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Meltzer's Musings: Wednesday Quick Hits

May 21, 2014, 5:50 AM ET [561 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
* Today is an off-day at the 2014 IIHF World Championships in Minsk, Belarus. Tomorrow, single elimination play begins with the medal round quarterfinals.

Team Canada, featuring Flyers players Brayden Schenn, Matt Read and Braydon Coburn, will take on Finland. The winner will advance to the semifinals to take on the winner of the quarterfinal match between Team USA and the Czech Republic. The American side is coached by former Flyers coach Peter Laviolette and features New Jersey native Johnny Gaudreau. The Czech squad features former Flyers right winger Jaromir Jagr.

In the other half of the quarterfinal bracket, Russia will play France (who have been the most pleasant surprise of the tournament to date) with the winner taking on the victor of the Sweden versus Belarus quarterfinal. Former Flyers defenseman Erik Gustafsson plays for defending gold medalist Sweden, while former Flyers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky backstops Russia.

* Phantoms players Oliver Lauridsen and Marcel Noebels are finished at the World Championships in Minsk, Belarus, after neither Denmark nor Germany qualified for the medal round. The Danes and Germans finished in seventh place in their respective brackets, sufficient to avoid relegation (Italy and Kazakhstan have been relegated for next year).

Noebels finished the tournament with one goal and zero assists in seven games. He was plus-one and averaged 15:14 of ice time per game. Last year, Noebels barely played. so this was a step forward in his international career.

Lauridsen finished with zero points, 14 penalty minutes and a minus-two rating in seven games. He averaged 19:01 of ice time per game. Lauridsen was banished for most of the third period of Denmark's final game; a 4-3 loss to Slovakia. The big Danish defenseman received 12 minutes worth of penalties for checking to the head.

* Flyers goaltending prospect Anthony Stolarz's London Knights team plays in Memorial Cup action tonight, taking on the Guelph Storm. Game time is 7 p.m. EDT. Last night, QMJHL champion Val-d'Or prevailed over WHL champion Edmonton in double overtime by a 4-3 score.

* Today in Flyers History: On this day in 1985, the Flyers won Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals with a 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers at the Spectrum. Vezina Trophy winning goaltender Pelle Lindbergh turned back 25 of 26 shots as the Flyers took a 1-0 lead into the first period and then broke the game open by midway stages of the final stanza. Goals by Ilkka Sinisalo, Ron Sutter, Tim Kerr and Dave Poulin (empty net) led the way in a 41-shot assault on Edmonton goalie Grant Fuhr. The Oilers went on to win each of the next four games to capture the Stanley Cup.

On this day in 1995, the Flyers downed the New York Rangers by a 5-4 count in overtime in Game One of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at the Spectrum. In a seesaw affair that saw the Flyers rally back from an early 2-0 deficit and then fail to hold a 4-3 lead in the final 20 seconds of the third period, Eric Desjardins' overtime goal put Philly ahead in the series. The tally was Desjardins' second of the game. The match was also highlighted by a John LeClair hat trick. The Flyers went on to sweep the defending Cup champions in four straight games.
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