The time has come for the primetime playoff rematch.
On the heels of a successful 2025-26 season, the Philadelphia Flyers open up their 2026-27 campaign with a home matchup against the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins at 7: 30 p.m. at Xfinity Mobile Arena, and they'll have a lot to prove early on.
For starters, Wednesday night's game against the Penguins will be a rematch of the first-round playoff series between the two teams, and the Flyers are returning a mostly unchanged lineup with the exception of two players.
Noel Acciari switches sides, and Simon Benoit will start the season as the No. 6 defenseman alongside Nick Seeler. Dan Vladar will start for the Flyers against the Penguins, so newcomer Joseph Woll will serve as the backup goalie.
As for the Penguins, they will be starting the season without Bryan Rust, Ben Kindel, Justin Brazeau, and Andrei Kuzmenko, and their defense corps has the likes of Declan Carlile, Sam Girard, Kaedan Korczak, and Trevor van Riemsdyk trying to complement Erik Karlsson and the declining Kris Letang.
Arturs Silovs will start for the Penguins opposite Vladar, too, with Sergei Murashov backing him up. The Penguins have a weakened lineup that should make for a 'gimme' for the Flyers, though that was true of the Flyers' last preseason game, and they came up woefully short instead.
Flyers lines vs. Penguins
Owen Tippett - Trevor Zegras - Porter Martone
Alex Bump - Noah Cates - Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster - Christian Dvorak - Travis Konecny
Carl Grundstrom - Sean Couturier - Noel Acciari
Travis Sanheim - Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York - Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler - Simon Benoit
Extras: Garrett Wilson, David Jiricek
Dan Vladar (S), Joseph Woll
Penguins lines for Flyers game
Nick Robertson - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Tommy Novak - Evgeni Malkin - Egor Chinakhov
Filip Hallander - Hendrix Lapierre - Ville Koivunen
Elmer Soderblom - Blake Lizotte - Connor Dewar
Declan Carlile - Erik Karlsson
Trevor van Riemsdyk - Kris Letang
Sam Girard - Kaedan Korczak
Arturs Silovs (S), Sergei Murashov
Flyers players to watch
The two players I'm looking at to make an early impact on Wednesday night are wingers Tyson Foerster and Matvei Michkov.
Michkov has looked spry and rejuvenated all throughout camp, and he'll be paired up with familiar linemates in Alex Bump and Noah Cates. The 21-year-old has three goals, four assists, and seven points in eight career regular season games against the Penguins.
As for Foerster, the Flyers continue to rave about the winger, who inked a long-term extension with Philadelphia this summer.
Foerster scored at a 36-goal pace in his 29 games last season, and while we can debate whether or not that's sustainable, those are the heights the Flyers believe the former first-round pick can ultimately reach.
Foerster will start on a high-leverage line with Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny, and he has scored six goals, four assists, and 10 points in 11 career regular season games against the Penguins.
Both Michkov and Foerster will look to put their disappointing playoff showings against Pittsburgh in the rearview mirror in short order.
How to watch the Flyers game
Wednesday night's Flyers game against the Penguins will be broadcast on TNT (national), TruTV, and HBO Max.
