The Flyers are back in action on Saturday against the Bruins

The game: 7:00 p.m. on NBCSP+, NHL Network and 97.5 The Fanatic

We've officially reached the halfway point of the preseason and the Flyers are back in action tonight for their first of two meetings with the Bruins. They're still on home ice and looking to reap the same positive results they had against the Islanders on Thursday – where they managed to break through a tough, close contest to take a 2-0 win – and keep their momentum going . The lineup is mixed again tonight, but we'll see what they can do with it.

Players to watch

Matvei Mikkov

After a standout performance in Thursday's game against the Islanders, Michkov wants to keep that momentum going. The Flyers are also bringing an interesting twist to that assignment tonight: They're shuffling the lineup a bit, moving Michkov to left wing to play with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny. It's an interesting experiment, and while the transition may not be entirely seamless, if it works, the added flexibility for cast mixing and matching early in the season would be quite great. We want to keep our expectations reasonable, but Michkov has been able to overcome every challenge he's faced with ease so far, and we're excited to see how he rises to the challenge.

Olle Lycksell

The Flyers made their first round of cuts yesterday, and despite some ups and downs to date, Lycksell managed to survive. His reward is another game, another opportunity to right the ship and properly get back into the discussion for a squad spot. It will be a bit more of a challenge this time as he only has minutes available on the fourth line – although he also had to take reps on the first power play session while skating this morning – so he'll have to find a way to do the best To make use of this somewhat limited time, clean up his details and limit some of the more careless mistakes that plagued him early on, and hit the ground running more or less straight from the start.

Jett Luchanko

Luchanko also performed well in Thursday's game and he's coming into his own tonight, which should be a real treat for the home fans. He's getting a new look here too, and this one has the potential to be a lot of fun – it'll be Travis Konecny ​​(who he showed good chemistry with on Thursday) and Bobby Brink (who he already showed good chemistry with on Thursday). has) been an absolute blast so far this preseason). To some extent it still feels like Luchanko is gambling with the house money the longer he stays in camp, but it's all become a really entertaining product and who are we to argue or get upset about it? He's excited to see when he'll be able to make the jump to that level on a full-time basis, whenever that may be.

Hunter McDonald

McDonald has flown a bit under the radar so far in training camp, but his continued presence after the first round of cuts feels notable. He still feels like it's a pretty long shot to secure a spot on the roster straight out of camp, but that doesn't mean he won't take advantage and take advantage of the opportunity that's in front of him now. And what an opportunity that is – tonight he's slated for the Flyers' best defensive pairing, playing alongside Rasmus Ristolainen. This should be at least a small learning experience for him, as he will have plenty of minutes to work with and compete against a veteran who the Flyers are likely hoping can develop into a similar role in the future. McDonald has taken everything in stride so far, and this should be no exception.

The lineup

Philadelphia Flyers

Michkov Couturier Konecny
Farabee Luchanko Brink
Laughton-Abols-Cates
Lycksell-Poehling-Richard

McDonald Ristolainen
Ginning Drysdale
Zamula Bonk

Fedotov
Makiniemi