Flyers Practice: Lineup Changes Coming Soon?

Eric Hartline-Imagn ImagesEric Hartline-Imagn Images

After the Philadelphia Flyers’ 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, it seemed like Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet had his eye on some lineup changes.

“We’ll look at some video and see who we’ll get in the lineup for the next game,” said Tocchet. While he did not flat-out say that lineup changes were coming, it sure seems like some changes are on their way.

Forward Alex Bump has been someone Tocchet always mentions when talking about getting guys into the lineup. Even before the playoffs, he always made sure to emphasize that Bump’s play has nothing to do with his taking a seat. Rather, there are just so many forwards, and none were worth taking out of the lineup.

If Bump were to come into the lineup, there were three possible scenarios that made the most sense. He could have come into the lineup for Owen Tippett, who has been banged up all series. Or, he could have replaced Denver Barkey or Matvei Michkov on the third line.

All signs pointed towards Barkey being the player to come out of the lineup for Bump when the time came, but after scoring a big goal on Saturday, it’s hard to take him out. Now, the answer may be clear.

Matvei Michkov did not take line rushes with the third line on Sunday. Instead, he took them with Garrett Wilson and Carl Grunstrom, while Alex Bump took his spot.

Flyers lines & pairs at practice 4/26

I was unable to make it to practice on Sunday, so the lines and pairs are courtesy of Jordan Hall from NBCSP. The lines and pairs from Sunday’s practice revealed two changes to the Flyers’ lineup. One major, one minor.

Denver Barkey–Trevor Zegras–Owen Tippett
Travis Konecny–Christian Dvorak–Porter Martone
Alex Bump–Noah Cates–Tyson Foerster
Luke Glendening–Sean Couturier–Garnet Hathaway

Travis Sanheim–Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York–Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler–Emil Andrae

It looks like Emil Andrae is drawing back into the Flyers lineup ahead of Game 5. Andrae had played great in Game 1 before coming out of the lineup with an injury in Game 2. Noah Juulsen played well in both Games 2 and 3, and was not an issue in Game 4; he just did not make the same impact that he did the night prior.