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Wrap: Flyers Fall to Florida, 4-1; Phantoms Weekend Sweep, Prospects |
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WRAP: FLYERS FALL TO FLORIDA, 4-1
Even before the opening faceoff dropped on the Philadelphia Flyers' Sunday matinee in Sunrise against the Florida Panthers, it was clear that the Flyers were in for a gut-check game. Regardless of the Flyers' record or the fortunes of the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, the two-game trips to Florida have historically been tough ones on the Flyers.
This time around, the conditions heading to Sunrise were especially unfavorable to the Flyers, at least on paper.
The Flyers were playing for the third time in less than four nights in a home-road-road gauntlet. They were coming off a rollercoaster of a game in Tampa the previous day that ended in disappointment. The Panthers, who have been among the NHL's hottest teams of late, were able to rest on Saturday. The Panthers are in the midst of one of the prolonged stretches at home of any team in recent NHL history, stretching from Feb. 22 to March 17 with only a single road game in Tampa (roughly 255 miles of travel over a 37-minute flight) during the entire time period.
None of that is an excuse. It's simply a backdrop for understanding that, if the Flyers were going to win the game and move back into a points tie with the Washington Capitals atop the Metropolitan Division, they were going to have to dig deep against a good Panthers team.
Philly couldn't afford to have to chase the game by falling behind early. They were going to need to avoid coverage miscues. They'd need a big bounceback game from Petr Mrazek, coming off back-to-back losses where he wasn't at his best. They'd have to continue their stretch of avoiding bad penalties. Lastly, they'd have to scratch out a couple goals against Roberto Luongo and company to play from ahead and win ugly if necessary.
It didn't happen. The Panthers won, 4-1, for its sixth straight victory. The Flyers, after rattling off a 10-0-2 run in February, have now started the month of March with an 0-2-1 record.
A Radko Gudas interference penalty quickly put the Flyers' 29th-ranked penalty kill to work early, with not-unexpected results. With Flyers blueline newcomer Johnny Oduya turning the wrong way, Aleksander Barkov took a stretch pass from Keith Yandle and went in from the Flyers' blueline on a partial breakaway against Mrazek. Putting a shift on the Flyers' goalie, Barkov backhanded his 25th goal of the season to put Florida ahead 1-0 just 2:41 into the game. The assists went to veteran offensive defenseman Yandle (34th) and Luongo (2nd).
Evgenii Dadonov made it 2-0 at 14:49 on a sequence that started with a 50-50 puck battle deep in the Florida defensive zone. Florida won the battle and Nick Bjugstad made a high flip pass over the outstretched hand of a leaping Claude Giroux and found a cherry-picking Dadonov already on the Flyers' size of the red line. Shayne Gostisbehere hustled back to cut off a drive to the net. From the left circle, between the faceoff lines and the hash mark, Dadonov (19th goal of the season) made a little head fake and then wristed a shot that eluded Mrazek. This was a stoppable goal at an awful time. The assists went to Bjugstad (25th) and defenseman Aaron Ekblad (15th).
The Flyers, who mustered nine shots on Luongo in the first period and 14 in the second, were unable to make any headway on the scoreboard. Their predicament only got worse in the latter stages of the middle frame.
After Taylor Leier turned over a cross-ice pass attempt off the stick of defender Alexander Petrovic over to Barkov, the Panthers cranked up their counterattack. Barkov hit Dadonov in stride in the neutral zone and, from the slot, Dadonov beat Mrazek off his glove for a 3-0 lead at 18: 06. The assists went to Barkov (39th) and Petrovic (9th) on Dadonov's second goal of the game and 20th of the season.
The Flyers went 4-for-5 on the penalty kill for the game, working their way through four kills after the early Barkov goal. However, in a game in which they were trailing most of the day, taking a series of penalties only made things harder on themselves.
On the opening shift of the third period, Gudas (19 penalty minutes on the day, including a first period fight with Jared McCann) went back to the penalty box on a high sticking infraction against Barkov. The Flyers survived the kill but, 24 seconds later, the Panthers had a 4-0 lead.
The sequence started with a faceoff in the right circle of the Florida zone. Nolan Patrick won the draw back cleanly, and the Flyers had possession. However, Jakub Voracek wiped out and fell to the ice, losing the puck in the process to Mark Pysyk. The Panthers were off in transition again. Jamie McGinn fed ahead to Jonathan Huberdeau, who outskated Gudas from the neutral zone in and beat Mrazek off the backhand at the 2:47 mark for his 20th goal of the season. The assists were credited to McGinn and Pysyk.
By this point, the game was a lost cause. The Flyers meaninglessly outshot the Panthers, 17-7, in the final frame. At 16:39, they continued what seems to be a semi-annual tradition of breaking up a Luongo shutout bid late in a game that is out of reach.
Travis Konecny set up shop in front of the Panthers' net as Brandon Manning fired a shot from the right point. Luongo made an initial stop but Konecny quickly jammed home the loose puck for his 17th goal of the season. The assists went to Manning (10th) and Giroux (55th).
Luongo finished with 39 saves on 40 shots. The Flyers attempted 67 shots, missing the net on 11 times and getting blocked 16. The Philadelphia power play went 0-for-2. Mrazek stopped 22 of 26 shots in a losing cause. Florida attempted 52 shots, missing the net 12 times and getting blocked 16 times.
Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald missed the game in Sunrise with an upper-body injury sustained in Saturday's game in Tampa Bay. He is officially day-to-day, per general manager Ron Hextall. Oduya, who skated 12:22 over 19 shifts in a rough debut for the Flyers, played just nine seconds in the third period due to an apparent lower-body injury.
The Flyers won 32 of 53 faceoffs (60 percent), led by Giroux winning seven of 11. Philly was charged with nine giveaways and Florida was credited with 15 takeaways for an official total of 24 Philadelphia turnovers. Florida was charged with 11 giveaways (three by Yandle) and the Flyers were credited with 10 takeaways, for a total of 21 Panthers turnovers.
Credited hits were 25-22 in Florida's favor. McGinn led Florida with five credited hits, while Gudas led the Flyers with four.
The Flyers will take a much-needed off-day on Monday, practice on Tuesday and then play a very tough set of back-to-back games at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday and on the road against the Boston Bruins the next night.
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PHANTOMS FINISH SIX-POINT WEEKEND WITH 3-2 SO WIN IN HERSHEY
While the Flyers have hit an early March stumbling block, their American Hockey League farm team keeps right on rolling. The Eastern Conference points-leading Lehigh Valley Phantoms completed a six-point weekend with a 3-2 road shootout win over the Hershey Bears on Sunday.
The Phantoms are 11-1-1 over their last 13 games and 38-15-7 overall (83 points) for the season. Within the Atlantic Division, they have opened up a 10-point lead over the Providence Bruins and 11 points on the Wilkes Barre/ Scranton Penguins. The gap isn't as wide as it seems -- the Penguins hold four games in hand on the Phantoms and the Bruins have two games hand -- but it is still wide enough to remain in the top spot even if Providence or WB/S were to win their games on nights when the Phantoms are idle.
On Sunday, the Phantoms received regulation (7th goal of the season) and game-winning shootout goals from now-surging rookie center Mikhail "Misha" Vorobyev. A Corban Knight shorthanded goal (13th overall) at 7:54 of the first period opened the scoring as the teams traded off one goal apiece in each of the first and second periods before a scoreless third period and overtime. Cole Bardreau (15th and 16th) assisted on both LV regulation goals, while Mike Vecchione (21st) got the secondary helper on the latter.
In the skills competition, Knight scored in the third round before Vorobyev notched the winner in the fifth and final round. Veterans Chris Conner, T.J. Brennan and Phil Varone were unsuccessful on their attempts.
Vorobyev, who had a goal and an assist in Saturday's 4-0 win over Albany, earned 1st star honors on Sunday. He also earned praised from Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon.
"There's been bits and pieces coming for him," Gordon said to Phantoms broadcaster Bob Rotruck. "He's not making the same mistakes as before. He's a smart player and makes plays. His skill level with passing is probably the best on our team."
Bouncing back from a rough first period in Friday's 7-6 comeback win over Hershey in Allentown, John Muse earned the win in goal for the Phantoms. He stopped 22 of 24 shots in regulation and overtime and then went 4-for-5 in the shootout.
Knight's shorthanded goal came after Bardreau intercepted a Hershey pass and fed him for a breakaway. He finished it off with a shot over Pheonix Copley's glove for his second shorthanded marker of the season.
At 16:09 of the first period, Hershey scored a 5-on-5 goal to knot the score at 1-1. Joe Whitney received a stretch pass from Riley Barber and went in alone on Muse. In a duel of former teammates at Boston College, Whitney came out ahead with a blocker side tally.
Hershey took a short-lived 2-1 lead at 4:51 of the second period, scoring on the power play to end the Phantoms' streak of having killed 24 consecutive penalties successfully. On the play, Wayne Simpson scored off the rush as he took a pass from Tim McGauley and ripped home a shot from the near slot. Dustin Gazley received the secondary assist.
The Phantoms got the game tied at 2-2 on Vorobyev's goal at 13:56 of the second period. Philippe Myers controlled the puck and set in motion the sequence that led to the eventual goal, although Myers was not credited with a point. Myers sent the puck to Vecchione at the side of the Bears net. In a rapid puck-movement sequence, Vecchione tapped the puck over to Bardreau, who passed back to an open Vorobyev, who blasted an unstoppable shot into the top left corner of the net.
Lehigh Valley dominated the third period (13-4 shot edge) and had a 3-2 shot edge in OT but were unable to net the winning goal. The game moved to a shootout. With the Phantoms trailing 1-0 and down to their final shot in the bottom of the third round, Knight prolonged the skills competition. After Muse made fourth-round and fifth-round saves, Vorobyev ended the game as he found the five-hole on Copley.
Second-year Phantoms defenseman Travis Sanheim, who may be called up to the Flyers if neither Andrew MacDonald nor Johnny Oduya are able to go on Wednesday, did not record a point in this game. However, he registered five shots on goal and was plus-one. In 18 games since being reassigned from the Flyers to the AHL team, he has posted 16 points (one goal, 15 assists) and a plus-14 rating.
Second-year winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who has improved by leaps and bounds this season to vault himself into the picture to eventually challenge for an NHL role with the Flyers, was unable to the Phantoms on Sunday. He served the first of a two-game suspension from the AHL, stemming from a checking-to-the-head penalty he received in Friday's game against Hershey in Allentown.
The Phantoms return to action on Friday evening at PPL Center against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (28-22-8).
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FROST BITE IN THE SOO
Flyers 2017 first-round pick Morgan Frost collected a pair of assists as the machine-like Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds recovered from a sluggish first half-period to earn a 5-2 home win over the Saginaw Spirit on Sunday afternoon. Frost was plus-three on the afternoon, had six shots on goal and won 23 of 28 faceoffs (82 percent) to take second-star honors.
Frost's first assist of the game, which came on an eventual goal by offensive defenseman Rasmus Sandin as the Greyhounds took a 2-1 lead in the latter stages of the first period was especially nifty. As noted in previous blogs, Frost's speed and change of pace is not for show; he prefers to slow the play down and study his options unless it's a situation where a burst of speed is needed. Here, he speeds through the neutral zone, pulls up in the offensive zone (which causes a defender to wipe out) and then threads the needle through an open passing lane to start the eventual goal sequence.
Frost's second assist, which came on the opening shift the second period, was a meat-and-potatoes secondary assist. He won a battle behind the net to get the puck to Taylor Raddysh and then Raddysh found Jack Kopacka with a centering pass in front for what eventually proved to be the game-winning goal.
Frost now has 102 points in 61 games. He continues to produce points in virtually every game. Frost has at least one point in 36 of his last 38 games (and one of his two pointless games saw him initially credited with a primary assist but lost the point later after it was ruled a puck in front went off a defenseman's skate and not Frost's stick to the eventual goal scorer).
With the Barrie Colts' Aaron Luchuk and the Sarnia Sting's Jordan Kyrou on point binges that have seen them frequently produce three or more points per game in several recent games, Frost has actually fallen into third place in the OHL scoring race and has been overtaken again by Kyrou in the assists category. What's more important, especially in light of the fact that Luchuk is 20 years old and Kyorou is 19 while Frost won't even turn 19 until May 14, is the level of consistency that Frost has shown offensively. Just as important, he plays a complete game.
Over the course of the entire season to date, Frost's 102 points in 61 games are virtually identical to Travis Konecny's 101 points in 60 games in his draft-plus-one season in the OHL at age 18. However, as the season has progressed, Frost's pace has actually outshined what Konecny did even after racking up 56 points in 31 games (1.80 points per game) following a trade from the Ottawa 67's to Sarnia. Over Frost's last 39 games, he's produced at a staggering 1.90 points-per-game pace with 74 points (27 goals, 47 assists) in that span.
In the meantime, Frost's overall plus-64 rating not only leads the OHL by a country mile -- regular linemate Boris Katchouk is second at plus-48 -- he leads the entire three-league CHL system of major junior circuits. This is for three reasons: 1) Frost's line usually has puck possession, often for prolonged stretches, 2) Despite his prolific playmaking and increased willingness to shoot the puck, Frost does not turn over many pucks, and 3) while there is always room for improvement and added strength to prepare for the NHL wars, Frost has worked hard to become a much better player without the puck.
There is lots of talent on the Greyhounds (52-6-4) team, which is built to win both now and should be competitive for the next couple of seasons. Players such as 2018 draft-eligible talents Barrett Hayton, Sandin, and Ryan Roth are already making impacts and will gain additional experience when older players such as Katchouk, Raddysh, Tim Gettinger, Connor Timmins, Kopacka, Hayden Verbeek and former USNTD forward Keeghan Howdeshell are gone.
More than anyone else, though, the 18-year-old Frost is the team's number one catalyst. When several teammates were away at the World Junior Championships, he kept right on producing. If anything, Frost stepped up his game even further during that time as the Hounds went undefeated for the better part of two months bookending the holidays and the WJC. When there has been juggling of lines by head coach Drew Bannister, such as separating Raddysh from the top line a couple weeks ago, whomever is placed on Frost's line almost inevitably starts scoring with greater frequency.
Meanwhile, Frost himself has become a regular goal-scoring threat, which could not really be said of him prior to this season. His 38th goal and most recent goal of the season -- which put him at 100 points on the season -- was a particularly nice one that showed his sky-high confidence with the puck on his stick.
It would be nice if Frost can beat out Luchuk and Kyrou -- who are tied with 105 points apiece -- for the OHL scoring championship. That doesn't seem to be in the cards, though, with the runs the other players have been on of late. Even if Frost doesn't win the scoring crown this year, however, he's setting himself up nicely to be a prominent presence at his second NHL training camp come September.
To earn an NHL job sooner rather than an additional year down the road, Frost would still need to add more strength to his frame (the OHL website now lists him as 6-foot, 180 pounds but he looked smaller and frailer than that at Flyers camp in Sept. 2017). Even if he does go back to the OHL for another year, he could benefit from playing in the WJC -- he'd be a shoo-in next year after being ignored by Hockey Canada at age 18, just as Claude Giroux was in 2006-07 despite being on his way to a 112-point season for the QMJHL's Gatineau Olympiques.
In the not-too-distant future, the Flyers could have a very formidable 1-2-3 combination down the middle in Sean Couturier (who will still be in his 20s), Nolan Patrick and Frost. There are a variety of ways potential wingers could be arranged around them. In today's NHL, it takes three scoring-capable lines to be a legitimate contender, with a fourth line that is more in the mold of what used to be targeted for the third line. The old-school fourth line (one or two penalty killing specialists plus an enforcer or two tough guys with one defensive forward) is pretty much obsolete in today's NHL systems.
While it is possible that Frost could be shifted to a wing as a pro, a team's cleverest and most well-rounded players typically play center. Often, other natural centers wind up on wings and players switch off spots frequently within the play, but Frost is probably best suited to the catalyst role starting in the middle.
The Greyhound return to action on Thursday in a rematch with Windsor (29-28-5). This time the scene shifts to Windsor.
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RATCLIFFE SURGING TO OHL FINISH LINE
While goalie prospect Carter Hart and center Morgan Frost have understandly been the toast of the Flyers' farm system below the North American pro level this season, 2017 second-round pick Isaac Ratcliffe is one of several other players who have more quietly put together promising campaigns. Others who fit the latter description include collegiate forwards Wade Allison (out for the season with a suspected ACL injury but still a potential entry-level contract signing at the end of his sophomore year), Tanner Laczysnki, Maksim Sushko and Matthew Strome (who still needs a lot of work on his skating but whose overall game and hands were never in question).
When the Flyers traded three picks to move up and select the 6-foot-6, 200-pound Ratcliffe with the 35th overall pick of the 2018 Draft, they knew they were swinging for the fences on a project winger with home-run upside if he can refine his raw tools (which include a fearsome natural shot) into an NHL player's game. From day one, the Flyers knew it would be a multi-year process, even as Ratcliffe was inked to an entry-level contract.
Ratcliffe has had his ups and downs this season, as has the entire Guelph Storm team. However, he's been trending the right way in the second half of the season and has been on a scoring tear of late that now has him 8th in the OHL with 37 goals.
On Sunday, Ratcliffe took second star honors despite a 5-4 overtime loss to the Kitchener Rangers. He produced one goal, one assist and four shots on goal, looking like a threat to score every time he got the puck in the offensive zone. He was almost impossible to take off the puck and his explosive shot gave Kitchener goaltender Luke Richardson fits despite "only" finding the net once.
Over his last three games, Ratcliffe has compiled five goals (including a hat trick on Friday night) and seven points. Well below the point-per-game mark around the midway point of the season, Ratcliffe is now above it at 62 points (37 goals, 25 assists) in 61 games. His minus-23 rating is partially reflective of teamwide issues with team defense and goaltending and partially reflective of areas of his individual game that need to improve. Even so, Ratcliffe is clearly moving in a positive direction in his development.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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