UPDATE 6 PM EDT

Nolan Patrick will not play in Thursday's game. Officially, he is day-to-day. Lineups are updates below.


GAME 10 PREVIEW: FLYERS @ SENATORS

Starting a two-game road trip to Ontario, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (5-4-0) are Canada's capital on Thursday to take on Guy Boucher's Ottawa Senators (4-1-4). Game time at the Canadian Tire Centre is 7:30 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSP.

This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season, and the first of two in Ottawa. The clubs will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on the afternoon of Feb. 3 and the season series concludes back in Ottawa on Feb. 24.

Last year, all three games between the teams went beyond regulation. All three ended as 3-2 finals.

The Flyers dropped the first one at home (Nov. 15, 2016) via shootout after a late game-tying wraparound goal by Kyle Turris. In Ottawa two weeks later (Dec. 1), the Flyers battled back from a 2-0 deficit to prevail in overtime as Claude Giroux tallied his second goal of the match. On March 28 in Philly, goals by Erik Karlsson and Turris provided the Sens a pair of one-goal leads but the home side struck back for goals by now-former Flyer Brayden Schenn and a Jordan Weal goal in the third period before Weal scored the lone goal in a shootout and now ex-Flyer goalie Steve Mason turned back Turris, Bobby Ryan and Taylor Pyatt.

FLYERS OUTLOOK

The Flyers entered Tuesday's game against the Anaheim Ducks with a chance to conclude a five-game homestand with four wins. Instead, they got dominated in virtually every aspect and also did themselves no favors with unforced errors in an ugly 6-2 blowout loss.

One bright side to Tuesday's tilt: The top line trio of Sean Couturier (two goals, six tallies and nine points through nine games), Jakub Voracek (two assists, 12 overall through nine games) and Claude Giroux (one assist, six helpers and 11 points thus far) enjoyed numerous dominant shifts as they have all season to date.

The game also saw rookie defenseman Travis Sanheim make a nice pass to Couturier on the former's first NHL point. The same goal saw Couturier record his 200th point and Voracek earn his 500th point.

That was it for the Philadelphia high points, as virtually nothing else went right. Except with the top line was on the ice, the Flyers spent much of the night hemmed in their own zone. The team struggled with turnovers. All three new defense pairs struggled at times, especially in a disastrous second period. The combos reverted in the final period to something closer to the arrangement prior to the team losing Andrew MacDonald for four-to-six weeks; two pairs reverted while Sanheim was played with Ivan Provorov for the rest of the game.

Beyond that, Brian Elliott had a poor game in goal. Nolan Patrick had to leave the game early after his head banged into the glass above the defensive corner boards on a clean shoulder-to-shoulder hit by Anaheim's Chris Wagner. An already banged-up Wayne Simmonds appeared to take a puck off the foot but finished the game.

At Wednesday's practice prior to departing for Ottawa, Simmonds did not participate. He was being evaluated, and his availability for Thursday's game is unclear as of this writing. The news was better on Patrick (who must have passed a concussion symptom test after he was helped off the ice because he was in street clothes in the pressbox by the second intermission and was at event level with teammates after the game). Patrick practiced with the team in full on Wednesday and will play in Ottawa.

Michal Neuvirth will get the start in goal in Thursday's game. He has played well in all three of his starts to date, but has only one win to show for it as the Flyers got shut out by LA (road) and Nashville (home) in his two losses.

The defense pairings were rejiggered yet again at Wednesday's practice. The team did not recall an extra defenseman for the road trip. Taylor Leier (upper body) was reportedly well enough to play on Tuesday but sat out the game after leaving the optional morning skate among the starters.

To date, the Flyers have scored eight power play goals on 39 opportunities (20.5 percent, ranked 11th in the NHL) and yielded one opposing shorthanded goal. On the penalty kill, Philly is 26-for-33 (78.8 percent, 19th in the NHL) with Scott Laughton (Oct. 14 vs. Washington) having scored the team's lone shorthanded goal to date. At 5-on-5, the Flyers have scored 18 times and yielded 13 goals.

Senators Outlook

The three OT/shootout games the Flyers played against Ottawa last season was nothing uncommon for the Senators and the same has been a regular occurrence in the early portion of the 2017-18 campaign. Ottawa has already had five of nine games go beyond regulation to just one thus far for the Flyers. The Sens have one shootout win, three shootout losses and an OT defeat to date.

Thursday's game against the Flyers marks the end of a five-game homestand for the Senators. While it has not been without its highlights -- most notably, a 6-3 victory against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday -- the team's 1-1-2 record is not what was hoped for coming off a three-game winning streak that included back-to-back blowout road wins over Calgary (6-0) and Edmonton (6-1).

As with last year's Senators and most teams coached by Boucher, opponents have to work to earn their goals. The club brings the NHL's second-lowest goals against average (2.33) into this game.

The Senators come into this game off a 3-2 shootout loss to Los Angeles on Tuesday. Ottawa was outshot, 43-20. Goals by Dion Phaneuf and Nate Thompson (shorthanded) were offset by a pair of Adrian Kempe tallies for LA. In the shootout, Mike Cammalleri and Kempe both converted their attempts while Turris and Mark Stone did not. Mike Condon stopped 41 of 43 shots in a losing cause for Ottawa.

Turris, who has scored six goals and 12 points in 19 career games against the Flyers, is ill with the flu. He is not expected to be in the lineup for Ottawa on Thursday. Ryan (broken right index finger) is also out. Zack Smith (IR, upper body) is close to returning but will not be ready for this game. Colin White (IR, wrist fracture) is skating but not ready for NHL game action; he may begin an AHL rehab assignment over the weekend.

On Wednesday, the Senators recalled 20-year-old rookie Czech center Filip Chlapik from the American Hockey League's Belleville Senators. He had three assists and a minus-five rating over his first seven pro games. A second-round pick (48th overall) by the Sens in 2015, Chlapik enjoyed a 34-goal, 91-point QMJHL season last year with Charlottetown. He will wear No. 78 for the Sens in his NHL regular season debut.

Twenty-three-year-old right winger Jack Rodewald was also recalled from Belleville. He had 18 goals in 66 AHL games last season in Binghamton before Ottawa relocated its farm team to Belleville. He's scored three times and assisted one in his first five AHL games this season.

It is possible that the Senators could start seven defensemen in Thursday's game. Mark Borowiecki is available for duty. If 12 forwards dress, Max McCormick and Rodewald are both available to be in the lineup.

To date, the Senators are 7-for-40 on the power play (17.5 percent, 15th in the NHL). They are the NHL's top-ranked team on the penalty kill at 92.0 percent (23-for-25) and tied for being the third least-penalized club. Thompson's shorthander against the Kings was the Senators' first of the young season. At five-on-five, Ottawa has scored 21 goals (tied for sixth most) and yielded 17 to the opposition.

PROJECTED LINEUPS (Note: will be updated)

Flyers

28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Jordan Weal - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read - 15 Jori Lehterä - 11 Travis Konecny
20 Taylor Leier - 21 Scott Laughton - 12 Michael Raffl

9 Ivan Provorov -53 Shayne Gostisbehere
6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Robert Hägg
23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas

30 Michal Neuvirth
[37 Brian Elliott]

Scratches: Nolan Patrick (upper body), Dale Weise (healthy), Andrew MacDonald (IR, lower body).

Senators

14 Alexandre Burrows - 19 Derick Brassard - 61 Mark Stone
68 Mike Hoffman - 44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau - 10 Tom Pyatt
17 Nate Thompson -78 Filip Chlapik - 18 Ryan Dzingel
49 Chris DiDomenico - ??? - 53 Jack Rodewald

29 Johnny Oduya - 65 Erik Karlsson
2 Dion Phaneuf - 5 Cody Ceci
33 Fredrik Claesson - 6 Chris Wideman
74 Mark Borowiecki

41 Craig Anderson
[1 Mike Condon]

Scratches: one among Mark Borowiecki (healthy) or Max McCormick (healthy), Kyle Turris (flu), Bobby Ryan (IR, broken finger), Zack Smith (IR, upper body), Colin White (IR, broken wrist), Clarke MacArthur (IR, concussion issues).

*********

WRAP: PHANTOMS TOP SPRINGFIELD IN OT, 3-2

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms dominated early and late, going on to defeat the Springfield Thunderbirds in overtime, 3-2, at the PPL Center in Allentown on Wednesday night. With the win, the Phantoms extended their winning streak to five consecutive games and improved their season record to 6-1-1. The struggling Thunderbirds fell to 1-6-1.

Greg Carey netted the game winner on a 4-on-3 overtime power play, measuring and unleashing a laser beam that Falcons goalie Samuel Montembeault had no chance of stopping. Mike Vecchione and team captain Colin McDonald notched first period goals as the Phantoms built a 2-0 lead that slipped away in the middle stanza. Alex Lyon stopped 25 of 27 shots to earn the win goal.

Dryden Hunt and defenseman Thomas Schemitsch scored for the Thunderbirds. Montembeault stopped 36 of 39 shots in a losing cause.

The Phantoms entered the game just 1-for-33 on the power play for the season and an AHL-worst 74.2 percent (23-for-31) on the penalty kill. It's been at 5-on-5 where the Phantoms had been winning games. Springfield came in at 6-for-40 (15 percent, 17th the AHL) on the power play and 28-for-35 (88.6 percent, 8th in the AHL) on the PK.

On this night, the Phantoms spent much of the night on the man advantage, going 2-for-9 on the power play. They were also shorthanded a half-dozen times, going 6-for-6.

The ice was tilted for much of the first and third periods. The Phantoms came out storming right away, dominating puck possession with a tenacious forecheck. Lehigh Valley racked up a 15-5 shot edge in the opening period, with a slew of high-quality scoring chances.

The pressure finally paid off with a Vecchione power play goal at 10:57 of the first period. The rookie center had a tap-in at the right post on a tic-tac-toe passing sequence from Phil Varone to Chris Conner to the goal scorer. The goal was Vecchione's second of the season.

The lead grew to 2-0 at 16:33 as a Springfield defender was stripped of the puck by Mikhail Vorobyev and the Russian rookie fed across to McDonald. Playing his first game of the regular season after suffering a preseason foot injury with the Flyers, the Phantoms captain ripped a shot home for his first goal of the season.

The second period saw Springfield push back for a pair of goals in the opening 10 minutes of the frame. Phantoms defenseman Mark Friedman wiped out skating along the right side, and the puck was claimed and sent by playmaking center Curtis Valk out to Hunt atop the circle. The heavy seemingly stoppable shot found its way home at 5:46.

Springfield tied the game at 9:49. The sequence started out innocently enough with Friedman marking a man along the side boards before Tyrell Goulbourne came over to assist. Suddenly, the middle of the ice opened up for a trailing Schemitsch, who hammered a deep slot shot past Lyon. The assists went to Maxim Mamin and Juho Lammikko.

Second period shots were 14-8 in Springfield's favor. The highlight of the period for the Phantoms came at the 3:39 mark. Defenseman Samuel Morin rode a check hard into the corner boards -- a crunching, but clean hit -- and immediately saw veteran agitator/fighter Bobby Farnham make a beeline for him. Morin landed the only solid punch of the short fight and then tossed the much smaller Farnham down to the ice like a rag doll.

Carey and Vecchione both stated after the game that the Phantoms' locker room mood after the second period was calm, upbeat and focused on just getting back to what they'd done so well early in the game.

The third period, especially the first 10 minutes went much like the first period. However, Lehigh Valley could not parlay a steep edge in shots (12-7) and chances into a go-ahead goal. In overtime, Friedman's night concluded as he was dangerously cross-checked from behind -- right in the numbers with full extension -- into the boards by Springfield's Matt MacKenzie.

Friedman was tended to on the ice and went back to the bench with some assistance rather than going off to the dressing room (a hopeful initial sign). MacKenzie received a cross-checking major and game misconduct, putting the Phantoms on a 4-on-3 power play for the duration of OT.

With 52.9 seconds left in OT, Carey took a pass from Will O'Neill and wired the game-winner home from the right side. Oskar Lindblom earned the secondary assist.

Phantoms rookies Lindblom, Vecchione and Vorobyev all enjoyed strong games; in Lindblom's case, arguably his best all-around performance of the season to date. The Swede continued to struggle to finish scoring chances -- he had two good chances at the hash marks and a point blank one from the near slot -- but was getting to the greasy areas all night, very strong on the walls, solid on the backcheck and effective on the penalty kill. Morin also had a strong night on the vast majority of his shifts.

A prospect update, with insights from Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon on the progress of these players will be forthcoming on the Flyers' official website.

Phantoms lines on Wednesday:

18 Danick Martel - 21 Mike Vecchione - 16 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
10 Greg Carey - 26 Phil Varone - 9 Cole Bardreau
28 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Corban Knight - 22 Chris Conner
12 Tyrell Goulbourne - 15 Mikhail Vorobyev - 13 Colin McDonald

8 Will O'Neill - 2 Mark Alt
37 Mark Friedman - 44 Reece Willcox
3 Samuel Morin - 20 Maxim Lamarche

34 Alex Lyon
[35 Dustin Tokarski]

Scratches: Radel Fazleev (healthy), Steve Swavely (healthy), Philippe Myers (day-to-day, lower body). T.J. Brennan (2-3 weeks).

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