The City of Brotherly Love is home to an interconference matchup between two teams looking to win. On Saturday night, the Vancouver Canucks will take on the Philadelphia Flyers in a road game. In their last match, which took place on Thursday night, Vancouver defeated Florida 3-2 in overtime while playing on the road. On Thursday night, Philadelphia lost 6-4 to Seattle, ending a four-game road trip that began the season. The Flyers have a 7-1-2 record and a 3-0 series lead in their previous 10 encounters against the Penguins. Among them is a 3-2 shootout victory in the season opener on October 11th.
Last Thursday night, Vancouver narrowly defeated Florida on the road, a game that went into overtime. The Canucks advanced to 1-1-2 on the year and were in a tie for fifth place in the Pacific Division, only four points behind the division-leading Flames. Vancouver is ranked twenty-first in the league with 2.75 goals scored per game for the season. The Canucks’ goal-against average of 3.50 per game puts them in a tie for nineteenth place in the league. Vancouver has converted 21.4% of its power play opportunities on the season, which ranks them fourteenth in the league. With a success rate of 76.9% in shorthanded situations this season, the Canucks are tied for 18th in the NHL in penalty killing.
After a few close calls, Vancouver finally won their season opener in overtime against Florida. After 20 minutes of play, the score remained knotted at one, despite the Canucks’ 9-4 shot lead in the first period.
On Thursday night, Philadelphia lost to Seattle, ending a disappointing four-game road trip to start the season. On Friday night, the Flyers had a record of 1-2-1 and were in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division, behind the top position by seven points. With an average of three goals per game, Philadelphia’s offence is tied for 18th in the league going into this matchup. With a goal-scoring average of 4.50 per game, the Flyers are tied for 30th in the league. With a 26.3% success rate when given the man advantage, Philadelphia is ranked 12th in power play success. The Flyers have killed off 84.2% of their shorthanded opportunities this season, which puts them in eleventh place in penalty killing.