The Philadelphia Flyers are one of the surprise teams of the season. The Florida Panthers, Stanley Cup finalists last season, enter Thursday with an NHL-best 90 points.
When they face off Thursday in Sunrise, Fla., they’re lineups will have a different look.
With the NHL trade deadline coming up Friday, both clubs pulled off trades on Wednesday.
The Flyers, whose 72 points with 19 games left in the regular season are just three off their total from last season, sent defenseman Sean Walker and a fifth-round pick in the 2026 draft to the Colorado Avalanche and received forward Ryan Johansen and a conditional 2025 first-round pick. Philadelphia then placed the 31-year-old Johansen on waivers.
The Panthers, on the other hand, added to their arsenal, picking up veteran forward Vladimir Tarasenko from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a conditional 2024 fourth-round pick and 2025 third-round pick.
Tarasenko, 32, has 41 points (17 goals, 24 assists) through 57 games this season, his first with Ottawa and his 12th in the NHL. The four-time All-Star has 287 goals and 328 assists in 732 games and won the Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019.
Though the Flyers sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division, there has been some feeling they could be sellers. Now Walker is gone, and center Scott Laughton and defenseman Nick Seeler are also rumored to be on the trading block.
Regardless of who stays or goes, the Flyers figure to be competitive on Thursday, even as they rebuild.
The Flyers have 14 players 25 years old or younger. They also have some key veterans.
“I always weigh that,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “The veterans who have done it and the young guys who are just playing (freely).”
It remains to be seen if the Flyers will have center Travis Konecny available on Thursday. Konecny, who leads the squad in goals (27) and points (54), has missed the previous six games with an upper-body injury. The Flyers are 2-3-1 during that span.
Prior to Konecny’s injury, he had at least one point in seven straight games: five goals and seven assists in total.
Former Panthers first-round pick Owen Tippett is another Flyers forward to watch. In his second full season with the Flyers, Tippett ranks second on the team in goals (22) and third in points (38).
But in three career games against Florida, Tippett has no goals and just one assist.
At goaltender, the Flyers on Thursday are expected to start Samuel Ersson, a second-year player who is 17-12-5 with a 2.57 goals-against average.
The Panthers are expected to go with Sergei Bobrovsky, who leads the Eastern Conference in wins with 31. He also has a 2.29 GAA. Bobrovsky hasn’t finished a season with a GAA that low since his 2.06 mark led the league in his Vezina-winning 2016-27 season.
Bobrovsky will enter Thursday having allowed two or fewer goals over his last 11 starts.
In 26 career games against the Flyers, Bobrovsky has been outstanding, posting a 19-6-1 record with a 2.35 GAA. The only teams Bobrovsky has beaten more often are the Detroit Red Wings (26), New Jersey Devils (20) and New York Islanders (20).
On offense, the Panthers are led by center Sam Reinhart, who ranks second in the NHL with 45 goals and leads the league with 25 power-play goals. He is just the sixth NHL player in the past 20 years to score at least 25 power-play goals in one season.
“I’m just trying to get to the net,” said Reinhart, who has scored six goals in his past four games. “I’m trying to find open spaces.”
Matthew Tkachuk, who plays with an edge, is Florida’s emotional leader. He also tops the Panthers with 50 assists, including three in Tuesday’s 5-3 win at New Jersey.
–Field Level Media
