WRAP: FLYERS BEAT DEVILS IN SHOOTOUT, 4-3
It wasn't necessarily pretty on either side, nor was it well-officiated, but the Philadelphia Flyers picked up two much-needed points on Friday night. The team started its 16-game November gauntlet with a 4-3 victory via shootout (1-0) against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark.
Sean Couturier scored in the second period of regulation (3rd goal of the season) and a one-handed "Foppa postage stamp" tally in the second round of the shootout to secure the win for the Flyers. Earlier, he picked up the primary assist on linemate Oskar Lindblom's team-leading 7th goal of the season. Travis Konecny earned his 8th assist and 15th point of the season on Lindblom's tally, which started with Lindblom forcing a neutral zone turnover by the Devils and finishing the play off with a short-side goal from the left circle.
It is noteworthy that Couturier, one of the NHL's top faceoff men, has only taken a combined eight faceoffs over the past two games -- five in Pittsburgh (3-2) on Tuesday and three in Newark (0-3) on Friday. Konecny took nine (7-2) and Lindblom took one (0-1) against the Devils. It's likely that Couturier is nursing a hand or wrist injury of some sort.
After having both his would-be first NHL assist and first NHL goal disallowed on coaches' challenges in Chicago last Thursday, Joel Farabee now has one of each on his resume that cannot be taken away. At 11:29 of the third period, Farabee pounced on a loose puck in the high slot and rifled a shot home to force OT. Michael Raffl and Ivan Provorov were credited with the assists.
In overtime, however, the Flyers had a would-be game winning goal by Farabee disallowed for a distinct kicking motion by the 19-year-old winger. On replay, the no-goal ruling on the ice was upheld.
Carter Hart earned the win in goal for the Flyers, stopping 23 of 26 shots in regulation and OT before going 3-for-3 in the shootout. Mackenzie Blackwood denied 27 of 30 Flyers shots before going 2-for-3 in the skills competition.
Wayne Simmonds (power play, 1st as a Devil) opened the scoring in the game. After the Flyers scored the next two goals, Sami Vatanen (power play, 4th) retied the game at 14:28 of the middle frame. An end-to-end goal by Taylor Hall, in which both Shayne Gostisbehere and Justin Braun were beaten and there was a delayed penalty, concluded with him sliding the puck through the five-hole to put the Devils ahead again at 9:58 of the third period. The Flyers trailed by scores of 1-0 (first period) and 3-2 (third period) and, in between, led 2-1.
The Flyers had entered the game on a run of 16 straight successful penalty kills. The Devils ended that by scoring on two of their first three power plays. Overall, the Flyers went 2-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on their own power plays. There was also a mid first-period fight between Kyle Palmieri and Matt Niskanen as Palmieri took exception to a Niskanen hit on rookie center Jack Hughes.
Flyers 2016 first-round pick German Rubtsov made his NHL debut in Friday's game. He skated an even 8:00 of ice time across 14 shifts. He blocked a pair of shots, put one on goal at the other end and won four of six faceoffs.
For more on the game, click here.
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GAME 13: FLYERS VS. MAPLE LEAFS
Returning home for the second half of a weekend back-to-back, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (6-5-1) host Mike Babcock's Toronto Maple Leafs (6-5-3) on Saturday night. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast will be on 97.5 The Fanatic (or 93.3 WMMR) with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season. They will rematch in Toronto on Nov. 9 and back in Philadelphia on Dec. 3.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Friday's win in Newark marked both the first time the Flyers have won a game this season when giving up the game's first goal and their first win when trailing at some point within the third period. Thus far, if one includes being the designated home team in the season opener in Prague against Chicago, the Flyers are 4-1-0 at home and 2-4-1 on the road.
Brian Elliott will get the start in goal for the Flyers.
MAPLE LEAFS OUTLOOK
The Leafs were idle on Friday night. They are 2-2-1 across their last five games.
Auston Matthews has tallied 11 goals and 16 point across Toronto's first 14 games of the eason. He is followed by Mitch Marner (3 goals, 13 assists), defenseman Morgan Rielly (3g, 11a) and Ilya Mikheyev (4g, 6a).
Frederik Anderson has made 10 starts in goal to date, going 6-2-2 with a 3.03 GAA and .901 save percentage. Michael Hutchinson has started four games with one relief appearance. He is 0-3-1 with a 4.25 GAA and .885 save percentage.
Superstar center John Tavares, who fractured his right index finger on Oct. 16, could return to the lineup for Toronto on Saturday.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk -28 Claude Giroux - 49 Joel Farabee 23 Oskar Lindblom -14 Sean Couturier -11 Travis Konecny 12 Michael Raffl -13 Kevin Hayes - 93 Jakub Voracek 81 Carsen Twarynski - 50 German Rubtsov - 18 Tyler Pitlick
9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen 53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 61 Justin Braun 6 Travis Sanheim - 5 Phil Myers
37 Brian Elliott [79 Carter Hart]
Scratches: 8 Robert Hà¤gg (healthy), 44 Chris Stewart (healthy) Injured reserve: 21 Scott Laughton (broken right index finger) Injured non-roster: 19 Nolan Patrick (migraines)
MAPLE LEAFS
18 Andreas Johansson - 34 Auston Matthews - 88 William Nylander 42 Trevor Moore - 19 Jason Spezza - 16 Mitch Marner 65 Ilya Mikheyev - 15 Alexander Kerfoot - 24 Kasperi Kapanen 41 Dmytro Timashov - 26 Nicolas Shore - 33 Frederik Gauthier
44 Morgan Rielly - 83 Cody Ceci 52 Martin Marincin - 94 Tyson Barrie 23 Travis Dermott - 3 Justin Holl
31 Frederik Andersen [30 Michael Hutchinson]
Scratches: 8 Jake Muzzin (personal issue). Injured reserve: 91 John Tavares (broken finger).
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PHANTOMS RALLY FOR A POINT AGAINST WB/S
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms staged a comeback from a 3-0 deficit to salvage a point against the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins at the PPL Center in Allentown on Friday night. Lehigh Valley got a late second period goal by David Kase (1st) and third period tallies by Andy Andreoff (power play, 3rd) and, with 2:01 left on the clock, by Greg Carey (2nd).
Unfortunately for the Phantoms, the team fell to 0-3 in shootouts on the young season, and 0-4 in games settled beyond regulation. Pens goalie Casey DeSmith stopped 25 of 28 shots in regulation and OT and then 2 of 3 in the shootout. Phantoms netminder Alex Lyon was 0-for-2 in the shootout after denying of 20 of 23 shots in regulation and OT.
With an assist on Andreoff's early third period power play tally, Phantoms rookie center Morgan Frost increased his early-season points streak to five consecutive games (2g, 5a) after being held off the scoresheet in the each of the first three games of the season. Frost also converted his shootout attempt in the top of the first round.
The Phantoms have had a total of 17 shootout rounds thus far in the season. Frost is 2-for-3. The rest of the team is 0-for-14.
Lehigh Valley (3-1-4) now heads to the road for two straight nights in Connecticut as they play the struggling Bridgeport Sound Tigers (1-6-3) at Webster Bank Arena on both Saturday and Sunday.