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Flyers Gameday: 11/11/17 vs. MIN; Phantoms, Alumni & Prospect Updates

November 11, 2017, 6:20 AM ET [116 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
GAME 17 PREVIEW: FLYERS vs. WILD

Beginning a home-and-home set against each other, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (8-6-2) host Bruce Boudreau's Minnesota Wild (6-7-2) on Saturday night. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSP+.

This is the first of two meetings between the inter-conference teams this season. There will be a quick turnaround before the next one, as the Flyers and Wild will rematch on Tuesday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Last year, the Flyers swept the season series with a 3-2 home win on Nov. 12, 2016 and a 3-1 road victory on March 23, 2017. Overall, the Flyers have five games in a row against the Wild, as well as eight of the last 10.

FLYERS OUTLOOK

The Flyers bring a 4-2-2 home record into Saturday's tilt. The early-season standings in the Metropolitan Division are tightly packed with seven of the eight teams currently sitting with 20 points (New York and Pittsburgh), 19 points (Columbus and Washington) or 18 points (Flyers, Islanders and Rangers). Carolina has 15 points but has only played 14 games to date.

Philly enters this game coming off a 3-1 home win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. All of the Flyers scoring came from the top line trio of Jakub Voracek (one goal, two assists), Claude Giroux (one goal, two assists) and Sean Couturier (one goal). Shayne Gostisbehere (one assist) picked up a point as well. Brian Elliott was excellent in goal, stopping 38 of 39 shots, with strong rebound control. A 5-on-3 penalty kill for 1:44 of the second period was a crucial juncture of the game, and Elliott and company delivered.

On the injury front, defenseman Andrew MacDonald (lower-body injury) may begin skating next week while rehabbing a knee injury incurred while blocking a shot against the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 21. Rookie center Nolan Patrick officially remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury widely suspected to be a concussion sustained on Oct. 24 but has not practiced with the team all week. He skated on his own several times, however.

Through 16 games, Voracek (four goals, 17 assists, 21 points) leads the team in scoring, followed by linemates Giroux (nine goals, 11 assists, 20 points) and Couturier (10 goals, nine assists, 19 points, +14). Gostisbehere leads the defense with 15 points (one goal, 14 assists).

Goalless with two assists over his last eight games, Wayne Simmonds has scored six goals among his 11 points. Three of his goals came on opening night. The alternate captain shares the team power play goal lead with three along with Valtteri Filppula (six goals, three assists, nine points overall). The third member of their line, Travis Konecny, has had a slew of scoring chances over the past few games and 10 shots on goal but just one assist to show for his last five games. Overall, Konecny is sitting on seven points (two goals, five assists) after 16 games.

Elliott appears to be the likely starting goalie again on Saturday. In 10 games to date, he has posted a 6-3-1 record, 2.90 GAA and .903 save percentage. Michal Neuvirth has made six appearances to date, going 2-3-1 with a 2.17 GAA, .928 SV% and one shutout.

Philly made a roster move on Friday. The team returned defenseman Mark Alt, who did a good job in a limited-minutes role as an injury replacement player for four games, to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

The Flyers enter Saturday's game 11-for-56 (19.6 pct, tied for 12th overall) on the power play, while yielding three opposing shorthanded goals. The club is 44-for-56 (78.6 pct, tied for 22nd overall) on the penalty kill with one shorthanded goal by Scott Laughton.

Overall, the Flyers have scored 50 goals and yielded 43. In five-on-five play, the team has scored 30 goals while yielding 23.

WILD OUTLOOK

The Flyers, who have played just once in the last six nights and have been at home the entire time, are by far the more well-rested team heading into this tilt. The Wild are wrapping up a four-game road trip and playing for the third time in four nights and fourth in the last six.

Minnesota is 1-2-0 on the road trip so far, and 3-4-1 overall in away games. On Thursday, one night after falling 4-2 in Toronto, the Wild bounced back for a 3-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Move over Ole, Arn, Gene and Lars Anderson: the Wild's Jason Zucker has been a one-man Minnesota Wrecking Crew over the past week. He has racked up five goals and one assist on the road trip to date. He accounted for both Wild tallies in Toronto and then compiled a natural hat trick in Montreal. For the season, Zucker leads the Wild with eight goals and 15 points in 18 games.

Devan Dubnyk recorded a 41-save shutout of the Canadiens. For the season, he has posted a 5-6-1 record, 2.77 GAA and .914 SV% across 12 starts. Alex Stalock, whose wife just gave birth, is expected to re-join the team in Philadelphia and could get his fourth start (fifth appearance) of the season.

Minnesota was one of the NHL's most injury-riddled teams over the first month of this season. The team has some of its personnel back now but will still be without Zach Parise (back surgery for a herniated disc) for many weeks to come. Additionally, Charlie Coyle (broken right fibula) remains on IR.

Two key Wild players who have spent time on IR this season and are off to relatively slow starts offensively: Mikael Granlund (10 games, one goal, four assists, five points, -4) and Nino Niederreiter (nine games, two goals, two assists).

Eric Staal is second on the Wild with 12 points (five goals, seven assists). Veteran blueliner Ryan Suter leads the blueline with 10 points (two goals, eight assists, -4). Rounding out the team scoring leaders are Jared Spurgeon (two goals, eight assists, 10 points), Chris Stewart (six goals, two assists) and team captain Mikko Koivu (four goals, four assists).

The Wild enter Saturday's game 8-for-48 (16.7 percent, ranked in a tie for 19th) on the power play and have yet to allow a shorthanded goal. On the penalty kill, they are 46-for-55 (83.6 percent, ranked 9th) with an NHL-best four shorthanded goals: two by Staal, one each for Zucker and 2016 first-round pick Luke Kunin.

Kunin's name may be familiar to some Flyers' fans because of an incident at last year's World Junior Championships. Playing for gold medalist Team USA, Kunin caught top pairing Team Canada defenseman Philippe Myers, a Flyers prospect, up high with a hit that concussed Myers; knocking him out of the tournament and for weeks thereafter.

Overall, the Wild have scored 45 goals and given up 43. At five-on-five the club has tallied 27 times but yielded 28 to the opposition. Last season, the Wild scored the most goals in the NHL at five-on-five (187, two more than Pittsburgh) and yielded 148 for a plus-39 differential.

PROJECTED LINEUPS (will be updated after morning skate)

Flyers

28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
11 Travis Konecny - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds
40 Jordan Weal - 15 Jori Lehterä - 22 Dale Weise
20 Taylor Leier - 21 Scott Laughton - 12 Michael Raffl

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

37 Brian Elliott
[30 Michal Neuvirth]

Scratches: Matt Read (healthy), Nolan Patrick (IR, upper body), Andrew MacDonald (IR, lower body).


Wild

22 Nino Niederreiter - 12 Eric Staal - 16 Jason Zucker
63 Tyler Ennis - 9 Mikko Koivu - 64 Mikael Granlund
26 Daniel Winnik - 14 Joel Eriksson Ek - 19 Luke Kunin
17 Marcus Foligno - 7 Matt Cullen - 10 Chris Stewart​

20 Ryan Suter - 46 Jared Spurgeon
25 Jonas Brodin - 24 Mathew Dumba
27 Kyle Quincey - 4 Mike Reilly​

40 Devan Dubnyk
[32 Alex Stalock]

Scratches: Gustav Olofsson (healthy), Niklas Svedberg (healthy), Zach Parise (IR, back surgery), Charlie Coyle (IR, fibula).

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PHANTOMS UPDATE

On Saturday night, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-3-2) are back in action as they visit Chocolate Town to take on the archrival Hershey Bears (5-6-2). Game time is 7 p.m. ET. For the Phantoms, it is the second match of a six-game road stretch but their only game this weekend after a very busy slate of matches in recent weeks. The road trip will resume on Wednesday (Nov. 15) against the Belleville Senators.

The Phantoms enter this game coming off a 4-2 win in Bridgeport against the Sound Tigers in a rare Wednesday morning match. After trailing 2-0 at the first intermission, the Phantoms struck back for three unanswered goals in the second period and went on to win the game, 4-2.

Phil Varone (3rd goal of the season), Danick Martel (14th), Oskar Lindblom (3rd) and Tyrell Goulbourne (2nd) scored for the Phantoms. T.J. Brennan notched three assists while Mikhail Vorobyev, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Mike Vecchione, Martel (for his league-high 19th point) and Varone chipped in one helper apiece. Goalie Alex Lyon had a bounceback performance with 42 saves on 44 shots, including 25 saves over the final 40 minutes.

The Phantoms are inching closer to getting their starting blueline personnel back intact. However, key young defensemen Samuel Morin and Philippe Myers both remain out of the lineup due to injury. Morin is about a week away from being ready to resume playing, per Flyers general manager Ron Hextall. Myers' status is unclear but last week, he may have re-aggravated a nagging lower-body injury that previously sidelined him.

The returns of Mark Alt and Will O'Neill over the past week at least give the Phantoms a semblance of their regular blueline. The team has returned James de Haas to the ECHL's Reading Royals and released veteran defenseman Adam Comrie from his AHL tryout deal, enabling him to rejoin Reading rather than sitting as a healthy scratch.

The pint-sized Martel enters Saturday's game leading the American Hockey League scoring race in both goals and total points (19 in 14 games). His line with Vecchione (two goal, 11 assists) and Aube-Kubel (four goals, nine assists) is the lone unit on the Phantoms that has been together ever since opening night.

Phantoms goaltender Dustin Tokarski is day-to-day with an undisclosed issue. On Friday, the Phantoms recalled veteran goalie Mark Dekanich from Reading to back up Lyon if needed.

Lindblom's goal in Wednesday's game gave him points in six of the last eight games. The tally, a snipe from the left slot, was his first goal of the season scored with his stick. His previous two respectively deflected home off his skate and his shinpad as he went to the net. The well-rounded Swedish left winger, who has only been on the ice for two opposing 5-on-5 goals through the first 14 games of the season, has 33 shots on goal to date.

A fellow rookie, Russian center Mikhail "Misha" Vorobyev, has collected seven points (one goal, six assists) thus far. He has posted a point in five of the last eight games.

Rookie defenseman Mark Friedman, after an excellent preseason, has had some own-zone issues as well as some bad luck in the early going. Dressing in 13 of the 14 games to date, he has posted a pair of assists and a minus-nine rating.

The Phantoms cadre of AHL veteran forwards -- Varone (three goals, 11 assists), Chris Conner (four goals, nine assists), Greg Carey (four goals, three assists), team captain Colin McDonald (seven games played, one goal) and Corban Knight (one goal, three points) -- have combined with veteran offensive defenseman Brennan (two goals, 10 points in eight games) for 15 of the team's 52 goals scored to date.

Sparkplug forward Cole Bardreau, who recently rejoined the lineup from a preseason injury while in camp with the Flyers, is sidelined again. He hurt his hand in a fight with the Toronto Marlies' Dmytro Timashov this past Sunday.

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FLYERS ALUMNI: FACEOFF AGAINST CANCER, TEACH MILITARY KIDS

Saturday is a very busy day on the docket for the Flyers Alumni Association, with two events of note in two different locations.

At Hatfield Ice, the Flyers Alumni Team will participate in the 5th Annual Faceoff Against Cancer (FOAC) fundraising tournament's main event. At 12:30 p.m., the Alumni will play against the TEAM FOAC Fundraising All-Stars. Prior to the event, legendary Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Bernie Parent will be on hand from 11:30 to 12:30 for a meet-and-greet.

All proceeds raised at the yearly FOAC go directly to the benefit of local cancer patients and their families. This year's beneficiaries include 3-year-old Liam Spingler, who has had multiple battles with bileteral retinoblastoma (cancerous tumors of the retina) in his short life, and 47-year-old Chris Gatto, a husband and father of two children and a self-employed carpentry contractor whose battle with stage four colon cancer has left him unable to work to support his family.

To learn more about the event and the beneficiaries, please visit the official 2017 Faceoff Against Cancer website for more details.

Tickets are available on site (cash or check only) and priced as follows: $30 for an adult all-day pass (admission to all games including the Alumni Game, admission to the event tent with games and music, food and alcoholic beverages included), $20 adult all-day pass (same all-access pass minus alcoholic beverage availability; this level pass is free with a military ID), $10 (admission to the Alumni Game only), $10 (admission to all other tournament games).

Kids ticket pricing: free up to age 9, $10 for ages 10 to 17. All kids must be accompanied by an attending adult in order to gain admission to the day's events.

The confirmed Flyers Alumni roster at Hatfied Ice is as follows: Joe Watson, Brad Marsh, Frank Bialowas, Dave MacIssac, Rob MacInnis, Freddy Cassivi, Larry Goodenough, Riley Cote, Chase Watson, Brett Watson, Len Ellis, Doug Crossman and Mitch Lamoureaux.

In the meantime, over at the Wells Fargo Center, a separate group of Flyers Alumni will be conducting an on-ice hockey clinic for 40 children of military families from the United Heroes League; a non-profit organization that ensures that children of military members are afforded every opportunity to participate in sports. Participating Flyers Alumni instructors include Bob "the Hound" Kelly, Ian Laperriere and Jim Watson.

In the evening, the Flyers will then host the 40 children as special guests at the game. Additionally, the Flyers Charities half of the proceeds from the game’s 50/50 will be donated to the United Heroes League. Saturday night's game against the Wild, in conjunction with the Veterans' Day holiday, is Military Appreciation Night at the Wells Fargo Center.

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PROSPECT UPDATES: NOV. 11, 2017

Friday night's games around the CHL and NCAA saw numerous Flyers prospects stand out with productive offensive games: three points apiece for German Rubtsov (1G, 2A) and Matthew Strome (1G, 2A), two goals apiece for Morgan Frost, Isaac Ratcliffe and Anthony Salinitri, 2 points apiece for Tanner Laczynski (2A), Cooper Marody (2A) and Wyatt Kalynuk (1G, 1A) and one goal for Connor Bunnaman.

Carter Hart started in goal for the WHL's Everett Silvertips on Friday. He absorbed a 4-3 loss via shootout on the road against the Prince George Cougars. Hart, who registered a 20-save shutout (including three breakaway saves in the first period) for Team WHL against Team Russia earlier this week, stopped 20 of 23 shots on this night in regulation and OT. He went 2-for-3 in the shootout but third-round shooter Jared Bethune converted the lone successful attempt of the skills competition for either side.

This past week's NCAA First-Star of the Week, Western Michigan sophomore Wade Allison, was one of the relatively few Flyers prospects who did not get on the scoresheet on Friday. His side was blanked by Minnesota Duluth, 3-0. Allison had two shots on goal and was minus-one on the game. Last weekend, he had four goals and five points in a weekend back-to-back sweep of reigning NCAA champion Denver.

Maksim Sushko's Owen Sound Attack (Ontario Hockey League) team was idle on Friday night. The team returns to action on Saturday, hosting the Sudbury Wolves. For the season to date, the Belarusian right winger has nine goals and 14 points in 14 games.

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QUICK HITS: NOV. 11, 2017

1) If you missed yesterday's edition of the Flyer Buzz program co-hosted by Brian Smith and yours truly on the new Flyers Radio 24/7 internet station, no problem! You can still cast the podcast by clicking here. Follow @Flyersradio247 on Twitter for programming news and other information. The radio broadcast feeds of all Flyers games are simulcasted live on Flyers Radio 24/7 and then replayed the next day. Eventually, the plan is to have less music and more Flyers-related programming on the station.

2) Mark Recchi will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday. Upcoming on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com, we will have a special look at number 8's eight greatest moments as a Flyer. Also see our 'Tale of Two Recchis' retrospective on his two stints with the team in the early-to-mid 1990s and the late 1990s to 2004.

3) Over on the Flyers official website, there is also an up-to-date roundup of Flyers prospects in Europe this season. The article is a companion piece to the CHL/NCAA and Phantoms roundup articles we did last weekend.
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