By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor
It feels like a year since the Flyers last took the ice on Saturday, Dec. 18, against the Ottawa Senators. That night, they scored an overtime win and extended their points streak to five games before the NHL eventually shut down due to an extensive COVID outbreak around the league.
COVID is still running wild in the NHL and the rest of the world, but the Flyers make their return with five new additions to the COVID protocol list over the last several days, but also three players back from protocols. They will face the Seattle Kraken in their return, opening up a four-game road trip on Wednesday night.
Game time is 10 p.m.
Team Leaders
Philadelphia Flyers | GP | G | A | P | Seattle Kraken | GP | G | A | P |
Claude Giroux | 29 | 11 | 14 | 25 | Jordan Eberle | 28 | 12 | 9 | 21 |
Cam Atkinson | 29 | 12 | 8 | 20 | Jaden Schwartz | 28 | 6 | 14 | 20 |
Sean Couturier | 29 | 6 | 11 | 17 | Jared McCann | 25 | 12 | 5 | 17 |
Travis Konecny | 29 | 5 | 12 | 17 | Yanni Gourde | 22 | 6 | 10 | 16 |
Joel Farabee | 22 | 8 | 3 | 11 | Alex Wennberg | 30 | 3 | 13 | 16 |
Martin Jones will get the start for the Flyers. Jones makes his first start since Dec. 11, when he picked up the win over the Arizona Coyotes, allowing three goals on 32 shots. That snapped a string of five straight starts with losses for Jones.
Philipp Grubauer gets the start for Seattle. Grubauer took the loss in his last start on Dec. 15, allowing three goals on 18 shots in 40 minutes of action. Grubauer's last win came on Dec. 3 and he has a personal four-game losing streak since then. Grubauer was also pulled after allowing five goals on 20 shots to the Flyers on Oct. 18.
Projected Lineups
Flyers Scratches: Carter Hart (COVID protocol), Sean Couturier (COVID protocol), Scott Laughton (COVID protocol), Derick Brassard (COVID protocol), Ryan Ellis (COVID protocol), Nate Thompson (injury), Nick Seeler (healthy)
- Flyers: Max Willman, Kevin Hayes, and Morgan Frost all make their return from COVID protocol. On Monday, the team announced that Carter Hart, Scott Laughton, and Derick Brassard had entered COVID protocol, joining previous additions of Sean Couturier and Ryan Ellis. Ellis remains out with injury. The remaining names on the COVID list are not expected to be available for the duration of the road trip.
- Kraken: Seattle has four players in COVID protocol. It was also recently announced that Brandon Tanev suffered a torn ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season.
Game Notes
- Power Play: Flyers (26th), Kraken (22nd)
- Penalty Kill: Flyers (11th), Kraken (16th)
- Recent History vs. Kraken
- Oct. 18, 2021 – Flyers 6, Kraken 1 (at PHI)
- Milestone Watch
- Travis Konecny needs one goal to reach 100 for his career.
- Claude Giroux needs one assist to reach 600 for his career.
- Giroux also needs one point to pass Bill Barber for second on the franchise's all-time scoring list.
- Cam Atkinson needs three assists to reach 200 for his career.
Where to Watch
TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: Flyers Broadcast Network