Radio: WGN 720