Preview: Flyers take on the San Jose Sharks after dark

The Philadelphia Flyers are returning from their week long break to take on the San Jose Sharks. It’s a big game in the standings with these two teams only separated by a point and vying for good draft positioning. Samuel Ersson will start in net for the Flyers.
Lines at today’s practice:
— Charlie O’Connor (@charlieo_conn) December 27, 2022
JvR – Frost – Tippett
Farabee – Cates – Konecny
Hayes – Laughton – Allison
Deslauriers (Willman) – Brown – MacEwen
Pairs are getting rotated so frequently it’s not even worth reporting.
Kevin Hayes and John Tortorella shall continue their feud with Hayes being a winger on the third line. Despite what the head coach says to the media the rift is pretty clear even if it is minor. At the end of the day I believe it’s a decision that needs to be made given the current state of the team and his recent effort.
Morgan Frost has 8 points in his last 7 games and will look to keep the confidence snowballing. Ever since his 4 point game against Arizona he’s been a completely different player. His entries are more effective, he looks more aggressive on the puck, and is tough to deal with when he’s forechecking.
Hometown kid does good. #PHIvsTOR | @_morganfrost_10 pic.twitter.com/PeCAfqXZsT
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 22, 2022
Cam York is getting a great opportunity alongside Ivan Provorov. John Tortorella has praised York in the media multiple times for his skillset and has made it a point that he will give him time to fully find himself at the NHL level. I’m very excited to see what he can do with this opportunity going forward.
A lot was made of Carter Hart’s injury situation with him going on IR yet participating in practices. I feel like this whole situation was overblown with people diving in way too deeply into something that was probably handled by the day. He won’t be out that long anyways and seeing Ersson and Sandstrom is a good thing for the organization.
The Flyers have placed Carter Hart (UBI) on IR. He practiced yesterday and the indications all sounded positive that he felt fine. Today, well, not so much.
— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) December 28, 2022
If you’re fully bought into the tank like myself this upcoming stretch of games are huge. Three of the next four opponents are below or right with us in the standings so a couple losses here wouldn’t hurt. Carter Hart won’t be here to put up an insane performance so I have to assume we lose this game.
Prediction: 4-3 Sharks
Credit: Johnny Ulecka