GAME 49: FLYERS @ DEVILS
Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (22-19-7) are in Newark on Tuesday to take on Lindy Ruff's New Jersey Devils (14-27-7). Game time at the Prudential Center is 7 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
The two teams will be facing off all week. For the first time in the Flyers' regular season history, there will be four straight games against the same team. Tonight's game is the second of the four and the fifth game of the eight-game season series between the teams.
The teams will oppose each other at the Prudential Center again on Thursday and then return to the Wells Fargo Center on May 1. The season series will conclude in Philadelphia on May 10; the final game of the season for both teams.
The Flyers are 3-1-0 against the Devils this season. Philadelphia earned 5-3 and 3-1 victories at the Prudential Center on January 26 and 28. The Devils skated to a 4-3 win at the Wells Fargo Center on March 23 as a late rally by the Flyers fell short. On April 25, two late goals by Claude Giroux rescued the Flyers from a regulation loss before the team prevailed 4-3 (3-2) via shootout.
Flyers Outlook
Rookie defenseman Egor Zamula will make his NHL debut for the Flyers in Tuesday's game. He will be paired with Travis Sanheim. Samuel Morin will exit the lineup.
Brian Elliott will get the start in goal. Alex Lyon will serve as the backup. Felix Sandström will practice with the Taxi Squad and then be assigned to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms to get a start in net on Wednesday.
Carter Hart (knee sprain) and Shayne Gostisbehere (MCL sprain) did not participate in practice yesterday but both skated. Nicolas Aube-Kubel also did not take part in practice. Rookie center Tanner Laczynski underwent successful surgery to repair a torn hip labrum. The anticipated recovery timetable is 16 weeks.
Devils Outlook
The Devils have been a better road team (10-10-4) than at home (4-17-3) this season. Overall, the club is winless in its last 10 games but broke a nine-game pointless streak in Sunday's game.
New Jersey's last win was a 6-3 verdict over the Buffalo Sabres at the Prudential Center on April 8. Since then, in succession, the Devils lose back-to-back home games against the Pittsburgh Penguins (6-4 and 5-2), four in a row (home, road, road, home) to the New York Rangers by scores of 3-0, 4-0, 6-3 and 5-3, three in a row on the road against Pittsburgh (7-6, 4-1 and 5-2) and then Sunday's 4-3 shootout decision against the Flyers.
Projected lineups
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux -14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek 86 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny 25 James van Riemsdyk - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison 23 Oskar Lindblom - 59 Jackson Cates - 19 Nolan Patrick
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun 54 Egor Zamula - 6 Travis Sanheim 8 Robert Hà¤gg - 5 Phil Myers
37 Brian Elliott [34 Alex Lyon]
PP1: Giroux, Couturier, Allison, Voracek, Provorov PP2: Hayes, Farabee, JVR, Konecny, Sanheim
Scratches: 55 Samuel Morin (healthy), 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel (healthy), 53 Shayne Gostisbehere (MCL sprain, out 7-10 days from April 25), 79 Carter Hart (knee sprain).
Injured reserve: 48 Morgan Frost (shoulder surgery), 58 Tanner Laczynski (hip surgery).
COVID-19 protocol: None.
DEVILS
11 Andreas Johnsson - 86 Jack Hughes - 17 Yegor Sharangovich 37 Pavel Zacha - 13 Nico Hischier - 63 Jesper Bratt 59 Janne Kuokkanen- 90 Jesper Boqvist - 39 Nick Merkley 44 Miles Wood - 20 Michael McLeod - 14 Nathan Bastian …‹
22 Ryan Murray - 28 Damon Severson 8 Will Butcher - 5 Connor Carrick 2 Colton White - 7 Matt Tennyson …‹
29 Mackenzie Blackwood 41 Scott Wedgewood
PP1:…‹ Hischier, Zacha, Hughes Merkley, Butcher PP2: Jesper Bratt, Studenic/Kuokkanen, Sharangovich, Wood, Severson…‹
Scratches: 67 Marian Studenic (healthy), 71 Jonas Siegenthaler (healthy), 23 Mikhail Maltsev (healthy), 47 Aaron Dell (healthy).
Injured reserve: 24 Ty Smith (upper body, doubtful).
COVID-19 protocol: 76 P.K. Subban (day-to-day).
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Sandin Rescues Phantoms in 6-5 Win
It was a tale of two hockey games -- literally and figuratively -- on Monday at the Barnabas Hockey House inside the Prudential Center in Newark. Monday's game between the Binghamton Devils and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms was the rescheduled, 60-minute edition of the March 10 game that was suspended after one period due to a positive COVID-19 test for a member of the Devils.
Rather than playing just the final 40 minutes of the original game, which was tied at 1-1 at the first intermission at the time it was halted, a 60-minute game was played instead. The Phantoms grabbed a seemingly insurmountable 5-1 lead in the first period, only to see Binghamton reduce the gap to 5-3 by the end of the second period and then score twice in the third period to knot the score at 5-5.
Ultimately, two power play goals scored by Phantoms right winger Linus Sandin -- at 17:12 of the first period and 10:45 of the third -- rescued a 6-5 regulation win for Scott Gordon's team. Phantoms captain Cal O'Reilly assisted on both goals as well as a first period tally by Flyers 2019 first-round pick Cam York. In so doing, O'Reilly became the 10th player in American Hockey League history to reach the 500-assist mark for his regular season career.
In the bigger picture, York's three-point first period (one goal, two assists) will stand at the most memorable aspect of the game. Overall, the rookie defenseman had three shots on goal and finished plus-two on the night at even strength. York's goal was a slap shot from the top of the left circle.
A blocked shot finds its way to Cam York, who scores his first pro goal! pic.twitter.com/50s4ecYJDJ
— Brad Keffer (@brad_keffer) April 26, 2021
Travis St. Denis scored twice and Ben Thompson and Fabian Zetterlund tallied once apiece as the Devils chipped away at the Phantoms' lead. At 6:49 of the third period, Reilly Walsh tied the score at 5-5. Devils starting goalie Gilles Senn played the first period, giving up five goals on 14 shots and also took a penalty for playing the puck outside the trapezoid. Relief goalie Mareks Mitens stopped 22 of 23 shots over the final 40 minutes but took the loss because he was in net for Sandin's second goal.
For the Phantoms, Zane McIntyre gave up five goals on 21 shots. The Devils went 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Phantoms were 2-for-6.
With the win, the Phantoms raised their season record to 15-4-3. The team, which will be playing its fifth game in seven nights, will be on the road on Wednesday to play the Wilkes Barre/ Scranton Penguins (8-11-3). Monday's loss dropped the last-place Devils to 5-14-6 on the season. They will host the second-place Hershey Bears (17-6-2) on Wednesday.