Game 63

Buffalo Sabres (29-25-8) vs Philadelphia Flyers (29-26-7)

Puck Drop: 7:00 PM EST | Wells Fargo Center | Philadelphia, PA

TV: NBCS

Radio: WGR 550

SB Nation Flyers Blog: Broad Street Hockey

Know Your Opponent

Philadelphia Flyers

Record: (29-26-7) | 65 PTS

Last 10: 6-3-1

Division Ranking: 6th in Metropolitan Division

Conference Ranking: 11th in Eastern Conference

PP: 22nd (17.4%)

PK: 28th (76.9%)

What to Watch

1. Montour’s Debut

On Sunday evening, the Sabres made waves by trading defensive prospect, Brendan Guhle and a first round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for RHD Brandon Montour. Unable to suit up against the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, the 24-year-old will make his blue-and-gold debut tonight. With 25 points in 62 games with Anaheim this season, he’ll provide a much-needed reinforcement to the right side of the Sabres’ defense. It is unclear at this point who Montour will skate with in his debut (no morning skate due to travel), but his skill set might compliment nicely with someone like Jake McCabe.

2. No Simmonds on Broad Street

Long-time Flyer, Wayne Simmonds was dealt in the waning hours before the trade deadline yesterday in a deal with the Nashville Predators. In 584 career games in Philadelphia, the 30-year-old posted 417 points, but perhaps his most important contribution came in the form of his leadership both on and off the ice. It will be interesting to see if the Flyers can keep up their recent success without their emotional leader.

3. Critical Points on the Line

With the 5-3 regulation loss last night against the Maple Leafs, the Sabres are running out of time to accumulate points as they sit six points back of a playoff spot. Assuming that 96 points is the cut-off for a postseason bid, Buffalo would need to close out the 2018-19 campaign with a record of 15-4-1. That’s quite a tall task for a team that hasn’t won back-to-back games since December. While the the playoffs seem unlikely, these two points against a sub-par Eastern Conference foe will be critical.

Buffalo Sabres

Forwards

Jeff Skinner – Jack Eichel – Jason Pominville

Conor Sheary – Evan Rodrigues – Sam Reinhart

Tage Thompson – Vladimir Sobotka – Kyle Okposo

Scott Wilson – Johan Larsson – Zemgus Girgensons

Defense

Jake McCabe- Rasmus Ristolainen

Rasmus Dahlin – Zach Bogosian

Marco Scandella – Matt Hunwick

Brandon Montour

Starting Goaltender: Linus Ullmark (unconfirmed)

Philadelphia Flyers

Forwards

Claude Giroux – Nolan Patrick – Travis Konecny

Oskar Lindblom – Sean Couturier – Jakub Voracek

James van Riemsdyk – Scott Laughton -Ryan Hartman

Corban Knight – Phil Varone – Michael Raffl

Defense

Ivan Provorov – Travis Sanheim

Shayne Gostisbehere – Radko Gudas

Robert Hagg – Andrew MacDonald

Starting Goaltender: Brian Elliott