UPDATE 11 AM
The Flyers held an optional morning skate. Cam Atkinson, who is quite banged up, took the option. Joel Farabee (flu) will not play. A callup will be made from Lehigh Valley to enable to Flyers to dress 12 forwards. Zack MacEwen (head) has been cleared to play but is not ready to return to game action.
Martin Jones will get the start in goal.
The defense pairings will remain the same as last game in Columbus. Forward lines will be tweaked a bit to work around Farabee's absence.
Game 72 Preview: Flyers vs. Ducks
On Lou Nolan Night at the Wells Fargo Center, interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (23-37-11) will take on Dallas Eakins' Anaheim Ducks ( 28-32-12) on Saturday evening. The pregame ceremonies honoring Nolan's 55 years of continual service to the Flyers organization and 50 years as public address announcer will begin at 7:25 p.m. EDT. Opening faceoff is at 7:46 p.m. (NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic, FlyersRadio247.com).
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the inter-conference teams, and the lone game in Philadelphia. Back on Jan. 4 in Anaheim, the Flyers lost by a 4-1 score. Troy Terry compiled a hat trick with two even strength goals and a power play tally.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 4-1 road win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. Kevin Connauton (1st goal of the season), Owen Tippett (8th goal of the season, 2nd as a Flyer), Noah Cates (2nd) and Travis Konecny (13th) scored for the Flyers. Travis Sanheim chipped in two assists amid a strong two-way performance. Morgan Frost assisted on the Konecny goal and won six of eight faceoffs. Kevin Hayes set up the Tippett tally. In goal, Martin Jones turned back 26 of 27 shots to earn the win.
The Ducks sustained a 4-2 home loss to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. Trevor Zegras (18th) and Adam Henrique (15th) tallied in a losing cause for Anaheim, while former Flyers goaltender Anthony Stolarz stopped 24 of 27 shots. Saturday's game in Philadelphia marks the start of a grueling eastern road trip that will see the Ducks play four games in six nights including a 6:00 p.m. EDT game in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.
For an in-depth look at Saturday's matchups, statistical trends and more, see the Five Things game preview on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com. The Flyers had an off-day on Friday but will hold a 10:30 a.m. morning skate at the FTC in Voorhees. Lineups below, including the starting goaltender, will be updated after the morning skate.
FLYERS
86 Joel Farabee - 21 Scott Laughton - 89 Cam Atkinson 29 Noah Cates - 13 Kevin Hayes - 74 Owen Tippett 25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny 23 Oskar Lindblom - 44 Nate Thompson - 38 Patrick Brown
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York 6 Travis Sanheim - 70 Rasmus Ristolainen 8 Kevin Connauton - 47 Ronnie Attard
35 Martin Jones [79 Carter Hart]
DUCKS
38 Derek Grant - 46 Trevor Zegras - 19 Troy Terry 16 Zach Aston-Reese - 14 Adam Henrique - 51 Dominik Simon 12 Sonny Milano - 21 Isak Lundström- 39 Sam Carrick 44 Maxime Comtois - 23 Sam Steel - 29 Vinni Lettieri
4 Cam Fowler - 34 Jamie Drysdale 5 Urho Vaakanainen - 22 Kevin Shattenkirk 86 Simon Benoit - 92 Andrej Sustr
36 John Gibson 41 Anthony Stolarz
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Phantoms Defeat Hershey, 4-1
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms skated to a 4-1 home victory against the archrival Hershey Bears at the PPL Center in Allentown on Friday. After a scoreless first period, the Phantoms established a 3-1 lead by the end of the middle stanza and then added an empty-net goal in the late stages of the third period.
Felix Sandström played an excellent game in goal for the Phantoms, making 31 saves and stepping up big numerous times in the first and second periods in particular. Meanwhile, the Phantoms received goals from Isaac Ratcliffe (9th), Wade Allison (9th), Tanner Laczynski (PPG, 6th), and veteran captain Cal O'Reilly (19th).
Allison and O'Reilly each had two-point games, with a goal and an assist apiece. Veteran defenseman Adam Clendening collected two assists, while Hayden Hodgson, Egor Zamula and Adam Johnson each chipped in one helper apiece.
Former Phantoms/Flyers center Mike Vecchione (PPG, 14th) tallied the lone Hershey goal, assisted by Bobby Nardella and veteran former NHL defenseman Cody Franson. Zach Fucale stopped 23 of 27 Phantoms' shots in a losing cause.
The Phantoms got off to a decent start in the first period but Hershey controlled the latter portion of the frame. Sandström made 10 saves while Fucale stopped all eight shots on his net to send the game to intermission scoreless.
In the second period, the Phantoms grabbed a 1-0 lead at 5:39. Matthew Strome won an offensive zone faceoff, and puck moved from Zamula to Hodgson to Ratcliffe. From the high-slot, Ratcliffe uncorked a shot that found the net behind goaltender Fucale.
The Bears, who took over the game for 10-plus minutes with the ice tilted in their favor for awhile, got the goal back on the power play at 11:05 and Vecchione fired a shot that went off the post and over the goal line to the short side. Power play goals against Lehigh Valley have been few and far between this season for the Bears but this was a potentially big one.
The Phantoms weathered the storm thanks primarily to Sandström. At 18:35, Lehigh Valley retook the lead on a counterattacking goal. Clendening made a stretch pass to Allison, who moved on in and was tripped up. Staying with the play despite being down on the ice, Allison swept the puck with one hand and put it between Fucale's pads.
On the next shift after the Allison goal, Hershey's Franson took an interference penalty. At the 19:25 mark -- 50 gameplay seconds after Allison scored -- Lacynski fired a shot home from the right circle. Just like that, the 1-1 game with Hershey on the offensive turned into a 3-1 Phantoms lead. Sandström made 13 saves in the second period, with the toughest and most important ones coming during the stretch in between the Vecchione power play marker and the Allison response.
The Phantoms staged a very strong closeout in the third period, smothering Hershey and keeping most of their attempts to the perimeter with clear-sighted saves for Sandström. The Bears briefly pulled Fucale for an extra attacker but had to put him back in for a neutral zone faceoff. Hershey was then unable to gain the Phantoms zone and get Fucale back to the bench for another 6-on-5.
Allison put a puck in deep, which Adam Johnson retrieved and centered to O'Reilly. Fucale was never really set and was beaten from the low slot as the Phantoms iced the game by extending their lead to three goals at 17:51 of the third period.
The Phantoms went 1-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
Lehigh Valley will have a rare Saturday off-day on the game schedule. Things will get very busy again come Sunday. Every game is a must-win for the Phantoms at this point, and it starts with a road game against the Bridgeport Islanders -- one of two teams the last-place Phantoms need to pass in the standings to gain the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.
Last Sunday, the Phantoms (26-28-11) completed a weekend 3-for-3 sweep with a gutty road victory over Bridgeport (28-27-4). Ian Laperriere's club will need to duplicate that feat this Sunday to inch closer to catching the Islanders. Thereafter, the Phantoms are right back in road action on Monday against the Providence Bruins (31-20-10) and then host Hershey (31-27-9) yet again on Wednesday.
Bridgeport visits Providence on Saturday; a game in which the Phantoms will be pulling for the Bruins. The free-falling Hartford Wolf Pack (29-28-8, 1-8-1 over their last 10 games) are currently clinging to sixth place in the Atlantic Divison -- the final playoff spot. On Sunday afternoon, the Wolf Pack are on the road to play the recently hot Charlotte Checkers (8-1-1 in their last 10 games, 39-23-4 overall).
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Brink, Denver in NCAA Championship Game
The NCAA's leading scorer in the nation this season, Flyers 2019 second-round pick Bobby Brink did not win the Hobey Baker Award but was selected a first-team All-American. Minnesota State goaltender Dryden McKay was announced as the Hobey Baker winner on Friday, beating out fellow finalists Brink and University of Minnesota forward Ben Meyers in the voting for the top collegiate player in the country this season.
Incongruously, McKay lost out on the Mike Richter Award (NCAA top goaltender) to Northeastern Unversity's Devon Levi, a Florida Panthers draftee whose right are now held by the Buffalo Sabres.
On Saturday, Brink's University of Denver Pioneers team will go up against McKay's Minnesota State Mavericks in the 2022 NCAA Championship game. The game will air on ESPN2 at 8:00 p.m. EDT.