Issac Ratcliffe set to make NHL debut; Kings at Flyers Preview

The (22-16-6) LA Kings come into Philadelphia today looking to hand the (13-22-8) Philadelphia Flyers their 14th straight loss. The Flyers haven’t won a game in the month of January, so you know Todd McLellan’s team has that in the back of their head. Issac Ratcliffe will make his NHL debut infront of friends and family. You can catch the game at 1 pm on NBCSP.

Carter Hart will get the nod today at home against LA. Hart is currently 7-14-5 on the season with a 2.87 GAA and a .912 SV%. His last game came in that 3-1 loss to Dallas on January 24th, where Hart saved 33 of the 36 shots sent his way. I’m basically a broken record player at this point when talking about Hart’s play this season. 7-14-5 isn’t very pretty to look at but he’s the sole reason this team isn’t bottom two right now.

Issac Ratcliffe

The 35th pick in the 2017 NHL draft will finally make his NHL debut tonight. Issac Ratcliffe gets the callup to show something to these coaches and I have to say, even though this season has been a complete disaster, I’m interested to see what Ratty can bring. 

A 6’6 winger, Ratcliffe is a big body but doesn’t use it to his advantage as much as I would like him to. The start of Isaac’s pro career has been shaky, to say the least. Inconsistent play and injuries have been the main theme for the 22-year old, but lately, he’s been playing some good hockey for the Phantoms. He has 4G-6A-10P in 31 games this season in the AHL, recently dishing two assists in his last four games. 

It’ll be fun to watch Ratcliffe make his NHL debut today against a pretty good LA Kings team. 

Road Trip Kings

This will be the fourth game on the Kings’ road trip this week, already facing the Devils (3-2 W), Rangers (3-2 L), and  Islanders (3-2 W). 

Maybe this is just be trying to cling to some kind of hope this team can catch any sort of momentum, but hopefully, the Flyers can take advantage of a team that’s been on the road all week and is on the last couple of games before they head back. 

Lineup against the LA Kings

Oskar Lindblom – Claude Giroux – Cam Atkinson 

James van Riemsdyk – Scott Laughton – Travis Konecny 

Gerry Mayhew – Morgan Frost – Max Willman 

Isaac Ratcliffe – Connor Bunnaman – Zack MacEwen

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Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun 

Travis Sanheim – Rasmus Ristolainen

Keith Yandle – Cam York

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Carter Hart

Parx Sportsbook

The Flyers are currently +140 to snap their winless streak against the Kings today. If you woke up today and decided to hammer Flyers + Sixers ML since they’re both playing the “Kings” today, cheers. 

Emotionless

Personally, I physically can’t watch a Flyers game knowing there is one being played. Call me crazy, call me whatever you want, I’d sit down and watch this team if they were 3-22-7. But now, we’re at the point where the casual fan is has completely left the building and I can’t say I blame them. 

I’d rather watch the Phantoms play right now and that’s saying something since they just got SMACKED last night 6-2.

If the Flyers don’t win today, they’ll have gone the entire month without a W, and I am completely emotionless when typing that. If you were to tell me in August that this team, before the All-Star break, would go on two 10+ game losing streaks, I would’ve laughed in your face. 

Now we sit here having to watch this slop as the Flyers tweet for four straight days about Keith Yandle’s streak. Hurray! 

Mandatory Credit: Flyers twitter - Zack Hill