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Meltzer's Musings: Tuesday Quick Hits |
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TUESDAY QUICK HITS
* Flyers prospect Taylor Leier had an assist in a losing cause as the Portland Winterhawks dropped the seventh and deciding game of the Western Hockey League finals last night to the Edmonton Oil Kings by a 4-2 score. Leier assisted on Brendan Leipzic's third period power play goal that brought the Hawks back within two goals. The key turning point of the game came when Curtis Lazar tallied shorthanded midway through the second period to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead. Forty seconds later Reid Petryk added to the lead. Mads Eller (the younger brother of Montreal Canadiens forward Lars) had a goal and an assist for Edmonton. Leier finished the playoffs with 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 20 games.
* Flyers defenseman Erik Gustafsson and the rest of Team Sweden is in action today at the IIHF World Championships in Minsk, Belarus. They will take on Scandinavian neighbors Norway. Gustafsson, who was not out for a single even strength goal against at last year's Worlds, had his streak broken in a 4-3 shootout win over the Czechs on Sunday. He finished minus-two in the game.
* Phantoms forward Marcel Noebels and Team Germany face a tough task today as they take on Finland at the World Championships. Noebels scored his first career World Championships goal in a 3-2 win over Latvia on Sunday.
* Team Canada, featuring Flyers forwards Brayden Schenn and Matt Read as well as defenseman Braydon Coburn, is idle today. Read earned his first point of the tournament, an assist on Kyle Turris' go-ahead goal, in Canada's 4-3 win yesterday over the Czech Republic.
Read skated on a line with Turris and Jason Chimera and continued to receive heavy ice time from coach Dave Tippett. The Flyers winger skated 18:22 of ice time and saw duty on the top penalty killing unit.
Schenn, centering a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Alex Burrows as his wingers, did not record a point in 16:12 of ice time. He was minus-one and had one shot on goal. Schenn took 14 faceoffs, winning six and losing eight.
Coburn, paired with Tyler Myers, skated 19:52 of ice time and finished at minus-one for the game. He was on the ice, along with the Sean Monahan line, when Jiri Novotny scored midway through the third period to trim Canada's lead to 4-2.
Less than a minute later, Tomas Hertl brought the Czechs back within a goal. Former Flyers right winger Jaromir Jagr earned the lone assist on the Hertl goal. Canada held on the rest of the way, aided by a late-game high-sticking penalty to Jagr that trimmed two precious minutes off the clock. Jiri Hudler was whistled off for hooking in the final half-minute.
A key turning point of the game came when Czech attacker Jan Kovar high sticked Kevin Bieksa in the mouth, causing him to lose a tooth and leaving blood spattered on the ice. Canada scored power play goals by MacKinnon and Morgan Rielly, spaced 17 seconds apart, turning a 2-1 lead into a a 4-1 advantage.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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