After blanking the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night, the San Jose Sharks are right back at it, this time in Philadelphia to take on the Flyers. Much like the Sharks, the Flyers aren’t expected to win a lot of games this season. In fact, the two teams have nearly identical records. The Sharks are 5-9-2 and the Flyers are 5-8-2.
For the Flyers, Travis Konecny is the top scorer with 16 points. It matches Mikael Granlund’s team leading 16 points for the Sharks. Konecny also leads the Flyers with seven goals, one up on Granlund’s six.
Look for Vitek Vanecek in net tonight. It’s hard to see Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky going back to Mackenzie Blackwood less than 24 hours after his shutout against the Devils. Vanecek has a 3.32 goals against average and a .898 save percentage this season. He’s expected to go toe-to-toe with Samuel Ersson, who has a 4-2-2 record for the Flyers, a 2.69 goals against average and a .902 save percentage.
One of the side stories of this game will be the play of Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov and Sharks rookie Will Smith. Remember, the Sharks passed on Michkov during the 2023 NHL draft, choosing to take Smith instead. While it could be argued that Smith was the best player AVAILABLE to the Sharks (I don’t believe that Michkov wanted to play in San Jose), there are still people who will compare the two players and decide if San Jose won/lost the draft as a result.
Michkov will be back in the lineup tonight after he was scratched the last two games. Meantime, Smith is also back in the lineup after missing the last game due to a “development day.” I think the key here is that Michkov was scratched because the coach was not pleased with his play, Smith was scratched because it’s part of a development plan.
Lineup update for #SJSvsPHI:
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 11, 2024
• Forwards Matvei Michkov and Ryan Poehling draw back into the lineup tonight.
• Erik Johnson returns to action on the blueline.
• Samuel Ersson starts in net.
• Jamie Drysdale and Morgan Frost come out of the lineup. pic.twitter.com/YJQOb4b1Ky
In addition to Michkov, Ryan Poehling will be back in the lineup. So will Erik Johnson. With the return of those three players, young defenseman Jamie Drysdale and forward Morgan Frost will be healthy scratches.
San Jose Sharks lines today
For the Sharks, Will Smith is expected to be back in the lineup, while Jake Walman is still dealing with injury. San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng alluded to the idea that Macklin Celebrini might be dealing with his own development day today, so he might not be in the lineup. We’ll assume he is until we hear otherwise.
Here’s what we think the lines will/should look like tonight.
Forwards
Alex Wennberg – Macklin Celebrini – Tyler Toffoli
William Eklund – Mikael Granlund – Fabian Zetterlund
Luke Kunin – Will Smith – Barclay Goodrow
Ty Dellandrea – Nico Sturm – Carl Grundstrom
Defense
Jack Thompson – Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro – Timothy Liljegren
Henry Thrun – Jan Rutta
Goaltenders
Vitek Vanecek
Mackenzie Blackwood
Philadelphia Flyers lines vs. San Jose Sharks
With all the changes listed above, this is what our friends at Broad Street Hockey think the lines will look like today.
Forwards
Owen Tippett – Sean Couturier – Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee – Scott Laughton – Bobby Brink
Anthony Richard – Ryan Poehling – Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Garnet Hathaway
Defense
Emil Andrae – Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler – Rasmus Ristolainen
Yegor Zamula – Erik Johnson
Goaltenders
Sam Ersson
Ivan Fedotov
How to watch Sharks at Flyers, Nov. 11, 2024
Sharks fans can watch the game on NBC Sports California or listen through the Sharks Audio Network app.
Flyers fans can watch the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The radio broadcast will be 97.5 The Fanatic as well as through the Flyers Radio 24/7 app.
The puck will drop at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
