The Philadelphia Flyers face the Washington Capitals with both teams looking to improve from rough starts to the season. The Flyers have a 7-8-4 record and have lost consecutive seven games while the Capitals have a 7-10-3 record and have only won two of their last 10 games. Both teams are looking to improve in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game should be a good one as a result.
The Flyers' season has fallen apart with their offense letting them down, scoring only 2.53 goals per game with only 15 goals in the last seven games. While Kevin Hayes, Owen Tippett, and Joel Farabee have scored 15 goals and 26 assists, the rest of the offense has struggled. Only three active skaters have scored four goals or more while only four skaters have added seven assists or more and opposing defenses can eliminate the hapless offense as a result.
The offense has let the Flyers down but the defense is also playing poorly, allowing 3.21 goals per game. Nick Seeler and Ivan Provorov have combined for 2.0 defensive point shares and 89 blocked shots but the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to carry the puck into the offensive zone and easily find open shots on the net. The bright spot has been the play of goaltender Carter Hart who has a .920 save percentage and a 2.68 goals-against average on 474 shots.