Flying Forward: Weekly Preview (11/13/16-11/19/16)

The Philadelphia Flyers will look to take advantage of playing in front of its home crowd this week. They will face the Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The one thing that those teams have in common is speed so the Flyers will have to play a team game on defense, and take care of the puck.

On Tuesday night, Erik Karlsson and the Senators will visit Philly to take on the Flyers. Philadelphia will need to watch out for Karlsson since he is like an extra forward when he is on the ice. He’ll join the rush or even make a pinch along the wall to keep the play alive. He leads the team in points and assists. The Flyers will need to avoid turnovers and be smart with the puck since Ottawa will be able to use its speed to create chances off turnovers. The guys in Orange and Black will also need to spend some time in the offensive zone since the goaltending hasn’t been spectacular and Michal Neuvirth is hurt, so it will be on Steve Mason to step up his less than stellar play so far this year.

The Sens have already announced that goalie Craig Anderson will get the start on Tuesday night so the Flyers will want to get some bodies in front to look for deflections and rebound chances. Ottawa will also want to keep an eye on Philly’s defensemen since they like to join in on the play in the offensive zone and lead the League in points as a group. The Senators will also want to stay out of the penalty box since the Flyers power play has been clicking early and is really good on home ice. The Sens will also want to try to get its power play going since the Flyers do have a weak penalty kill. Ottawa will want to get pucks to the net and get in on the forecheck to force turnovers.

The Jets will visit the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night. The Flyers will want to try and keep the top line of the Jets, which consists of Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine, off the board since they have combined for 50 points on the season. The guys in Orange and Black will want to play a full 60-minutes and not sit back if they can get the lead. They’ll want to be smart with the puck and take advantage when on the power play. The Flyers will also want to limit the top six forwards in terms of points and make the bottom six beat you since there is a huge disparity in points.

Winnipeg will want to get that first goal of the game to take the home crowd out of the game. The Jets will also want to get the power play going against a weak penalty kill, and stop the top six of the Flyers which includes Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Jake Voracek, since they have been hot to start the season. Winnipeg will want to keep pressuring the Flyers even if they get down because Philadelphia will give up goals and turn the puck over. The Jets will want to stay out of the penalty box since Philly has one of the best power plays in the NHL.

The Flyers end the week with a visit from Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Philly will want to play a smart game since the Bolts have a balanced attack and a dangerous threat on almost every line. They’ll want to avoid turnovers since the Bolts are a skilled team that will make you pay if you turn the puck over. The Flyers will want to get the first goal and keep the pressure on since Tampa Bay can be sloppy with the puck. The Flyers will want to keep an eye on the Tampa Bay defense, specifically Victor Hedman, since they like to join the play in the offensive zone.

The Bolts will have to avoid the penalty box because the Flyers power play has been red hot to start the season. They’ll need to use their speed through the neutral zone and in the offensive zone to get to those loose pucks. Tampa Bay will need to have a better start and that shouldn’t be hard to do since Philly has struggled to get off to good starts. The Lightning need to get puck on net and establish the forecheck early in the game. The Bolts will also need to keep an eye on the Flyers defense since the group like to chip in on the offensive side of the puck.