Flyers-Avalanche: Game 23 Preview

Kevin Durso

December 6 2021

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

It's already been an eventful Monday with the dismissal of head coach Alain Vigneault and assistant coach Michel Therrien. It came at a bit of a surprising time – no, not following a 7-1 loss, but with the Flyers right back on the ice on Monday night to take on the Colorado Avalanche.

Mike Yeo will be behind the bench serving as head coach in the interim, as the Flyers try to avoid a ninth straight loss.

Game time is 7 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Colorado Avalanche	GP	G	A	P
Claude Giroux	22	7	12	19	Nazem Kadri	20	9	21	30
Sean Couturier	22	5	9	14	Gabriel Landeskog	19	8	16	24
Cam Atkinson	22	8	5	13	Cale Makar	18	10	11	21
Derick Brassard	17	4	7	11	Mikko Rantanen	18	10	9	19
Joel Farabee	22	7	3	10	Nathan MacKinnon	11	1	15	16

Cam Atkinson scored the lone goal of Sunday's game on the power play. The Flyers need somebody to get going, and Atkinson focused on the need to take more shots. That's certainly a key part of his game and he'll look to show it against the Avalanche.

Nathan MacKinnon has missed a large portion of the season due to injury, but still has 16 points in 11 games. That said, he has only one goal and has an eight-game goalless drought going back to Oct. 23. He could be poised to end that on Monday.

Martin Jones goes back in net after entering in relief of Carter Hart on Sunday night. Jones made 10 saves on 12 shots in the remainder of the 7-1 loss to Tampa Bay. His last start came the previous Sunday, allowing four goals in the loss to New Jersey.

Justus Annunen gets the call in goal for Colorado. This will be the 21-year-old netminder's first career start and second career appearance. He allowed two goals on 19 shots in relief in an overtime loss to Ottawa on Saturday.

Projected Lineups

Flyers Scratches: Ryan Ellis (injury), Joel Farabee (injury), Derick Brassard (injury), Nate Thompson (injury)

Avalanche Scratches: Darcy Kuemper (injury), JT Compher (injury), Ryan Murray (injury), Bowen Byram (injury), Pavel Francouz (injury), Martin Kaut (injury), Stefan Matteau (healthy), Jacob MacDonald (healthy)

Lineup Notes

Flyers: No changes are expected to the Flyers lineup for Monday's game.
Avalanche: After missing their last game, the Avalanche get both Nazem Kadri and Cale Makar back in the lineup.

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (30th), Avalanche (10th)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (13th), Avalanche (25th)
Recent History vs. Avalanche
- Feb. 1, 2020 – Flyers 6, Avalanche 3 (at PHI)
- Dec. 11, 2019 – Avalanche 3, Flyers 1 (at COL)
Flyers Leaders vs. Avalanche
- Kevin Hayes – 11 GP, 6 G, 6 A, 12 P
- Claude Giroux – 16 GP, 9 G, 5 A, 14 P
- James van Riemsdyk – 16 GP, 6 G, 7 A, 13 P
- Sean Couturier – 13 GP, 1 G, 8 A, 9 P
- Martin Jones – 21 GP, 11-8-2, 3.22 GAA, .882 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Travis Konecny needs one goal to reach 100 for his career.
- Claude Giroux needs two power-play points to pass Bobby Clarke for the Flyers all-time franchise lead.