With Konecny out vs. Lightning, shorthanded Flyers give Michkov intriguing look originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers have a tall test Saturday night against a red-hot Lightning team.
They’ll be without Travis Konecny, Bobby Brink and Jamie Drysdale as they host Tampa Bay (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP). All three players are recovering from upper-body injuries. That’s on top of missing Tyson Foerster, who the Flyers won’t have for the rest of the season.
Meanwhile, the pedigree-laden Lightning have won eight straight, a stretch in which they’ve scored 4.75 goals per game.
“It’s next man up,” Sean Couturier said after morning skate. “We’re down a couple of guys now, but we’ve had guys all throughout the year come in and out of the lineup and have an impact and help us in good ways. We’re counting on that. It’s going to be a collective effort to kind of step it up.”
The good news on Konecny is that he’s considered day to day after missing the third period and overtime of the Flyers’ 2-1 loss Thursday night to the Maple Leafs. Konecny, who was not on the ice at morning skate, will miss his first game since March 4, 2024. He had played in 143 straight.
Brink is also considered day to day after missing Thursday night’s game. He was on the ice at morning skate in non-contact fashion.
Drysdale was placed on injured reserve, a stint retroactive to Tuesday, so the earliest he can return is Wednesday next week. He was also at morning skate in non-contact fashion.
“You want to be prepared for opportunity,” Rick Tocchet said of his banged-up team. “We have guys that are going to play in different roles.”
Without Konecny, the Flyers will have Matvei Michkov on their top line alongside Christian Dvorak and Trevor Zegras. Michkov and Zegras combine for all kinds of playmaking ability, but one would think the Flyers will keep a close eye on their matchups against Tampa Bay.
Here’s how the Flyers looked at morning skate.
Forwards
Trevor Zegras-Christian Dvorak-Matvei Michkov
Denver Barkey-Sean Couturier-Owen Tippett
Nikita Grebenkin-Noah Cates-Carl Grundstrom
Nicolas Deslauriers-Rodrigo Abols-Garnet Hathaway
Defensemen
Cam York-Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler-Rasmus Ristolainen
Emil Andrae-Noah Juulsen
Goalies
Samuel Ersson (starter)
Dan Vladar
The Lightning’s first line features Nikita Kucherov, who has an MVP on his résumé (2018-19) and put up 144 points (44 goals, 100 assists) just two seasons ago. His center is Brayden Point, who has scored over 40 goals four times.
“Obviously that top line is pretty dangerous, Kucherov especially, so you’ve got to be careful when they’re out there,” Couturier said. “They play a pretty well-structured game and they have a good goalie (Andrei Vasilevskiy). It’s going to be a good challenge for us, but we’re up to those challenges.”
Saturday night is the Flyers’ first of consecutive games against Tampa Bay, both at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Flyers host the Lightning again Monday to kick off next week (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
“It’s hard to shut them down, but you’ve got to pay attention,” Tocchet said. … “To me, it’s awareness when you play teams like this. It’s almost like chess, you’ve got to read the play two moves ahead because that’s what they do, they put you in those situations where if three guys press forward, they hit the backdoor. They’re one of the better weak-side teams in the league.”