When: Thursday, October 31st, 6pm CT
Where: Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia
Regard: FanDuel Sports Network
Hear: 101 ESPN, Blues app

QUICK CONCLUSIONS

BLUES The St. Louis Blues (5-5-0) hope to end their four-game road trip on a treat when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers in a spooky Halloween matchup on Thursday.

After Tuesday night’s loss to the Ottawa Senators, head coach Drew Bannister acknowledged the result but focused his attention on the game ahead and the possibility of finishing the road trip 2-2.

“Early on I thought it was self-inflicted,” Bannister said. “But overall it wasn’t enough for the group, including the coaches. So we have to find out internally what the problems are, talk about them and move on. And we have the opportunity to hit the road here in Philly and still get .500 off the road. So now we have to figure out what our problems are and then we will move on.”

In the past week alone, the Blues have suffered several injury-related setbacks. On October 23, the team announced that Robert Thomas would be out for at least six weeks due to a broken ankle. Mathieu Joseph suffered a lower-body injury during Saturday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens and has returned to St. Louis. Most recently, Kasperi Kapanen left Tuesday’s game early due to an upper body injury and is considered unfit to play.

This is the Blues’ final game on the road trip before a five-game homestand starting Saturday.

FLYERS The Philadelphia Flyers (3-6-1) come into Thursday night’s Halloween matchup with a 2-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

The Flyers’ Tyson Foerster scored midway through the second period to give them a 1-0 lead. Late in the third period, the Bruins pulled their goalie for an extra skater in hopes of tying the game, but Joel Farabee intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and scored into an empty net to seal the win. Samuel Ersson earned the shutout with a 25-save performance in net.

While the Flyers have had an up and down season so far, one bright spot has been the debut of 2023 first-round draft pick Matvei Michkov. In the 10 games he has played this season, the 19-year-old from Perm, Russia has already made an impact and is second on the team with nine points (four goals, five assists).

In the 2023/24 season, the Flyers finished 11th^Th place in the Eastern Conference, causing them to miss the playoffs for the fourth straight year.