QUICK HITS: MAY 15, 2017
1) Valtteri Filppula scored the game-winning overtime goal on Sunday as Finland rallied back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Switzerland in IIHF World Championships preliminary round action. Filppula, who logged 18 minutes of ice time in Sunday's win, has recorded four points (two goals, two assists) in six games to date. The Finns face off against Canada on Tuesday.
2) In a game involving three Flyers players, the Czech Republic won all three periods in defeating France, 5-2, in a Sunday preliminary round game at the IIHF World Championships. Czech team captain Jakub Voracek (16:42 TOI, two shots on goal) chipped in an assist for the winning side, while defenseman Radko Gudas compiled 20:55 of ice time. For France, alternate captain Pierre-Edouard Bellemare had one shot on goal and was plus-one in 19:31 of ice time. France plays already relegated Slovenia on Monday. The Czechs face Switzerland on Tuesday.
3) Looking to bounce back from a blown 2-0 lead in a 3-2 overtime loss to Switzerland on Saturday, Team Canada and its five-Flyer contingent (team captain Claude Giroux, the red-hot Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier, Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn) play Norway on Monday before taking on Finland on Tuesday. The Norwegian side, which has gone 2-1-2 in the preliminary round, has been pesky and has also received very good goaltending thus far.
4) While there have been a host of unrestricted free agent goaltender names tossed around as possible candidates to be signed by the Flyers this summer if they do not re-sign Steve Mason, one name that is not getting much mention is impending unrestricted free agent Calgary Flames goaltender Chad Johnson.
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall selected Johnson to play for Team Canada during the 2017 World Championships, so he clearly likes the soon-to-be 31-year-old netminder at least to some degree. If Johnson is the guy the Flyers sign, it probably would not be an initially popular move among the fan base at large but Johnson would not bellyache about splitting playing time with Michal Neuvirth, has done reasonably well in split-time arrangements for several clubs, has the size (6-foot-3) that the Flyers and most clubs prefer nowadays in goal, plus he would not be an expensive signing nor would it take a long-term contract that would block one of the prospects in the system. For those reasons, plus the fact that he was taken for the Worlds over some bigger available names, it is a name to file away when July 1 approaches.
5) Marcel Pelletier, the longest-living link to the
original Philadelphia Flyers hockey operations braintrust, passed away on Saturday, May 13, 2017. He was 89 years old. A longtime minor league and National Hockey League goaltender during his playing days, Pelletier later worked side-by-side as the Director of Player Personnel in conjunction with inaugural general manager Bud Poile and inaugural coach and subsequent general manager Keith Allen.
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