A season debut at forward as Flyers try to pad winning streak

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With Morgan Frost out because of COVID protocols, the Flyers will see a season debut at forward Thursday night.

As Jackson Cates enters the lineup, the Flyers (11-12-4) will aim to extend their season-best winning streak when they visit the Canadiens (6-21-3).

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: Bell Centre
  • Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia+
  • Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app

• Cates, a center who can play winger, is set for his first look with the big club this season.

The 24-year-old will play on the Flyers' fourth line at left winger. Cates is a good forechecker who plays a sound game defensively. The Minnesota Duluth product appeared in four games for the Flyers last season after signing with the club as a college free agent during April.

This year, he has two goals and four assists in 19 games with AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.

"From everything that I understand, the limited time that I've watched him play, he has really bought into the role and the identity that he needs to have to be a pro hockey player," Flyers interim head coach Mike Yeo said Wednesday. "We're expecting him to come up and provide that same mindset here."

Cates, a Stillwater, Minnesota native, trained in the offseason with Flyers defenseman Justin Braun and other pro players like Nate Schmidt, Kyle Rau, Mitch Reinke and Austin Poganski.

"I had a good summer of training," Cates said during the preseason in October. "It was nice, I worked out at the [University of Minnesota] with a bunch of pros. It was totally new to me in terms of the TriPhasic Training they did. I liked it a lot, so worked hard, trained five days a week — it was a good summer."

• The Flyers are coming off their best game in quite a while. They beat the Devils convincingly Tuesday night, 6-1, at the Wells Fargo Center, giving them a third straight win for the first time this season.

Yeo's presence has helped spark their offense. The Flyers have scored four or more goals in four of their five games under Yeo after failing to score more than three in a game for 17 straight outings.

The Canadiens have lost seven straight games (0-6-1), a stretch in which they've been outscored 24-10.

• Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Flyers haven't played in Montreal since Nov. 30, 2019.

With a between-the-legs, highlight-reel finish, Ivan Provorov gave the Flyers a 4-3 overtime win.

Projected lineup

 

Forwards

Scott Laughton-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny

Oskar Lindblom-Claude Giroux-Cam Atkinson

Max Willman-Kevin Hayes-James van Riemsdyk

Jackson Cates-Patrick Brown-Zack MacEwen

Defensemen

Ivan Provorov-Justin Braun

Travis Sanheim-Rasmus Ristolainen

Keith Yandle-Kevin Connauton

Goalies

Carter Hart

Martin Jones

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