GAME 29 PREVIEW: FLYERS @ CANUCKS

Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (10-11-7) wrap up their three-in-four western Canada road trip on Thursday nigh with a game against Travis Green's Vancouver Canucks (14-10-4). Game time is 10:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on NBCSP.

This is the second and final meeting of the season between the inter-conference teams, and the lone game in Vancouver. On Nov. 21 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Canucks downed the Flyers by a 5-2 count.

Daniel Sedin (breakaway goal), Brock Boeser (even strength and power play goals), Sven Baertschi (power play) and Loui Eriksson (empty net) scored for the Canucks. Jacob Markström turned back 36 of 38 shots to earn the win in goal.

Ivan Provorov and Jakub Voracek (6th) scored for the Flyers. Travis Konecny, Valtteri Filppula, Giroux and Travis Sanheim picked up an assist apiece. Michal Neuvirth got the start, but was pulled in the second period after stopping 18 of 22 shots. Brian Elliott went the rest of the way, stopping all 13 shots he saw before he was pulled for an extra attacker.

FLYERS OUTLOOK

The Flyers enter Thursday's game with a 6-5-3 road record. If they can beat the Canucks to complete a road-trip sweep, Philly will get back to the statistical .500 mark on the season.

The Flyers played Brandon Manning (upper-body injury) and Neuvirth (upper-body injury) on injured reserve on Wednesday. Manning is expected to miss 3-to-4 week while Neuvirth is estimated to miss about a week. The Flyers recalled veteran defenseman T.J. Brennan and goaltender Alex Lyon from the Phantoms.

Veteran defenseman Radko Gudas will serve the final game of his 10-game NHL suspension for a slashing incident against Winnipeg Jets' forward Mathieu Perrault on Nov. 16.

CANUCKS OUTLOOK

Vancouver is 5-5-3 on home ice to date, but 9-5-1 on the road. The Canucks bring a three-game winning streak into this tilt and is 5-3-2 over the last 10 games.

The Canucks had Wednesday night off after defeating the visiting Carolina Hurricanes, 3-0, on Tuesday. Markström earned his first NHL career shutout with a 30-save performance. Derrick Pouliot (2nd), Thomas Vanek (power play, 7th), and Nikolay Goldobin (1st) scored for the Canucks.

Boeser, a top candidate for the Calder Trophy, was held off the scoresheet on Tuesday. However, the 20-year-old right winger still leads the Canucks with 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists) in 25 games. Three of his goals and 11 of his points have come on the power play.

On the injury front, forward Brandon Sutter and defenseman Erik Gudbranson are both on IR with respective upper-body injuries.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Flyers (Wednesday's lines)

28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Jordan Weal - 19 Nolan Patrick - 11 Travis Konecny
20 Taylor Leier - 21 Scott Laughton - 22 Dale Weise

9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 8 Robert Hägg
6 Travis Sanheim - 39 Mark Alt

37 Brian Elliott
[49 Alex Lyon]

Scratches: Jori Lehterä (healthy), Radko Gudas (NHL suspension, game 10 of 10), T.J. Brennan (healthy), Brandon Manning (IR), Michal Neuvirth (IR).

CANUCKS

82 Nikolay Goldobin - 53 Bo Horvat - 6 Brock Boeser
22 Daniel Sedin - 33 Henrik Sedin - 21 Loui Eriksson
47 Sven Baertschi - 89 Sam Gagner - 26 Thomas Vanek
50 Brendan Gaunce - 60 Markus Granlund - 18 Jake Virtanen​

23 Alexander Edler - 5 Derrick Pouliot
4 Michael Del Zotto - 8 Chris Tanev
27 Ben Hutton - 51 Troy Stecher​

25 Jacob Markström
[31 Anders Nilsson​]

Injuries: Alex Biega (healthy) Alexander Burmistrov (healthy), Erik Gudbranson (IR, upper body), Brandon Sutter (IR, upper body).

************

WRAP: FLYERS SKATE PAST OILERS, WIN 4-2

For the first time since winning their first and second home games of the 2017-18 regular season, the Philadelphia Flyers have won back-to-back games. On Wednesday night, the Flyers earned a 4-2 road win over the Edmonton Oilers to sweep the two-game season series.

Jordan Weal (power play, 3rd), Dale Weise (3rd), Michael Raffl (4th) and Wayne Simmonds (empty net, 9th) scored for the Flyers. Sean Couturier (power play assist, 14th), Claude Giroux (power play and even strength assists, 18th and 19th), Jakub Voracek (27th), Valtteri Filppula (7th) and Ivan Provorov (10th assist, career-high eight credited hits) recorded helpers.

Brian Elliott played another strong game in goal, stopping, 24 of 26 shots. He came up with key saves at vital times.

Leon Draisaitl (shorthanded, 8th) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (11th) scored for the Oilers. Connor McDavid (shorthanded assist, 22nd), Mike Cammalleri (8th) and Patrick Maroon (8th) collected assists.

Playing place of the injured Cam Talbot, starting goaltender Laurent Broissoit held the Flyers at bay one for one period but eventually was solved. The Weise goal appeared to to stoppable. Overall, Brossoit stopped 29 of 32 shots in a losing cause.

The Flyers went 1-for-4 on the power play but allowed the Draisaitl shorthanded goal before getting it back on Weal's power play goal on their next advantage. They were were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

Giroux drew a holding penalty on Matt Benning in the offensive zone corner at 3:33 of the first period. Travis Sanheim set up a near goal for Simmonds during the delayed call. The Flyers pressed heavily during the power play but could not score on four shots on goal.

Robert Hägg joined puck-carrier Michael Raffl for a mid-period 2-on-1 rush but the chance fizzled out without a shot.

An offensive zone interference penalty by Leon Draisaitl put the Flyers on their second power play at 12:43. The Flyers fared better after the power play ended but kept the Oilers hemmed in. Finally, a long unscreened shot by Voracek was reeled in by Brossoit.

First period shots were 13-6 in the Flyers' favor.

The Flyers got their third power play at 2:02 of the second period. Maroon hit Leier well away from the puck, earning an interference penalty. The Flyers gave up a pair of shorthanded chances to Edmonton. They paid dearly on the second one. Couturier lost the puck on the walls to McDavid, who went off on a 2-on-1 with Draisaitl, who finished off a cross-ice feed at 3:41 to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead.

Sanheim got the gate for tripping Draisaitl just inside the Flyers zone on a checking attempt at 5:11. Elliott was heavily screened on a shot and never reacted Andrew MacDonald intercepted a pass and cleared it on the backhand.

The Flyers, with Sanheim out of the box and joining the attack, pressed heavily after the penalty expired. Oskar Klefbom interfered with Nolan Patrick for a minor penalty on the boards at 7:49. This time the Flyers cashed in to tie the game at 1-1. Executing crisp tic-tac-toe puck movement -- Giroux to Couturier to Weal -- Weal was on the doorstep to redirect home a perfect pass from Couturier in the left circle. Time of the power play goal was 8:53.

A 3-on-2 Flyers rush that went awry created trouble in the Flyers' zone but Elliott made a key save. After an errant pass back to the point, the Flyers countered again the other way. Giroux passed to Weise, who fired a five-hole shot from the deep slot past Brossoit for a 2-1 Flyers lead at 14:45.

With 38.8 seconds left and defenseman Kris Russell down on the ice in some pain from a shot block, Voracek took advantage of a shooting lane and forced Brossoit to make a tough save from the right circle.

Second period shots were 14-9 in the Flyers' favor (27-16 Flyers' overall).

The Oilers won the first faceoff of the third period, moved in and a shot by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins deflected off Simmonds' stick and the crossbar but stayed out of the net. At about the 1:30 mark, Shayne Gostisbehere took a set up from Voracek and hit the post.

Raffl sticked away a Russell pass at the defensive blueline, and Voracek sprang Raffl on a breakaway over the middle. Raffl beat Brossoit high to the stick side for his third goal and fifth point in the last five games and a 3-1 Flyers lead at 4:06.

On Raffl's next shift, he led a 2-on-1 with Valtteri Filppula. Electing to shoot, he tried the same shot but Brossoit got this one with the blocker.

Elliott protected the two-goal lead with a lateral-movement save on Milan Lucic's shot from the middle slot off a 2-on-1 rush with McDavid at 10:32. At 12:06, Elliott covered a puck that dangerously bounced off the end boards to the near the right post. On the next shift, Zack Kassian was checked off the puck at the doorstep.

Finally, Edmonton scored at 14:20. The Oilers' Maroon won a battle on the boards and Mike Cammalleri slid the puck through Mark Alt. Nugent-Hopkins scored from in front of the net to make it a 3-2 game.

Laughton was called for holding behind the Edmonton net, and the Oilers went on the power play at 16:13 with a chance to tie the game. MacDonald had an early clear. Klefbom Elliott stopped McDavid on a late rush to highlight the kill.

The Oilers pulled Brossoit for an extra attacker with 1:33 left after calling timeout. The Oilers had a couple good cracks at a tying goal, including a puck that skittered across the crease. Finally, Ivan Provorov worked the puck up of the ice to Filppula. After Filppula sent the puck to Simmonds, the right winger iced the game with an empty netter he measured from the blue line at 19:21.

Third period shots were 10-7 in the Oilers' favor (33-26 overall in the Flyers' favor).

********************

PHANTOMS UPDATE: LV BLANKS WB/S, 5-0

Playing with a severely depleted blueline, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms stepped up to earn a 5-0 win over the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins at the PPL Center on Wednesday night. Five different players scored for the Phantoms, while Dustin Tokarski cranked out a 39-save shutout for his first whitewashing since being acquired earlier this season.

The Phantoms are missing four of their six regular starting defensemen. Philippe Myers and Samuel Morin are both suspected to be out until around Christmas with recurring nagging injuries. Veteran blueliners T.J. Brennan and Mark Alt are on NHL recall with the Flyers. Second-year goalie Alex Lyon is also up with the Flyers, so the team recalled John Muse from the Reading Royals to back up Tokarski.

Corban Knight (5th goal), Oskar Lindblom (5th), Tyrell Goulbourne (shorthanded, 4th), Matt Read (3rd) and Mikhail Vorobyev (3rd) scored for Lehigh Valley. Knight and Read also picked up an assist apiece.

The game was scoreless until 12:17 of the first period when the Phantoms struck. The Phantoms controlled the puck off the forecheck and Read centered a back in front to Vorobyev. The Russian rookie center finished it off quickly for a 1-0 lead. Rookie defenseman Mark Friedman, whose play has picked up of late after a rough indoctrination to pro hockey in his early weeks, got the secondary assist.

Less than a minute later, at the 13:10 mark, Knight collected a Pens' turnover on the left side and snapped the puck past Anthony Peters for a 2-0 lead. The goal was unassisted.

The lead grew to 3-1 at 17:01 as the Phantoms cashed in a 2-on-1 rush. Taking a feed from Knight, Lindblom was alone in the left slot and finished off the play. The assist gave the versatile Knight nine points (four goals, five assists) in the last seven games.

The Phantoms got one goal apiece in the second and third periods.

At 3:28 of the middle frame, Goulbourne took a pass from veteran defenseman Adam Comrie and raced off on a shorthanded breakaway, finding the top right corner to make it a 4-0 game.

The Phantoms added some extra insurance at 13:36 of the third period. Returning to the Phantoms lineup from injury, depth defenseman Maxim Lamarche made a nice pass to veteran forward Read, who scored from the slot. Read has scored for the Phantoms in back-to-back games. Phi Varone collected the secondary assist.

With the win, Lehigh Valley improved to 14-7-3. They are 3-1-1 on their current six-game homestand, which wraps up on Friday night against against the Hershey Bears.

Join the Discussion: » 368 Comments » Post New Comment

» Wrap: Flyers Unable to Muster a Go-Ahead Goal in 2-1 Loss to Caps

» Flyers Gameday: 4/15/2024 vs. WSH

» Quick Hits: Practice Day, Phantoms

» Quick Hits: Practice Day, Phantoms

» Wrap: Flyers Blank Devils, 1-0; Simmonds, Phantoms Top Bridgeport