In their penultimate game of the season Saturday, the Flyers (24-23-7) match up with the Capitals (34-15-5) again.
Let's get into the essentials for the game:
- When: 7 p.m. ET with Flyers Pregame Live at 6:30 p.m. ET
- Where: Capital One Arena
- Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app
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• Alain Vigneault is accustomed to assessing players when games are meaningful, when the playoff race is heating up and when the pressure is on.
In his 18 seasons as an NHL head coach, 12 have featured playoff berths, with nine of those teams advancing past the first round.
The 2020-21 Flyers were officially eliminated from postseason contention on April 29, but they sold off parts at the April 12 trade deadline because their chances in the race were looking bleak at that point.
So while the Flyers have gotten a look at some different players and combinations, Vigneault won't decide winners and losers for jobs next season in these circumstances.
NHL
"I will say, though, on a personal level, I don't put a lot of stock if a player under these games has a real good showing or a bad showing," Vigneault said before the Flyers' 4-2 win Friday night over the Capitals. "Our games for a while here have been, in the standings, meaningless. They don't mean very much, so I've always felt you don't put a lot of stock in these games. It's good to see that your guys are pros, that they're trying to do the right things, but if a guy would play extremely well under these conditions, I would wait and have a bigger sample size to make a better assessment of his play."
• The Flyers are aiming to win consecutive games for just the second time going back to the beginning of March.
Since the start of March, in games after a victory, the Flyers have gone 1-11-0 and been outscored 65-28.
• The Capitals are in second place of the East Division. They're two points behind the Penguins and have a game in hand on Pittsburgh. They're two points ahead of the Bruins, who have a game in hand on the Capitals.
The Flyers again won't see Alex Ovechkin, who will remain out with a lower-body injury. Ovechkin finished with eight goals in six games against the Flyers this season.
Projected lineup
Forwards
Claude Giroux-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee-Kevin Hayes-Jakub Voracek
James van Riemsdyk-Scott Laughton-Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Oskar Lindblom-Nolan Patrick-Wade Allison
Defensemen
Ivan Provorov-Travis Sanheim
Cam York-Justin Braun
Samuel Morin-Philippe Myers
Goalies
Alex Lyon
Brian Elliott
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