Flyers vs Avalanche Preview: How To Watch, Keys To The Game, Lineups

The Philadelphia Flyers are coming off their first win of the season Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators and are facing the Colorado Avalanche tonight in Philadelphia. 

The Flyers are looking to ride the winning feeling into tonight and are looking to keep the good times going against the Avalanche tonight. The Avalanche are one of the best teams in the league with a record of 5-2-1 so the Flyers will have their hands full tonight to try and take down the Avalanche. Alex Bump and Cole Knuble are being called up from Lehigh Valley and are expected to suit up tonight. Puck drop will be at 7 PM tonight.

How To Watch

• Time: 7 PM
• Location: Xfinity Mobile Arena Philadelphia, PA
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Radio: Rock 104.1
• Streaming: ESPN +

Projected Flyers Lines vs Avalanche

Forwards

94 Porter Martone - 27 Noah Cates 39 Matvei Michkov

86 Denver Barkey - 46 Trevor Zegras - 58 Michael Bunting

20 Alex Bump - 22 Christian Dvorak - 54 Cole Knuble

10 Garrett Wilson - 14 Sean Couturier - 52 Noel Acciari

Defense

6 Travis Sanheim - 59 Oliver Bonk

24 Nick Seeler - 9 Jamie Drysdale

44 Simon Benoit - 5 David Jiricek

Goalies

52 Joseph Woll

80 Dan Vladar

Injuries & Roster Updates

GTD: Sean Couturier (Undisclosed), Tyson Foerster (Upper Body)

Out: Travis Konecny (Lower Body), Cam York (Upper Body), Owen Tippett (Upper Body), Rasmus Ristolainen (Upper Body)

Call Ups: Alex Bump, Cole Knuble

Projected Opponents Lines: Colorado Avalanche

Forwards

62 Artturi Lehkonen - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 88 Martin Necas

92 Gabriel Landeskog - 11 Brock Nelson - 91 Nazem Kadri

71 Jaden Schwartz - 9 Fedor Svechkov - 13 T.J. Hughes

25 Logan O'Connor - 17 Parker Kelly - 54 Gavin Brindley

Defense

7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar

27 Brett Kulak - 70 Sam Malinski

42 Josh Manson - 84 Brent Burns

Goalies

39 Mackenzie Blackwood

41 Scott Wedgewood
Keys to the Game

• Keep Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone together: In the last game against the Ottawa Senators Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone were the young studs that the organization and Flyers fans everywhere have been looking for. The two combined for 4 points both getting a goal and being the primary assist on each other's goal. I asked Martone after the game on Saturday night how the chemistry building between the two and Martone went on to say that they are starting to read each other and that it is going to keep building chemistry moving forward. You have to keep doing what worked, and that is letting Michkov and Martone run wild and keep them together.

• Try and slow down Nathan MacKinnon the best you can: MacKinnon is one of the best players to ever lace up skates and through 8 games this season MacKinnon has 6 goals and 10 assists for 16 points. In the Avalanche’s last game against the Penguins MacKinnon had a 4 point night in a dominant 5-2 win. The Flyers just have to do their best to try and contain him tonight, if you can limit him to 1 point that feels like a victory for the team. The Avalanche have so much talent but it all revolves around MacKinnon, for the Flyers to have a good night tonight they have to find a way to shut him down.

• Try and stay healthy tonight: The Flyers have been piling up injuries and if they want to get on a consistent winning track they need their playmakers out there. Especially when playing a team that is as talented as the Avalanche are you need to be as healthy as can be and not have to double line guys and lose players throughout the game.

By the Numbers

•  Nathan MacKinnon in 22 career games against the Flyers he has 6 goals, 15 assists for 21 points.
• In 3 career games Joseph Woll has a 2-1-0 record with a 2.34 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage against the Avalanche.
• Travis Sanheim has 2 goals and 8 assists in 16 career games against the Avalanche with a +5 plus-minus rating.

X-Factors

• Joseph Woll: Woll is in the net tonight for the Flyers and he is going to have to be a force between the pipes. Now the Flyers have to give him some help in front of him and not let him get peppered with shots but Colorado is top 10 in the league for shots so they are going to get a ton of pucks on net. But the Flyers cannot allow multiple shot opportunities in the same sequence because Woll is going to have his hands full to begin with.

• Nathan MacKinnon: One of the best players of our generation is always going to be an X-Factor for the Avalanche. MacKinnon has the ability to just take over a game with his playmaking, goal scoring, and his physicality. He is one of the most gifted players in the league and just so happens to be about a point per game player against the Flyers in his career. MacKinnon is on a tear this season and is going to want to continue that tonight.

Alex Berardis is a Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN Follow him on social media @PhillyLix