Flyers Make Puzzling Last-Minute Lineup Move Ahead of Rivalry Game vs. Penguins

The Philadelphia Flyers are updating their appearance in advance of Tuesday night's NHL Frozen Frenzy game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it's a change that's already receiving some backlash.

A few hours before puck drop, the Flyers made three announcements, one of which was a new starting goalie.

Sam Ersson will start in goal, and Dan Vladar won't play, which now stretches out a week after his last start in Ottawa, where he saved 31 of 33 shots.

Secondly, Nikita Grebenkin will sit as a healthy scratch for Nick Deslauriers, despite the frequent assertions from head coach Rick Tocchet that the club needs to offer more ice time to the fan favorite Russian winger.

The move comes after the Flyers previously made Jett Luchanko return to the OHL on Monday for the same reason, so he could see more ice time.

Grebenkin's underlying metrics have not been great: his five-on-five 45.82% expected goals rate is 19th of 22 Flyers skaters. The trade made to acquire him now seems questionable.

Behind the blue line, Egor Zamula is in to replace Adam Ginning, the latest in the merry-go-round through the third-pairing that has plagued the team recently.

Ginning seemed to have the job sewn up prior to Zamula starting to take minutes again last week.

Aside from those alterations, the Flyers will otherwise have the remainder of their roster available in a match-up against a red-hot Penguins squad (7-2-1) that is second in the Metropolitan Division.

For the Flyers, the rivalry battle on Tuesday night is worth more than a midseason encounter; it's an opportunity to demonstrate that experimenting with the line-up will yield consistency.

The payoff or fizzle of these changes will soon be evident in the limelight of Frozen Frenzy night.