Flyers-Canadiens Preview: Ticking Away

A seventh straight loss on Saturday in Columbus was only the beginning for the Flyers, as their collapse continued. The standings are hardly in their favor now, essentially forcing each game to be a win or bust scenario. Time is running out in a hurry.

Their next opponent is one that already contributed to this losing streak. The Flyers are back on the road and facing the Montreal Canadiens again on Tuesday night with four games to go in the season.

Game time is at 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Montreal Canadiens	GP	G	A	P
Travis Konecny	72	31	34	65	Nick Suzuki	77	33	41	74
Owen Tippett	74	28	23	51	Cole Caufield	77	24	35	59
Joel Farabee	78	21	28	49	Mike Matheson	77	10	47	57
Travis Sanheim	77	10	33	43	Juraj Slafkovsky	77	16	29	45
Morgan Frost	67	13	28	41	Alex Newhook	50	13	17	30

The Flyers offense has dried up considerably during this losing streak, with multiple players unable to finish. Owen Tippett remains second on the team with a career-high 28 goals this season with 30 potentially in sight.

Cole Caufield enters Tuesday's game on a hot streak. He has goals in four straight games, bringing his season total to 24, just two shy of his career high.

Sam Ersson gets the start for the Flyers. Ersson's struggles continued on Saturday in a loss against Columbus, allowing six goals on 33 shots. Ersson has lost three of his last four starts, with the exception being last Monday when he exited after the first period in an eventual overtime loss to the Islanders.

Sam Montembeault gets the start for the Canadiens. Montembeault allowed four goals on 12 shots in his last start against Toronto before exiting after 27:54. Montembeault has won two of his last four starts since a personal six-game losing streak.

Projected Lineups

Flyers Scratches: Rasmus Ristolainen (injury), Nick Deslauriers (healthy), Cam Atkinson (healthy), Denis Gurianov (healthy), Egor Zamula (healthy), Ronnie Attard (healthy), Adam Ginning (healthy)

Canadiens Scratches: Kaiden Guhle (injury), Arber Xhekaj (injury), Joshua Roy (injury), Jesse Ylonen (healthy), Colin White (healthy)

Lineup Notes

Flyers: Sean Couturier said he was good to go and is expected back in the lineup after missing the last two games with injury. Cam Atkinson is expected to come out of the lineup. It also appeared Marc Staal and Erik Johnson will be back in the lineup for Ronnie Attard and Adam Ginning.
Canadiens: Christian Dvorak returns to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 30. Arber Xhekaj will miss the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury. Kaiden Guhle will also miss his third straight game.

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (12.7% - 32nd), Canadiens (17.5% - 26th)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (83.5% - 4th), Canadiens (76.4% - 25th)
Recent History vs. Canadiens
- March 28, 2024 - Canadiens 4, Flyers 1 (at MTL)
- Jan. 10, 2024 - Flyers 3, Canadiens 2 (F/SO) (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Canadiens
- Sean Couturier: 30 GP, 7 G, 13 A, 20 P
- Cam Atkinson: 25 GP, 7 G, 6 A, 13 P
- Travis Konecny: 16 GP, 6 G, 6 A, 12 P
- Sam Ersson: 2 GP, 1-1-0, 1.95 GAA, .882 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Travis Konecny needs three points to reach 400 for his career.