The Philadelphia Flyers roll into Washington tonight without Travis Konecny or Owen Tippett, and they're doing it on the back end of a back-to-back.
Puck drop is 7:30. Last night, the Blue Jackets left Philadelphia with a 4-3 overtime win, and Kent Johnson scored twice, including the winner.
Konecny is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He's expected out until at least Nov. 3, which keeps him out of Sunday's home date with Utah at minimum.
Tippett isn't far behind him on the list. The forward is on IR with an upper-body issue and a timeline of at least Nov. 1.
Rasmus Ristolainen won't bail out the blue line either. His hand has him parked until at least Nov. 11.
Do the cap math. The two forwards carry $14.95 million in combined cap hits, and neither will be anywhere near the ice tonight.
It's like paying rent on a downtown condo and sleeping in the car. Daniel Briere's front office is eating that number while the standings keep sliding.
Sean Couturier's goalless start leaves the Flyers with nowhere to hide
And the hole is already deep. The Flyers sit 3-7-4, last in the Metropolitan Division, with a -19 goal differential.
Here's the twist nobody in Philadelphia wants to hear. Konecny and Tippett had combined for one goal across 14 games played this season.
So the scoring crisis didn't start with the injury list. This team averages 1.9 goals per game, and the absences only thin out a group that was already running dry.
Trevor Zegras is the one dragging this attack forward. He has nine points over his last five games, including a goal and an assist last night in 20:47.
Matvei Michkov leads the team with eight goals, four on the power play. Columbus held him off the scoresheet last night despite 21:35 of ice time.
Then there's Sean Couturier. Fourteen games, no goals, and a $7.75 million cap hit.
That's the number Rick Tocchet should be losing sleep over. Asking kids to cover for a veteran's empty stat line is a bad plan, and right now it's the only plan.
Porter Martone, 20, already has two power-play goals. Alex Bump fired five shots in just 12:11 last night, the kind of push this lineup badly needs.
The crease is its own headache. Daniel Vladar played the whole night, overtime included, and stopped 11 of 15 shots.
Joseph Woll's .904 save percentage is the better number of the two. Tocchet's call on zero rest will say plenty about where his trust sits.
The Capitals haven't played since Saturday's 4-3 overtime win over Buffalo. Spencer Carbery gets fresh legs at home, where Washington is 5-2-0.
Alex Tuch has seven goals, and four of them have been game winners. Who on a worn-down Philadelphia blue line is keeping up with that?
Jamie Drysdale logged 26:48 last night and scored. Asking him to repeat that workload tonight is a big ask.
Washington has a crease question too. Logan Thompson's injury timeline runs until at least today, and Charlie Lindgren carries an .886 save percentage.
This is the first of four meetings between these teams this season. The Flyers are 1-4-1 on the road.
Tippett's window opens Sunday against Utah. Konecny's opens two days later against Minnesota, and by then the Flyers could be staring at a gap they can't skate back into.
Is Sean Couturier's goalless start a bigger problem for the Flyers than losing Konecny and Tippett?
Voting closed




















