In the middle of a quieter part of their schedule, the Blackhawks are back on the road for a matinee on Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Philly is in a similar rebuilding state to Chicago and has had a rollercoaster ride of a season to begin with. After a 1-5-1 start, the Flyers won three of four, lost two in a row, won four of five and are now on a two-game losing streak after losing to the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes earlier this week . That game against Carolina was on Wednesday, so they are a well-rested Philadelphia team for this game.

The main attraction here is 19-year-old Matvei Michkov, the Russian forward who was taken No. 7 overall in the 2023 NHL Draft and came to North America before the start of this season, allaying fears it would last longer. before he arrived – if he did at all. He’s off to an impressive start with 15 points (6 G, 9 A) in 18 games despite bouncing around the lineup and even seeing time as a healthy scratch thanks to coach John Tortorella’s hard efforts. He’s not the only weapon, though: Travis Konecny ​​leads the team with 23 points (11 G, 12 A) in 20 games, Travis Sanheim has 12 (5 G, 7 A) from the blue line, and Owen Tippet is fourth player. in double figures with 10 (4 G, 6 A) in 20. It’s not the most robust attack, but it is 21st in the league with 2.70 goals per game. There’s enough depth here to hurt the Blackhawks if they let it.

But the Flyers are one of the worst possession teams in the league, with the league’s worst 5-on-5 shot attempt share (43.96 percent) and the 29th-ranked 5-on-5 expected goal share in the league (44.26 percent). percent). Combine that with a sub-par blue line and a trio of goalies who won’t inspire much confidence, and it all adds up to the second-highest goals conceded rate in the league at 3.50 per game. There should There are goals available for the Blackhawks in this match, even for a team as offensively challenged as they have been this season.

No morning skate, of course, but here’s what Philly’s lineup was during practice on Friday:

Lines and pairs today: Tippett – Couturier – Richard Farabee – Frost – Brink Foerster – Cates – Michkov The fourth line is a rotation of Poehling, Hathaway, Deslauriers and Laughton. They rotate everyone in and out. No TK. He took a hit early on Wednesday, but stayed in the game.

— Charlie O’Connor (@charlieoconn.bsky.social) November 22, 2024 at 11:12 am

As for the Hawks, Thursday’s win provided some relief from the doom and gloom surrounding the team that had lost five of six before eliminating the reigning Stanley Cup champions. Jason Dickinson is still expected to play after not practicing Friday following his brief absence from Thursday’s game against the Panthers. Since Chicago won that last game, the lineup against the Flyers is expected to be the same as a few nights ago:

Blackhawks lines in warmups vs. Panthers are as expected: Bedard-Dickinson-Anderson Hall-Donato-Teravainen Mikheyev-Foligno-Bertuzzi Maroon-Reichel-Smith Vlasic-Murphy Allan-Martinez Kaiser-Brodie Mrazek

— Ben Pope (@benpopecst.bsky.social) November 21, 2024 at 7:06 PM

Mrazek was confirmed as the starter during Friday’s practice.

The lineup problem from Thursday’s game remains in this one, as the most powerful (only?) offensive weapon the Blackhawks have is used on Chicago’s line of control. Dickinson’s line with Bedard and Joey Anderson was buried a few nights ago by Sasha Barkov’s line. Philadelphia doesn’t have anyone close to Barkov’s quality, so there could be more looks at the net available for Bedard, but it still feels like an unfortunate misuse of Bedard’s talents to have him try to be the best that the competition has to offer instead of looking for the ideal matchups that will allow him to light up the scoreboards every game.

But the next lineup change could at least be just a few opposing goals away?

Let’s go Hawks.

Story of the tape

Blackhawks — Statistics — Kites
44.52% (29th) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 43.96% (32nd)
44.88% (28th) — 5-on-5 Expected Goals For — 44.26% (29th)
2.35 (30th) — Goals per match — 2.70 (21st)
3.00 (t-13th) — Goals against per match — 3.50 (31st)
45.6% (29th) — Faceoffs — 51.1% (13th)
21.2% (13th) — Powerplay — 16.9% (21st)
79.3% (16th) — Criminal homicide — 86.6% (4th)
(All statistics from this season)

How to watch

When: Afternoon CT
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
TV: NHL Network, CHSN (how to watch) Good luck finding it!
Web stream: N/A (h/t to SCH user DSkiNY who pointed out that this game will be broadcast nationally on the NHL Network, meaning there is no ESPN+ option. Will the game be blacked out locally on NHL Network? No idea!)
Radio: WGN 720