Sean Couturier

Carter Hart kept the Flyers in another game, and this time his teammates rewarded the effort with two third-period goals in a 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.

The Carolina Hurricanes have set the tone for the Metropolitan Division. While every team seems to be hovering around where the Flyers are with a 6-3-2 record and 14 points, the Hurricanes sit at the top of the division with a 10-1-0 record and 20 points. A challenging weekend back-to-back on the road begins for the Flyers in Raleigh.

This game begins a busy remainder of the month for the Flyers. They will play 11 games in the next 21 days, reaching the quarter-mark of the season in the process. It will be no easy task either, as a number of star players and elite teams will appear on the schedule. It starts with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have found a groove after a slow start with wins in five of their last six games. 

Martin Jones made 31 saves and two second-period goals led the Flyers to a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night.

The Flyers close out a quick two-game road trip against the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, looking to once again rebound and get back in the win column. 

If not for excellent goaltending again, the Flyers would not have been in position to win this game. They would certainly have not gained a point in the standings, which could certainly prove valuable later. Despite that, it is hardly a moral victory for the Flyers. Another sloppy game is showing a troubling trend as a difficult month is just getting started.

The Penguins are dealing with various health issues, some injury-related and some COVID-related. Most notably, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby will be out for Thursday’s game after testing positive for COVID on Wednesday. Crosby had missed the first seven games of the Penguins’ season recovering from offseason wrist surgery and just returned for his first game of the season on Saturday. Nonetheless, Pittsburgh is off to a 3-3-2 start without having Crosby or Evgeni Malkin in the lineup, so this is still no easy task for the Flyers.

The Flyers stayed the course, overcoming a questionable overturned goal call and a tight contest between a team desperate to get their first win. They finally broke through in the third, and their goaltender did the rest.

The Flyers had a successful 2-1-0 road trip, but had their first lackluster game of the season on Saturday in Calgary. They will be looking to bounce back from that result. The Coyotes have struggled to start, still in search of their first win of the season. As such, the Flyers have to avoid a similar game to Saturday and playing down to the opponent.