GAME 23: FLYERS vs. FLAMES
Beginning a two-game homestand, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (11-7-4) host Bill Peters' Calgary Flames (10-12-3) in a Saturday matinee. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 1:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast will be on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second and final meeting of the season series between the teams, and the lone game in Philadelphia.
On Oct. 15, the Flyers fell 3-1 at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Philly trailed for 58:25 of the game as Calgary swarmed around the puck, and the Flyers did not respond well.
Michael Frolik scored just 1:35 into the game. Andrew Mangiapane added to the lead at 14:15 of the second period. Matt Niskanen (1st goal as a Flyer) scored on a delayed Calgary penalty at 4:58 of the third period. Elias Lindholm tallied an empty netter at 19:49 of the third period.
Making his first start of the 2019-20 season, Brian Elliott did his part in keeping the Flyers in the game. He stopped 35 of 37 shots, including multiple tough saves.
David Rittich flirted with a shut out for two plus periods. He finished with 21 saves on 22 shots, including three in quick succession on James van Riemsdyk in the second period. He also denied a 2-on-1 rush early in the second period.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers put a four-game winless stretch to an end on Thursday in a comeback 5-3 road win over the Carolina Hurricanes after trailing 2-0 within the first five minutes of the game. Claude Giroux enjoyed a season-high four point game (2g, 2a), while linemates Travis Konecny (3a) and rookie center Morgan Frost (SHG, 1a) also had multi-point games. Ivan Provorov (PPG) and Kevin Hayes (ENG) rounded out the scoring.
If Frost manages to score a goal against Calgary, he will become the first player in Flyers history to score in each of his first three games in the NHL. Five others, including Hall of Famer Eric Lindros and the destined-for-obscurity David Laliberte, did it in their first two.
Six of the Flyers' seven regulation losses this season have come on the road. Overall, the team is 5-6-1 away from the Wells Fargo Center. At home, the Flyers are 6-1-3.
Carter Hart will get the start in goal for the Flyers. Scott Laughton was activated from LTIR on Friday after undergoing surgery last late month to repair a broken finger. Correspondingly, the Flyers returned veteran LW/C Andy Andreoff to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms and, for salary cap reasons, transferred Nolan Patrick from INR to LTIR.
Based on Friday's practice in Voorhees, Laughton will play left wing on a line with Hayes and rookie Joel Farabee. Pressing as of late, Farabee said on Friday that he is overthinking things on the ice and needs to get back to just playing the game. James van Riemsdyk remained on the fourth line, centered by Michael Raffl.
The Flyers used 11 forwards and seven defensemen on Thursday. Vigneault indicated on Friday that, with Laughton's return, he would go back to 12 forwards and six defensemen for the game against Calgary.
Ivan Provorov took a maintenance day on Friday. Officially, he is a game-time decision for Saturday, meaning that Robert Hà¤gg may take warmups with the starters, but Vigneault said that he anticipates Provorov playing. The fourth-year pro has yet to miss a game in his NHL career. Hà¤gg stood in for Provorov at practice on Friday, working with Matt Niskanen. Entering Saturday, the Flyers have averaged 2.95 goals per game with allowing 2.91 per game. The power play is at 20.7 percent and the penalty kill at 84.8 percent with two shorthanded goals. The team has won faceoffs at a 53.4 percent clip.
FLAMES OUTLOOK
Is Philly catching Calgary at just the right time, or the worst possible time? Expected to be a serious contender in the Western Conference this season, the Flames have sputtered through the first quarter of the season.
It's been particularly rough as of late. The Flames are winless in their last six games, and have lost five in a row in regulation. Over that span, the Flames have been shut out in three of their last four games, held to a single goal once and two or fewer in all six games.
There is too much talent and firepower on the Calgary roster for that to continue much longer, but the Flyers will try to prolong Calgary's agony for at least one more game. Philly figures to be facing a snarly opponent with plenty of focused urgency at the outset of the game. The Flyers will have match it, keep tabs on the Flames' ability to have D-men join the attack, and be ready to battle for pucks against a team that outworked them when the clubs met in Calgary last month.
Injury-wise, Calgary is a rather banged-up team right now. Travis Hamonic is day-to-day with a lower body injury that kept him out of the St. Louis game. Andrew Mangiapane suffered a broken nose last game but could play on Saturday wearing a full face shield. T.J. Brodie, who suffered a scary medical episode at practice on Nov. 13, remains on injured reserve but is now traveling with the team. Sam Bennett and Austin Czarnik also remain on IR. Earlier this week, the Flames recalled ex-Flyers winger Zac Rinaldo from the AHL.
The Flames were relieved to finally get out of St. Louis yesterday. Originally, the team was supposed to depart for Philadelphia after a 5-0 pasting at the hands of the Blues -- compounded by Calgary coming up empty against Jordan Binnington on 40 shots on goal -- in order to get in a practice day ahead of Saturday's matinee. Mechanical issues grounded the scheduled flight.
Entering this game, the Flames have averaged 2.40 goals per game and allowed 3.12 per game. The power play comes in at 16.0 percent and the penalty kill at 85.0 percent. The Flames have won 49.0 percent of their faceoffs.
STARTING LINEUPS
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny 23 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 49 Joel Farabee 25 James van Riemsdyk - 12 Michael Raffl -18 Tyler Pitlick
9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen 6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun 8 Robert Hà¤gg - 5 Phil Myers
79 Carter Hart [37 Brian Elliott]
Power Play 1: Giroux, JVR, Konecny, Provorov, Voracek/Frost Power Play 2: Couturier, Lindblom, Farabee, Sanheim, Niskanen
Scratches: 53 Shayne Gostisbehere (healthy), 44 Chris Stewart (healthy), 55 Sam Morin (torn ACL) LTIR: 19 Nolan Patrick (migraines)
FLAMES
13 Johnny Gaudreau - 11 Mikael Backlund - 28 Elias Lindholm 19 Matthew Tkachuk - 23 Sean Monahan - 88 Andrew Mangiapane 17 Milan Lucic - 10 Derek Ryan - 29 Dillon Dube 36 Zac Rinaldo - 77 Mark Jankowski - 67 Michael Frolik…‹
5 Mark Giordano - 4 Rasmus Andersson 55 Noah Hanifin - 26 Michael Stone 58 Oliver Kylington - 6 Brandon Davidson…‹
33 David Rittich [39 Cam Talbot…‹]
Power Play 1: Tkachuk, Monahan, Gaudreau, Lindholm, Giordano Power Play 2: Lucic, Backlund, Mangiapane, Ryan, Hanifin…‹
Scratches: 16 Tobias Rieder (healthy), Travis Hamonic (lower body, day-to-day) Injured reserve: 7 T.J. Brodie (medical issue at practice on Nov. 13), 8 Juuso Và¤limà¤ki (ACL), 93 Sam Bennett (upper body), 27 Austin Czarnik (lower body)
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PHANTOMS SWEEP B2B WITH CHARLOTTE, HOST BELLEVILLE
After ending a four-game winless skid on Wednesday with a 3-2 home regulation win over the Charlotte Checkers, Scott Gordon's Lehigh Valley Phantoms (8-5-5) also took Friday night's rematch with Charlotte at the PPL Center with a comeback 5-4 overtime victory.
The Phantoms trailed by scores of 1-0, 2-1 and 4-2 but rallied back each time to knot the score before finally winning the game in overtime as a David Kase shot trickled past Charlotte goalie Anton Forsberg (30 saves on 35 shots) and was jammed over the line by Mark Friedman (1st goal of the season) to end the game.
Kase, playing by far his best game since an early season injury, previously tallied two goals (2nd and 3rd) during regulation and had no fewer than three other high-danger scoring opportunities. The Phantoms also got multi-point games from veteran center Cal O'Reilly (shorthanded game-tying goal in the 3rd period, two assists), third-year pro center Mikhail Vorobyev (3a), Friedman (GWG, 1a) and fellow defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon (2a). A blast from Greg Carey (6th goal of the season) got the Phantoms back to within 4-3 before O'Reilly tied it up.
Alex Lyon earned the win in goal. He was victimized by a pinballing goal and some breakdowns in front of him but battled hard in stopping 32 of 36 shots. Charlotte controlled much of the first period territorially before the Phantoms pushed back later.
Lehigh Valley got Carsen Twarynski back in the lineup after he missed Wednesday's game due to an injury suffered at practice the previous day. With Andy Andreoff being sent down by the Flyers on Friday, the Phantoms were back up to 12 healthy forwards. The club sent forward Steven Swavely back to the ECHL's Reading Royals.
Nevertheless, the Phantoms lineup is still missing a slew of key start-of-season components due to injury and NHL callups (Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Phil Myers). Remaining out of the lineup are veteran forward Kyle Criscuolo, rookie Isaac Ratcliffe, second-year pro forwards German Rubtsov and Connor Bunnaman, plus defenseman Chris Bigras.
Injuries and callups mean opportunities for others, however. Pascal Laberge, recalled from the ECHL, scored early in Wednesday's game against Charlotte but was fairly quiet in Friday's rematch. Matthew Strome, who assisted on Laberge's goal on Wednesday, had one shot on goal on Friday and took a first period tripping minor.
The Phantoms are back in action on Saturday evening, hosting the Belleville Senators (9-8-1) at the PPL Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.