GAME 78 PREVIEW: FLYERS @ AVALANCHE
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (38-25-14) are in Denver on Wednesday to take on Jared Bednar's Colorado Avalanche (41-27-8) at the Pepsi Center. Game time is 10:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSNP.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the inter-conference teams, and the lone game in Colorado. On Nov. 4 in Philadelphia, the Flyers pushed back from a pair of one-goal deficits in the third period to take the game to overtime tied at 4-4. The game ultimately went to a shootout, won (2-1) by Colorado.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers are 3-0-3 in their last six games. Wednesday's game is the final segment of a road 3-in-4 across three time zones, and the second half of a back-to-back set that started in Dallas on Tuesday. The Flyers sustained a 3-2 OT loss to the Stars at the American Airlines Center (see recap section below).
Michal Neuvirth, who stopped 23 of 27 shots in overtime and regulation and one of three in the shootout the last time the Flyers played the Avalanche, could be ready to return for Wedneday's game. He has been out since suffering a lower-body injury in the first period of the Flyers' 7-4 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 18.
Valtteri Filppula sustained an upper-body injury (hand or arm) in Tuesday's game in Dallas and missed a portion of the game. His status for Wednesday is uncertain. If Filppula is unable to go, the most likely scenario is for Jori Lehterठto shift to center and Taylor Leier to re-enter the Philly lineup.
Flyers captain Claude Giroux enters Wednesday's game tied with Winnipeg's Blake Wheeler for the NHL assist lead with 66 apiece. Giroux (26 goals, 92 points) is tied for 4th in the Art Ross Trophy race with Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon.
The Flyers truly needed two points out of the Pittsburgh and Dallas games but twice had to settle for a single point from OT losses. Columbus recovered from an early 3-0 deficit against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday and ended up winning in a 7-3 blowout. As a result, the Flyers have fallen behind the Columbus Blue Jackets in both points (90-89) and the ROW tiebreaker (37-36) in the race for third place in the Metro Division.
The New Jersey Devils are just two points (89-87) and a single ROW (36-35) behind the Flyers for the upper wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. The Devils hold one game in hand. New Jersey trailed the visiting Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1, midway through the third period but struck for two late goals to skate off with a 3-2 regulation win.
AVALANCHE OUTLOOK
The Avalanche are just one point (91-90) out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, trailing both the St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks for wildcard spots. The Avalanche hold a ROW edge over Anaheim (39-35) but trail St. Louis (40-39).
Colorado's 90-point season has largely been built on their stellar home record: 26-10-2. The club is just 15-17-6 on the road. Overall, the Avs are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.
The Avalanche may dress seven defensemen for Wednesday's game. Claimed off waivers from the Flyers at the NHL Trade Deadline, defenseman Mark Alt has dressed in just two games for the Avs to date after dressing in eight for the Flyers.
The Avalanche enter this game coming off a 4-1 road loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday. An Eric Johnson goal (9th) in the middle stages of the second period briefly tied the game at 1-1 but the Golden Knights restored the lead shortly thereafter with their second power play goal of the second period. Vegas then pulled away in the third period.
Twenty-two-year-old Nathan MacKinnon has broken through to superstar status in the NHL this season. In 67 games played this season, he has racked up 90 points (38 goals, 52 assists). He's followed by wingers Mikko Rantanen (26 goals, 78 points) and Gabriel Landeskog (24 goals, 57 points in 71 games). Tyson Barrie (11 goals, 39 assists, 50 points, minus-12) leads the blueline offensively.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny 54 Oskar Lindblom - 19 Nolan Patrick - 93 Jakub Voracek 40 Jordan Weal - 15 Jori Lehterठ- 17 Wayne Simmonds 22 Dale Weise - 21 Scott Laughton - 24 Matt Read
9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 47 Andrew MacDonald - 6 Travis Sanheim 23 Brandon Manning - 3 Radko Gudas
30 Michal Neuvirth [34 Petr Mrazek]
Scratches: 20 Taylor Leier (healthy), 8 Robert Hà¤gg (semi-healthy), 29 Johnny Oduya (healthy), 12 Michael Raffl (upper body), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, core muscle surgery), 51 Valtteri Filppula (questionable, upper body).
AVALANCHE
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan Mackinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen 17 Tyson Jost - 37 JT Compher - 13 Alexander Kerfoot 83 Matthew Nieto - 34 Carl Söderberg - 14 Blake Comeau 57 Gabriel Bourque - 64 Nail Yakupov - 47 Dominic Toninato
16 Nikita Zadorov - 4 Tyson Barrie 12 Patrik Nemeth - 6 Erik Johnson 49 Samuel Girard - 7 Mark Alt
35 Andrew Hammond [49 Spencer Martin] …‹ Scratches: 5 David Warsofsky (healthy), 10 Sven Andrighetto (lower body), 15 Duncan Siemens (healthy), 22 Colin Wilson (lower body), 28 Andrew Aggozino (healthy), 1 Semyon Varlamov (illness), 45 Jonathan Bernier (injury), 44 Mark Barbiero (lower body), 54 Anton Lindholm (healthy), 64 Nail Yakupov (healthy), 91 Vladislav Kamenev (healthy).
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RECAP: FLYERS FALL TO STARS IN OT, 3-2
On a night where they needed a win to hold pace in the playoff race, the Philadelphia Flyers had to settle for one point from their NHL-worst 14th loss beyond regulation this season. The Dallas Stars broke out of an eight-game winless streak by downing the Flyers in OT, 3-2, at the American Airlines Center on Tuesday night.
The Flyers got off to a slow start in the first period, giving up seven of the first eight shots, taking an early penalty (Ivan Provorov for hooking) and later yielding the game's first goal.
Radek Faksa (15th goal of the season) slipped behind veteran defenseman Brandon Manning to collect the puck after an Antoine Roussel shot attempt banked off the end boards out in front near the right post. Roussel (12th) and Dan Hamhuis (20th) collected the assists at 10:50.
Philly dominated the latter part of the first period, however. The Flyers got an aggressive forecheck going and the Stars had trouble clearing their own zone. Finally, at 16:51, the work paid off in a goal that tied the score at 1-1.
Receiving the puck high in the Dallas zone on a shift that saw the Stars hemmed in deep, Kocency (23rd goal) weaved his way into the right circle and fired off a wrister that went off Lehtonen's arm and into the net. The assists went to Gostisbehere (45th) and Claude Giroux (NHL co-leading 66th).
The shift went on for so long that Giroux was off the ice and had been replaced by Oskar Lindblom by the time the goal was scored. As a result, Giroux did not get a plus-one for the play despite earning an even-strength point.
The Flyers had chances to take a lead before the intermission but Lehtonen kept the game tied at 1-1. The best chance was a point blank opportunity for Wayne Simmonds off a Dallas turnover in their own end. First period shots were 11-10 Flyers.
Philly had the early momentum in the second period. At 2:03, the Flyers took a short-lived 2-1 lead. Provorov (14th goal of the season) joined the rush to take a pass from Simmonds (22nd assist) and beat Lehtonen with a wrister from the left slot. Gostisbehere picked up his second assist of the game and 46th of the season.
A mid-period delay of game penalty on Andrew MacDonald quickly proved costly. From the left circle, Tyler Seguin threaded a cross-ice pass between the legs of Flyers' defenseman Radko Gudas over to Alexander Radulov on the opposite side. Brett Ritchie set up shop near the left post. With Gudas neither able to move out Ritchie nor cancel out the stick, Ritchie deflected home the puck to the tie the game at the 10:11 mark. Radulov (40th assist) and Seguin (33rd assist) got the helpers on the power play goal.
The Flyers had a 3-on-1 rush opportunity in the latter stages of the period but the chance soon fizzled out. Second period shots on goal were 8-5 in the Flyers' favor (19-15 Flyers through two periods).
Philly by far had the better of the play in the third period, as Dallas seemed to be waiting around for another disaster to befall them. The Flyers were unable to capitalize on an early period power play chance. Whenever called upon, Lehtonen stepped up big to keep the game knotted. Third period shots were 14-8 in the Flyers' favor (33-21 Flyers through regulation).
A 2-on-0 breakaway by the Stars resulted in an Alexander Radulov tap-in goal (27th) off a feed from Tyler Seguin (34th assist, 2nd of the game) at the 40-second mark of OT. A bouncing puck in the Dallas zone was knocked down by goalie Kari Lehtonen and defenseman John Klingberg (55th assist) then connected with Seguin on a stretch pass with Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Couturier in the attack zone and Travis Konecny in the neutral zone.
Flyers goaltender Petr Mrazek had little to no chance of stopping any of three goals he yielded on this night. He finished with 20 saves on 23 shots. Lehtonen took first-star honors with 31 saves on 33 shots. Overall, the Flyers had 67 shot attempts, while Dallas had 49.
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PROSPECT UPDATES
* The Flyers announced on Wednesday that the organization has signed goaltending prospect Felix Sandström to an entry-level contract. Drafted by the Flyers in the third round (70th overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft, Sandström could have opted to become an unrestricted free agent on June 1, 2019 if the Flyers had waited until next year to offer a contract. Sandström, who lost much of the 2018-19 season to a hiatal hernia and subsequently transferred SHL teams from Brynà¤s IF Gà¤vle to HV71 Jönköping, remains a highly regarded young goalie prospect despite the setback this season.
In 2016-17, Sandström won Best Goaltender honors from the IIHF at the World Junior Championships. Later, he shared starting goaltending duties in the playoffs as Brynà¤s came within one win of the SHL championship.
This season, Sandström was initially slated to undergo surgery before the season but opted to try to play through the hiatal hernia. He played well for a while in the early going but his condition worsened and he was sidelined for more than half of the season.
Come next season, Sandström will be loaned to HV71. Although there is an NHL out-clause in his contract, the agreement does not pertain to an AHL assignment. Nevertheless, one season will burn off his NHL entry-level contract per collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requirements, as he is past "slide-rule" eligibility.
* WHL Playoffs: Carter Hart was outstanding in the Everett Silvertips' 3-1 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds in Game 3 of their first-round WHL playoff series. Hart's net was absolutely under siege early but he made 23 first period saves on 24 shots. A fracas late in the first period resulting in a 10-min misconduct for Hart (served by a teammate) actually helped wake up the Silvertips although the call itself was extremely weak. Hart did little more than shove a Seattle player in front of his net. Hart only saw 10 shots over the final 40 mins of the game but earned first-star honors for his spectacular first period. Game Four is in Seattle on Friday.
* WHL Playoffs: Trailing the series two games to zero after dropping a pair of games on home ice, the Kelowna Rockets need a road win on Wednesday against the Tri-City Americans to get back into the series. Carsen Twarynski had a power play goal and a power play assist but was minus-three at even strength in the Rockets' 9-7 loss in Game Two.
* OHL Playoffs: The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, the top team across all three CHL circuits in the regular season, can complete a first-round sweep of the Saginaw Spirit with a road victory on Wednesday. The Spirit were pesky in Games One and Three before the Greyhounds pulled away, while Game 2 quickly turned into a blowout. Flyers 2017 first-round pick Morgan Frost has compiled six points (two goals, four assists) through the first three games. Chosen the first star of Game 2 (two goals, one assist), he is plus-four through three games and has won 25 of 45 faceoffs (55.6 percent). Frost also has taken two minor penalties in the series and was on the ice for a Saginaw power play goal in Game Three.
* OHL Playoffs: The Hamilton Bulldogs will look to take a three games to one lead in their first round series with the Ottawa 67's when the teams rematch in Ottawa on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, the Bulldogs reclaimed home-ice advantage in the series with an 8-1 blowout win. Matthew Strome collected third-star honors with two assists, a plus-three and one shot on goal. Through the first three games, Strome has six points (one goal, five assists).
* OHL Playoffs: The Kitchener Rangers will try to take a three games to one lead over the Guelph Storm when the teams reconvene in Guelph for Game Four on Wednesday night. On Tuesday, the host Storm claimed their first win of the series with a 7-5 victory. Isaac Ratcliffe took second-star honors with a three-assist performance and four shots on goal. He has four points (one goal, three assists) and is minus-four through the first three games of the series. Kitchener captain Connor Bunnaman did not record a point and was minus-three in Game Three but won six of eight faceoffs. For the series thus far, Bunnaman has yet to record point and is 16-for-24 on draws.
* OHL Playoffs: The Sarnia Sting lead the Windsor Spitfires, two games to one. Game four is in Windsor on Thursday. Anthony Salinitri missed Game 3 due to an apparent shoulder injury suffered in the second game of the series. The Sting prevailed by a 5-3 score in Game three.
* QMJHL: The Acadie-Bathurst Titan took a two games to one lead in their first round series with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens with a 3-2 road win on Tuesday. German Rubtsov did not record a point and had one shot on goal for the victorious side. He has one assist and seven shots through three games against his former team. Game four is in Chicoutimi on Wednesday.
* QMJHL: Game three of the first round series between the Quebec Remparts and Charlottetown Islanders is on Wednesday night in Charlottetown. The Remparts lead the series two games to zero. Pascal Laberge had four points (one goal, three assists) and seven hits in the first two games. He was selected as the third star of Game one and second star of Game two.