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Flyers Gameday: 11/4/17 vs. COL, Phantoms Update |
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GAME 15 PREVIEW: FLYERS vs. AVALANCHE
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (7-6-1) return home on Saturday to take on Jared Bednar's Colorado Avalanche (7-5-0). 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. The clubs will rematch at the Pepsi Center in Denver on March 28. Last season, the Flyers swept the season series.
The Flyers pulled out a 4-3 win in Colorado on Dec. 16, 2016. Two goals by Wayne Simmonds and 32-save shutout by now-former Flyers goaltender Steve Mason keyed a 4-0 win at Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 28, 2017.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers will be in action for the seventh time in 12 nights. The club will have a much-needed respite (four nights off) following this game.
On Thursday, the Flyers gutted out a 2-0 win against the Western Conference powerhouse St. Louis Blues despite being severely injury-depleted and playing their third game of a home-road-road set of three games in four nights.
Every player on the Flyers' roster did their part along the way, but the heaviest lifting was done by the brilliant play of defenseman Ivan Provorov, goaltender Michal Neuvirth (33-save shutout) and the two-way work of Sean Couturier (two assists). Vitally, Couturier returned to the game for the third period after a reckless blindside hit by former Flyers linemate Brayden Schenn in the second period.
Brandon Manning (2nd goal of the season) and Claude Giroux (empty net, 7th) tallied for the Flyers. Jake Allen made 21 saves on 22 shots in a losing cause. The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. The latter area was highlighted by an incredible two-plus minute shift by Provorov on the 2nd kill, blocking three shots. Overall, Provorov matched a single-game franchise record with 10 blocked shots.
The Flyers remain a banged-up team. The status of Nolan Patrick, Shayne Gostisbehere and Radko Gudas -- all officially day-to-day with upper-body injuries suspected to be concussion-like symptoms -- is unclear for Saturday. Andrew MacDonald (lower body injury) is optimistic of being able to come back at the low end of the initial 4-to-6 week timetable from his Oct. 21 shot-blocking injury.
Through 14 games, Couturier leads the Flyers in scoring with 17 points (nine goals, eight assists, +10). He is followed by linemates Claude Giroux (seven goals, nine assists, 16 points) and Jakub Voracek (two goals, 14 assists, 16 points). Gostisbehere leads the defense with 13 points (one goal, 12 assists). Wayne Simmonds has scored six goals among his 10 points and shares the team power play goal lead with three along with Valtteri Filppula (five goals, three assists, eight points overall).
The Flyers enter Saturday's game 10-for-48 (20.8 pct, tied for 8th-ranked) on the power play while yielding two opposing shorthanded goals. The club is 39-for-49 (79.6 pct, ranked 22nd) on the penalty kill with one shorthanded goal by Scott Laughton. Overall, the Flyers have scored 43 goals and yielded 38. In five-on-five play, the team has scored 24 goals while yielding 21.
AVALANCHE OUTLOOK
A doormat opponent (for lack of a more polite term) for much of last season, the Avalanche have looked much-improved in the early going of the 2017-18 season. However, while the team is 5-1-0 at the Pepsi Center, they are just 2-4-0 on the road to date.
On Thursday, the Avalanche skated to a 5-3 home win over the Carolina Hurricanes but it took a 57-save performance by goalie Semyon Varlamov -- including 20 saves on 22 shots in the first period and 22 saves in a scoreless third period -- to get the victory.
Carl Söderberg (2nd goal of the season), former Dallas defenseman Patrik Nemeth (1st goal of the season and of his NHL career), Blake Comeau (2nd), Gabriel Landeskog (4th) and Mikko Rantanen (4th) tallied for Colorado.
Entering Saturday's game, Rantanen leads the Avalanche with 11 points. He is followed by Nathan MacKinnon (three goals, seven assists, 10 points), defenseman Tyson Barrie (two goals, eight assists, 10 points) and Landeskog (eight points). Serial trade rumor magnate Matt Duchene also has eight points (four goals, four assists) while former 1st overall Edmonton draft pick Nail Yakupov has three goals and six points.
The Avalanche are 9-for-50 on the power play (18.0 percent, 16th overall), with two opposing shorthanded goals yielded. They are 39-for-48 (81.1 pct, 13th overall) on the penalty kill with the currently injured J.T. Compher scoring the club's lone shorthanded goal to date. The team has scored just 21 goals at 5-on-5 while allowing 24 but has a 39-37 total goal differential in its favor.
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 - 39 Mark Alt
30 Michal Neuvirth
[37 Brian Elliott]
Scratches: Matt Read (healthy), Radko Gudas (upper body), Nolan Patrick (IR, upper body), Andrew MacDonald (IR, lower body), Will O'Neill (healthy).
Avalanche
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
10 Sven Andrighetto - 9 Matt Duchene - 20 Rocco Grimaldi
83 Matthew Nieto - 34 Carl Söderberg - 14 Blake Comeau
24 A.J. Greer - 13 Alexander Kerfoot - 64 Nail Yakopov
54 Anton Lindholm - 6 Erik Johnson
12 Patrik Nemeth - 4 Tyson Barrie
44 Mark Barberio - 94 Andrei Mironov
1 Semyon Varlamov
[45 Jonathan Bernier]
Scratches: Nikita Zadorov (healthy), Chris Bigras (healthy), Gabriel Bourque (IR, upper body), J.T. Compher (IR, broken thumb), Colin Wilson (IR, hip), Tyson Just (IR, lower body).
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PHANTOMS DROP SHOOTOUT TO WB/S TO START WEEKEND 3-IN-3
In the first match of a weekend home-road-home set of three games in three nights, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins played a seesaw 65 minutes of hockey to a 5-5 tie before the Pens prevailed, 6-5, in a shootout.
The Phantoms took a 1-0 lead and 15-9 shot advantage to the first intermission. That gave way to a wild second period that saw the two teams combine for seven goals (four for the Pens and three for Lehigh Valley) and go to the locker room tied at 4-4. In the third period, WB/S retook the lead at 5-4 only for the Phantoms to knot the game with 8:34 left and send the game to OT.
Lehigh Valley survived two penalties in OT -- but nearly scored shorthanded on the first -- and the game went to the shootout. The Phantoms went 0-for-3 before a third-round goal for the Pens won the game.
Tyrell Goulbourne (1st goal of the season), Danick Martel (power play, league-leading 11th), T.J. Brennan (1st), Mikhail Vorobyev (1st AHL goal) and Chris Conner (2nd goal, three assists) tallied for the Phantoms. Ryan Haggerty (3rd & 4th), Gage Quinney (4th), Christian Thomas (power play, 3rd) and Jean-Sabastien Dea (shorthanded, 4th) countered for the Pens in regulation.
With a pair of assists, Oskar Lindblom extended his point streak to five straight games. In that span, he has recorded eight points (two goals, six helpers). Lindblom also had four shots on goal in this game, including an overtime opportunity from the circle that went off the top of Pens' goalie Casey DeSmith's glove.
Brennan's goal was highlight reel material as he scored from a very sharp angle with seemingly no room to shoot except a puck sized opening upstairs. In OT, fellow defenseman Reece Willcox had a golden opportunity on a shorthanded counter attack but could not beat DeSmith.
DeSmith finished with 35 saves on 40 shots in regulation and OT. He then denied Corban Knight, Lindblom and Carey in the skills competition. Dustin Tokarski started for the Phantoms, stopping 28 of 33 shots in regulation and OT. He denied each of the first two WB/S attackers in the shootout before Thomas tallied to end the game.
Vorobyev has points in four of his last five games and five of his last seven. His first AHL goal was a back-door tap-in after strong work down low by Conner and Lindblom.
The Phantoms entered the game severely depleted on the blueline with Samuel Morin injured and both Mark Alt and Will O'Neill on NHL recall to the banged-up Flyers. Perennial AHL All-Star offensive defenseman Brennan, out since apparently sustaining an injury in a fight with ex-Flyer Tom Sestito, returned to the Phantoms lineup a little ahead of schedule.
However, the Phantoms would suffer another loss on their defense corps before the night ended. Highly regarded rookie Philippe Myers, who recently returned from a two-game injury absence, left the game and did not return for the third period. It was not immediately clear if it was a re-aggravation of the previous injury or a different issue.
During a two-minute 4-on-3 kill in OT, Maxim Lamarche and Willcox came up with two key shot blocks apiece. After play went back to 3-on-3, the Phantoms spent the final 15 seconds back on a 4-on-3 kill after Tokarski received a delay of game penalty. The Phantoms were 5-for-6 on the penalty kill and 1-for-6 on the power play, including a failed four-minute advantage in the first period.
There was one fight in the game. Phantoms captain Colin McDonald stepped in to defend Vorobyev after a hit from Zach Aston-Reese at 4:18 of the second period.
Mike Vecchione, the AHL Rookie of the Month for October, had a quiet night on Friday. Held off the scoresheet on a night where both teams lit the lamp regularly, Vecchione had one shot on goal and finished at minus-one. He was penalized on a marginal hooking call in OT. Linemate Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who had been noticeable in last Saturday's hard-fought loss to the Hartford Wolfpack, also had a tough night against the Pens. The third member of the line, Martel, scored on a power play.
The Phantoms return to action on Saturday night (7:05 p.m. ET), visiting the Binghamton Devils. It is likely that Alex Lyon will be back in goal for Lehigh Valley. On Sunday, the Phantoms return home (5:05 p.m. ET) to the PPL Center to host the Toronto Marlies. Lehigh Valley's starting lineup on Friday was as follows:
18 Danick Martel - 21 Mike Vecchione - 16 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
28 Oskar Lindblom - 15 Mikhail Vorobyev - 13 Colin McDonald
14 Greg Carey - 26 Phil Varone - 9 Cole Bardreau
12 Tyrell Goulbourne - 14 Corban Knight - 22 Chris Conner
43 T.J. Brennan - 20 Maxim Lamarche
44 Reece Willcox - 37 Mark Friedman
5 James de Haas - 40 Philippe Myers
35 Dustin Tokarski
[34 Alex Lyon]
Scratches: Samuel Morin (undisclosed injury), Radel Fazleev (healthy).
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