With steady growth, Flyers prospect set for hometown NHL debut

The Flyers (21-34-11) will see the debut of a college prospect Tuesday when they finish their five-game road trip with a matchup against the Wild (40-20-4).

Let's get into the essentials for the game:

• When: 8 p.m. ET with Flyers Pregame Live at 7:30 p.m. ET
• Where: Xcel Energy Center
• Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia+
• Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app

• Five years ago, Noah Cates was a senior at Stillwater Area High School in Minnesota.

Now he's set to make his NHL debut in St. Paul, Minnesota, about a 25-minute drive from where he grew up.

The 23-year-old winger signed his two-year entry-level contract Sunday after a four-year collegiate career at Minnesota Duluth.

Cates was a 2017 fifth-round pick and has shown impressive growth into a pro-style forward.

"We talk about him every day and we can't stop bragging about him," Flyers player development coach Kjell Samuelsson said in the summer of 2019. "He's quietly gotten better and better every year, and everything we ask him to do, he's doing it."

• The Flyers are 1-3-0 on their five-game road swing.

They can officially be eliminated from postseason contention with a regulation loss.

Regardless of a win or loss Tuesday night, the club will be missing the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons.

• Here is the Flyers' projected lineup tonight, via the Philadelphia Inquirer's Olivia Reiner and The Athletic's Charlie O'Connor.

Flyers in morning skate in Saint Paul

van Riemsdyk-Farabee-Atkinson
Lindblom-Hayes-Konecny
Cates-Frost-Tippett
Hodgson-Brown-MacEwen

Provorov-York
Sanheim-Ristolainen
Yandle-Seeler

— Olivia Reiner (@ReinerOlivia) March 29, 2022

JvR-Farabee-Atkinson
Lindblom-Hayes-Konecny
Cates-Frost-Tippett
Hodgson-Brown-MacEwen

Provorov-York
Sanheim-Ristolainen
Yandle-Seeler

— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) March 29, 2022

Hart has a bit of a nagging injury. Sandstrom will be called up on emergency recall and backup Martin Jones tonight. They expect Hart will be fine by the weekend.

— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) March 29, 2022

Projected lineup

 

Forwards

James van Riemsdyk-Joel Farabee-Cam Atkinson

Oskar Lindblom-Kevin Hayes-Travis Konecny

Noah Cates-Morgan Frost-Owen Tippett

Hayden Hodgson-Patrick Brown-Zack MacEwen

Defensemen

Ivan Provorov-Cam York

Travis Sanheim-Rasmus Ristolainen

Keith Yandle-Nick Seeler

Goalies

Martin Jones

Felix Sandstrom

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