Flyers-Canucks Preview: The Post-Holiday Road Trip

The unofficial start to the second half of the NHL season begins with the first game after the holiday break. For the Flyers, that means the annual post-holiday Western Canada road trip gets underway.

The Flyers first game out of the holiday break is an immediate test. The Vancouver Canucks entered the holiday break with the most points in the NHL and look to build on a strong first half.

Game time is 10 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Vancouver Canucks	GP	G	A	P
Travis Konecny	33	16	11	27	J.T. Miller	35	15	33	48
Travis Sanheim	32	4	20	24	Quinn Hughes	35	10	34	44
Sean Couturier	31	9	14	23	Elias Pettersson	35	13	30	43
Joel Farabee	33	11	11	22	Brock Boeser	35	24	14	38
Owen Tippett	33	12	9	21	Filip Hronek	35	2	27	29

Joel Farabee finished the pre-holiday portion of the schedule strong with two assists against Detroit in the team's last game. In total, he has three assists in the last three games.

Quinn Hughes has been among the league leaders in points all season, and continued his production in the last three games with a goal and four assists. Hughes had just three assists in the six games prior.

Sam Ersson gets the start for the Flyers. Ersson made 27 saves on 30 shots in a loss to the Predators in his last start on Dec. 21. That snapped a personal three-game winning streak for Ersson.

Casey DeSmith gets the start for the Canucks. DeSmith made 26 saves on 28 shots in his last start on Dec. 19 against the Predators. DeSmith has made just three starts in December, with the Canucks getting points in each game.

Projected Lineups

Flyers Scratches: Noah Cates (injury), Marc Staal (healthy), Rhett Gardner (healthy)

Canucks Scratches: Tucker Poolman (injury), Carson Soucy (injury),Guillaume Brisebois (injury), Mark Friedman (healthy), Phillip Di Giuseppe (healthy)

Lineup Notes

Flyers: Egor Zamula comes back into the lineup and Marc Staal will be a healthy scratch. No other changes are expected.
Canucks: No changes are expected to the Canucks lineup.

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (10.6% - 32nd), Canucks (24.2% - 9th)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (85.7% - 4th), Canucks (77.8% - 23rd)
Recent History vs. Canucks
- Oct. 17, 2023 - Flyers 2, Canucks 0 (at PHI)
Flyers Leaders vs. Canucks
- Sean Couturier: 17 GP, 6 G, 7 A, 13 P
- Rasmus Ristolainen: 16 GP, 2 G, 10 A, 12 P
- Cam Atkinson: 19 GP, 6 G, 5 A, 11 P
- Travis Konecny: 12 GP, 3 G, 7 A, 10 P
- Carter Hart: 7 GP, 4-1-2, 1.98 GAA, .930 SV%