Preview: John Tortorella returns to Columbus for the first time with the Flyers since being fired

John Tortorella makes his return to Columbus tonight as the Flyers take on the Blue Jackets at 7PM. Carter Hart is expected to get another start since missing last game with an illness and the Flyers look to take a 8-3-2 record home.

Flyers’ Lines

Flyers in warmups @ Columbus Blue Jackets

Tippett-Hayes-Konecny
Farabee-Laughton-Allison
Sedlák-Cates-MacEwen
Deslauriers-Frost-Laczynski

Provorov-DeAngelo
Sanheim-Braun
Seeler-Ristolainen

Hart

— Olivia Reiner (@ReinerOlivia) November 10, 2022

Tortorella doesn’t care much for the return narrative. He quickly shut it down with the media today not wanting to make this game about himself.

“You’re really pushing the Columbus thing. You know I don’t want to talk about it, so let’s move on,” John Tortorella said after fielding questions about his first return to Columbus as a visiting coach.

— Giana Han (@giana_jade) November 9, 2022

One of the bigger storylines going into this one is the Flyers versing Johnny Gaudreau and Jakub Voracek. Voracek being a former Flyer and the failure to sign Johnny Gaudreau this season still stings deep for some folks. Unfortunately, Jake Voracek will miss this game with lingering concussion issues. Columbus has started the season 3-9 and don’t appear to be the sleeper team I once dubbed them to be. They are enduring a lot of structural issues, breakdowns, and far from elite goaltending puts them in the situation we see here.

The Flyers on the other hand appear to be trending in the right direction as of late. They are coming off a dominant 5-1 win over St. Louis at home on Thursday and have some players finding their stride. The top pairing of Provorov-DeAngelo has been phenomenal, and the 1-2 punch of Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny are finding strides.

Travis Konecny (5) making all of us feel things with this one. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/AIVX8zxcPa

— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) November 9, 2022

Morgan Frost has been gaining confidence since exiting the lineup in the game against Toronto. I’ve seen a more active players in all of the zones, I just hope to see some points start to follow in the near future. He will be on the 4th line again beside Deslauriers and Laczynski.

The schedule as of late is easing up for the Flyers and providing an opportunity to gain even more confidence alongside points in the standings. The boys appear to rolling right now so I can’t pick against them, I’m predicting yet another win where they control the majority of play/shots and come away with points.

Prediction: 4-3 Flyers