The Flyers have an opportunity to come soaring back to Philadelphia with plenty of hype for their home opener next Tuesday.
That's if they can handle the Avalanche (1-0-0) on Saturday night. If they do, the Flyers will start 2-0-0 for the first time since 2011-12, which is the last year they won a playoff series.
Let's look at some notables before puck drop:
• When you beat the defending Western Conference champions by a three-goal margin in their building to the open the season, that's a great win. But the Flyers' 5-2 victory Thursday over the Golden Knights was especially impressive given the team's top line of Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny finished with one point — an assist by Giroux.
This is a testament to the Flyers' improved depth. If the team can consistently play like that when its No. 1 unit is held in check on the stat sheet, it'll be tough to be beat.
• The Flyers will sport a new backup goalie tonight in Calvin Pickard, who they claimed off waivers Tuesday (see story). Anthony Stolarz cleared waivers Saturday and was loaned to the Phantoms.
• Wayne Simmonds loves to start fast. He opened 2017-18 with a hat trick and commenced 2018-19 with two goals. When he produces, the Flyers go to another level. Last year, they went 17-3-1 during the regular season in games that Simmonds scored a goal. And he was banged up from start to finish.
NHL
• Don't expect a quiet night from Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere. Both defensemen were a minus-1 and held scoreless in the opener. Outputs like that from those two won't happen often in succession.
• Goalie Brian Elliott is 9-2-2 with a 2.10 goals-against average and .910 save percentage in 13 career games against the Avalanche.
When: 9 p.m. with Pregame Live at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Pepsi Center
Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com
Projected lineup
Forwards
Claude Giroux-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom-Nolan Patrick-Jakub Voracek
James van Riemsdyk-Mikhail Vorobyev-Wayne Simmonds
Scott Laughton-Jori Lehtera-Michael Raffl
Defensemen
Ivan Provorov-Shayne Gostisbehere
Andrew MacDonald-Robert Hagg
Travis Sanheim-Christian Folin
Goaltenders
Brian Elliott
Calvin Pickard
