GAME 11 PREVIEW: FLYERS @ MAPLE LEAFS
After dropping three of the team's last four games, including each of the last two, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (5-5-0) face an important early-season road test on Saturday when they face off with Mike Babcock's high-powered Toronto Maple Leafs (7-3-0). Game time at the Air Canada Centre is 7 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast locally on NBCSP and nationally in Canada on the CBC as a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast.
This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season, and the lone game in Toronto. The clubs will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 12 and Jan. 18. Last year, the Flyers went 1-2-0 against the Leafs, with the home side prevailing in each game.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
There seemed to something of a carryover effect from the Flyers' ugly 6-2 home blowout loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday during the first period of Thursday's road game against the Ottawa Senators. The Flyers fell into a quick 3-0 hole by the end of the first period and wen on to lose, 5-4.
The Flyers never quite drew even despite playing much better over the final 40 minutes as they got their skating legs moving. Philadelphia reduced the gap to 3-2 in the second period only to go to the second intermission trailing 4-2. The deficit grew to 5-2 before the Flyers scored two goals that counted and two that were disallowed in a 5-4 regulation loss. The latter disallowed tally on a Sean Couturier jam-in in final minute of regulation was particularly galling.
Jakub Voracek (1st goal, one assist), Travis Konecny (2nd goal, one assist), Ivan Provorov (2nd goal, one assist) and Couturier (7th goal, two assists) scored goals for the Flyers. Shayne Gostisbehere added his 11th assist of the season.
Michal Neuvirth made some tough and important saves in the latter portion of the game but was leaky for much of the game as the Flyers collectively dug a deep hole for themselves. He finished with 23 saves on 28 shots.
The availability of rookie center Nolan Patrick (upper-body injury) for Saturday's game is unknown as of this writing. Rookie defenseman Robert Hà¤gg took a maintenance day on Friday.
To date, the Flyers have scored eight power play goals on 41 opportunities (19.5 percent, ranked 11th in the NHL) and yielded two opposing shorthanded goals. On the penalty kill, Philly is 29-for-37 (78.4 percent, 23rd in the NHL) with Scott Laughton (Oct. 14 vs. Washington) having scored the team's lone shorthanded goal to date. At 5-on-5, the Flyers have scored 21 times and yielded 16 goals.
Maple Leafs Outlook
Toronto brings a 4-2-0 home mark to date into Saturday's tilt, concluding a three-game homestand that started with a 3-2 win over the LA Kings on Monday and 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
In Thursday's tilt, Toronto trailed by scores of 2-0 and 3-1 before battling back to knot the game briefly at 3-3 in the middle stanza. The Hurricanes retook the lead before the second intermission and then pulled away in the third period.
Austin Matthews (8th goal, 6th assist), Dominic Moore (3rd goal) and Zach Hyman (4th goal) scored for the Maple Leafs. Frederik Andersen stopped 32 of 38 shots in a losing cause.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Note: will be updated)
Flyers
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 40 Jordan Weal - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 17 Wayne Simmonds 24 Matt Read - 15 Jori Lehterठ- 11 Travis Konecny 20 Taylor Leier - 21 Scott Laughton - 12 Michael Raffl
9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 23 Brandon Manning - 8 Robert Hà¤gg 6 Travis Sanheim - 3 Radko Gudas
37 Brian Elliott [30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Nolan Patrick (upper body), Dale Weise (healthy), Andrew MacDonald (IR, lower body).
Maple Leafs
11 Zach Hyman - 34 Auston Matthews - 29 William Nylander 12 Patrick Marleau - 43 Nazem Kadri - 47 Leo Komarov 25 James Van Riemsdyk - 42 Tyler Bozak - 28 Connor Brown 15 Matt Martin - 20 Dominic Moore - 16 Mitch Marner
44 Morgan Rielly - 2 Ron Hainsey 51 Jake Gardiner - 22 Nikita Zaitsev 55 Andreas Borgman - 46 Roman Polak
31 Frederik Andersen [35 Curtis McElhinney]
Scratches: Connor Carrick (healthy), Josh Leivo (healthy), Eric Fehr (healthy).
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PHANTOMS UPDATE: HOME-AND-HOME SWEEP, HOSTING HARTFORD
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (7-1-1) completed a home-and-home sweep of the struggling Springfield Thunderbirds (1-7-1) with a 5-2 road victory on Friday night. The win was the sixth in a row for the Phantoms. On Wednesday in Allentown, Lehigh Valley earned a 3-2 overtime win.
In return match, the Phantoms took a 3-1 lead to the first intermission and never looked back. The lead expanded to 5-1 before Springfield got one back in the latter stages of the middle stanza. There was no scoring in the third period.
Danick Martel (power play and even strength goals) took over sole possession of the AHL goal-scoring lead with eighth and ninth tallies of the season. Oskar Lindblom (even strength goal, power play assist) finally nabbed his elusive first goal of the regular season and later hit the post on a deflected Mark Alt shot in a bid for a second goal. Will O'Neill (1st) and Cole Bardreau (1st, shorthanded) rounded out the scoring for the Phantoms.
Mikhail Vorobyev (fifth assist), Mike Vecchione (seventh assist), Chris Conner (third and fourth assists), Nicolas Aube-Kubel (third), Radel Fazleev (second), Corban Knight (1st) and Reece Willcox (shorthanded assist, third overall) contributed helpers, while Colin McDonald provided a screen on the O'Neill goal. Dustin Tokarski earned the win in goal, stopping 26 of 28 shots.
The Phantoms, who entered Wednesday's game just 1-for-33 on the power play in the season, now have scored three power play markers over the last two games. They went 1-for-4 on the man advantage in this game. Lehigh Valley went 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Martel opened the scoring at 9:08 of the first period, scoring on a backhander after Lindblom got the puck over to him. The lead expanded to 2-0 on the very next shift, at the 10:03 mark. Fazleev and Vorobyev worked a give-and-go and Vorobyev saucered a nice pass to O'Neill. The veteran defenseman fired a shot through McDonald's screen to establish a 2-0 lead.
The Thunderbirds got one back at 13:28 on Maxim Mamin's first North American pro goal, ripping a shot over Tokarski's blocker. However, Bardreau restored a two-goal lead with a shorthanded breakaway goal at 18:31. Willcox chipped puck off of the boards and down the ice and Bardreau sped past a pair of Springfield players to claim the puck in the attack zone and go in alone to beat Samuel Montembeault (four saves on shots).
Springfield changed goaltenders to start the second period, bringing in veteran Harri Sà¤teri (18 saves on 20 shots) for the final 40 minutes. The Finn was solved quickly. At the 15-second mark of the second period, Lindblom crashed the net to receive a pass-out from Knight. The puck went in off Lindblom's skate but replays confirmed the initial on-ice ruling that the puck was not directed in with a kicking motion. Conner's secondary assist on the play was his second goal of the game.
At the 8:42 mark, Martel built a 5-1 lead as he sniped a goal top shelf from the circle. The assists went to Aube-Kubel and Vecchione. Rookie center Vecchione also enjoyed another strong game in the faceoff circle.
Juho Lammikko tallied a power goal goal for Springfield at 13:39, assisted by Alexandre Grenier and Henrik Haapala. The tally cut the deficit to 5-2 but that was as close as the Thunderbirds got. The Phantoms did a good job closing out the game, outshooting their opponent by a 12-5 margin in the third period, and Tokarski took care of the rest.
Philippe Myers returned to the Phantoms' lineup on Friday after a two-game absence due to a lower-body injury. Lindblom was shaken up on a play in this game but eventually returned to the ice late in the third period.
On Saturday, the Phantoms return home to the PPL Center. They will host the Hartford Wolf Pack (3-4-1).