Preview: Flyers host depleted Canadiens

For better or for worse, the Flyers are playing their best hockey of the season. The Flyers are on a three-game winning streak and have scored a point in their last five games. While this isn’t good for draft placement, it’s nice to see some young talent blossoming and hopefully the start of everything John Tortorella has been preaching since day one.

The Montreal Canadiens have also been playing some tough hockey lately, winning three of their last four, including impressive wins over the Tampa Bay Lighting and Buffalo Sabres. The Canadiens have had to deal with numerous injuries this season, perhaps more than any other team in the NHL.

Flyers projected lineup

Joel Farabee-Noah Cates-Owen Tippett

James van Riemsdyk-Kevin Hayes-Kieffer Bellows

Brendan Lemieux-Morgan Frost-Wade Allison

Nic Deslauriers-Scott Laughton

Ivan Provorov-Cam York

Travis Sanheim-Rasmus Ristolainen

Nick Seeler-Tony DeAngelo

Justin Brown

Carter Hart

(Felix Sandstrom)

Canadiens projected lineup

Rafael Harvey-Pinard-Nick Suzuki-Mike Hoffman

Jonathan Drouin-Kirby Dach-Denis Gurianov

Jesse Ylonen-Jake Evans-Brendan Gallagher

Michael Pezzetta-Chris Tierney-Alex Belzile

Mike Matheson-David Savard

Joel Edmundson-Justin Barron

Jordan Harris-Johnathan Kovacevic

Cayden Primeau

(Sam Montembeault)

Stories

• Noah Cates has been a very pleasant surprise for the Flyers this season. He’s played important minutes for the Flyers in every situation this season, and he’s often matched up against other teams’ top lines. His offensive game has also improved significantly recently. In his last four games, he has scored six points, one goal and five assists.
• Nick Suzuki leads the Canadiens with 61 points in 74 games this season, including 10 points in the last five games. After being replaced Vegas Golden KnightsThe 23-year-old captain has scored 204 points in 283 games of his NHL career.
• In goal for the Canadiens tonight is Cayden Primeau, son of former Flyer Keith Primeau. He has spent most of this season in the AHL, but has 19 games of NHL experience. In those 19 games, he has a 3-10-2 record with a 4.18 GAA and .873 SV.
• When you look at the standings, the Flyers are two points ahead of the Canadiens with two games left to play. A Flyers win tonight would most likely remove them from a top five finish in the league.