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QUICK HITS: NOV. 13, 2017
1) Prior to Saturday's 1-0 home loss to Minnesota, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said Saturday that he is well aware that the team needs to get secondary secondary scoring beyond the top line trio of Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. He also said the eventual return of Nolan Patrick will not be an elixir by itself. The issue predated Patrick's injury.
“We weren’t getting a lot then either. It’s something we need to get better at, we’ve discussed it. Those guys you’re referring to; we have a lot of good players there. For whatever reason, the chemistry just hasn’t been there. They haven’t been getting a ton of breaks, so hopefully they can break through. We need more scoring from other parts and lines other than Couturier’s line,” Hextall said.
2) At practice on Monday, there were tweaks to the second and third lines. Jordan Weal (one goal and two points in the nine games since his return from an upper-body injury) moved from left wing to center. Wayne Simmonds (zero goals, two assists in the last nine games) remained on second-line right wing. Dale Weise skated on the left side.
The third line was different. Valtteri Filppula (one goal, zero assists in the last five games) centered Jori Lehterä (moved to left wing) and Travis Konecny (zero goals, one assist in the last six games).
The Couturier line and the "Honey Bee" trio of Scott Laughton, Taylor Leier and Michael Raffl remained intact. Nolan Patrick returned to practice but will likely need a few more days on the ice with the team before he's ready to play (possibly on Thursday in Winnipeg). Patrick and Matt Read skated as extra forwards on Monday.
3) Konecy, at least, has been in the middle of numerous scoring chances in recent games. He just hasn't quite been able to finish any of them. He's registered 11 shots on goal in the team's last four games and attempted 21 overall (five got blocked, five missed the net).
"We approach it the same way every game. It’s not like we’re not trying to score. I think we’re getting unlucky bounces. We’re still getting opportunities. I don’t think it’s pressure, but I do know that they have produced a lot for us. Pucks are going to go in for some other lines here. We just got to keep at it," Konecny said after Saturday's game.
4) Travis Sanheim went down awkwardly and skated off in discomfort in the latter part of Saturday's game against Minnesota. However, he participated in Monday's practice.
5) Hextall said on Saturday that the team would likely take seven defensemen on the upcoming trip to Minnesota and Winnipeg. On Monday, the team officially recalled Mark Alt for the trip.
6) Gameworn Auctions is currently auctioning a puck that is purported to be the final puck on the ice as time expired in Game 6 of the 1974 Stanley Cup Final.
The item description reads as follows:
Based on wonderful provenance, we attribute this Philadelphia Flyers Converse game used puck to be the puck that was on the ice as the clock wound down on May 19, 1974, in game six of the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals, just as Gene Hart was screaming “The Flyers Win the Stanley Cup”.
As the story goes, when time ran out and the Flyers had their 1-0 victory, becoming the 1st expansion team to win the Stanley Cup, Joe Watson had this puck behind the Flyers net. Watson picked up the puck and handed it to Captain Bobby Clarke. The puck stayed in Clarke’s left glove until Clarence Campbell presented the Stanley Cup to Clarke and Bernie Parent.
While hundreds of fans were on the ice crowding around the cup, Clarke took off his left glove with the puck still in and put it under his left armpit readying himself to accept the trophy. When Campbell handed the trophy to Clarke, a fan pulled the glove, with the puck still inside, from Clarke. The fan can be seen taking the glove from Clarke in the Flyers 1973-74 Stanley Cup game tape.
18 years later, in 1992, the glove and puck were sold to a South Jersey dealer. For those not familiar, South Jersey is Flyers country! The puck eventually wound up in the collection of a renowned Philadelphia Flyers collector who we happen to know very well. The puck has a rubber crested Flyer logo, is in beautiful condition and will be accompanied by a letter from this renowned collector. In 2004, this well-known collector sold his entire collection at Auction. Our consignor was the winning bidder of this puck and it has remained in his collection, out of sight, ever since.
There is a problem with the background story. A linesman picked up the final puck behind the net and was immediately approached in the corner by Terry Crisp, who told him that having the puck would mean more to him than it would to the official. The official gave it to the veteran checking center. Video confirms it.
Crisp himself has confirmed to the Flyers that he is still in proud possession of the final game puck, 43 years later.
The puck being auctioned may or may not be one that was used in the 1974 Cup Finals. It is not, however, the one that Bobby Orr sent down the ice and Joe Watson touched up for an icing on the final play of the series.
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