Blackhawks vs. Flyers: Global Series rematch presents tough matchup

The Chicago Blackhawks are about to get together with the Philadelphia Flyers in a rematch of the 2019 NHL Global Series, how will they fare in this one?

The Chicago Blackhawks played a pretty good game against the Vegas Golden Knights and appear to be right there in terms of turning the corner this season. They held one of the league’s best forward groups to one goal and the one goal was when they had their goalie pulled for the extra attacker, and their best player made a great play. Now, they will look to repeat that defensive game but score a few more goals when the Philadelphia Flyers come to town.

The Blackhawks played the Flyers to open the season in Prague as a part of the NHL’s Global Series. The Flyers were all over the Blackhawks and won the game 4-3. The score honestly made it look closer than it actually was. The Blackhawks are going to need to be much better in order to defeat the Flyers this time around.

The Blackhawks used Robin Lehner in the game against the Golden Knights so they are probably going to use Corey Crawford in this one. The Flyers’ most recent game was also against the Vegas Golden Knights and they pounded them 6-2. They used their veteran backup Bryan Elliot in that game so you can expect them to use their stud young goalie Carter Hart in this one. If the Blackhawks are going to beat Hart, they need to load a lot of shots on him and get traffic in front. This is the type of matchup that you can expect Andrew Shaw to play to his strengths.

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews still haven’t had their breakout performances yet. They have both been good at times but neither of them has completely taken over a game yet and that should be coming soon. There are some good forwards and defensemen on the other side to deal with so both of them need to be on their game. Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Kevin Hayes, and Travis Konecny are all very good and are going to be looking to burn the Blackhawks’ weak defense. Great defensemen like Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere are there as well to make it even more difficult.

Dealing with a player like Couturier is very difficult. He has the ability to shut down the opposition’s best players and has done so all season long so far. He also has the ability to take the great defense that he plays and turn it into the offense. It is very important to the Blackhawks’ chances of winning that they figure out a way to use their home ice matchup advantage to keep the best players away from Couturier. They also need to make sure they shut him down offensively and his line. The Flyers have a lot of skill so avoiding penalties would also be a smart idea.

This is definitely a winnable game for Chicago but because of the previously mentioned players on the opposition, they need to be on top of their game to have a chance. Both of them enter the contest as playoff bubble teams that were on the outside looking in last season. Whichever one puts everything together in this game will come out on top. The game will be won and lost in the neutral zone and defensive zones so expect both teams to put extra emphasis on that.