QUICK HITS: JANUARY 27, 2018
1) The NHL's All-Star Skills Competition takes place on Saturday. On Sunday, the first 3-on-3 game takes place between Team Pacific and Team Central at 3:30 p.m. ET, followed an hour later with Team Metro (featuring Flyers captain Claude Giroux) vs. Team Atlantic. The two winning sides will subsequently face off for the championship.
2) Over on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com, fifth-time All-Star Game attendee Giroux looks back to when he attended his first NHL All-Star game in 2011. It was eventful for him, as he went along with Flyers teammate Danny Briere (in whose house Giroux lived early in his career) and he had to borrow a tie from Flyers PR employee Joe Siville to wear on the red carpet. For more, click here.
3) On Wednesday morning, Flyers broadcasters Tim Saunders, Jim Jackson, Steve Coates and I recorded an expanded edition of "Flyers Roundtable" for Flyers Radio 24/7. Previously, we'd been doing a monthly short-format video (roughly 5-7 mins long) for Flyers TV on the Flyers' official website. The new radio format gives us more chance to discuss topics at length and have some back-and-forth in the discussion.
Also on Wednesday, Brian Smith and I recorded the newest episode of the FlyerBuzz podcast for Flyers Radio 24/7. Among other topics, we discussed Travis Konecny and the pros and cons of being in a dogfight for playoff positioning as opposed to being virtually locked into a spot by midseason.
If you missed the programs on Flyers Radio 24/7, you can subscribe to the podcasts and download them for free. For the content homepage, click here.
4) I had a great time last Friday broadcasting the Flyers Alumni vs. Hershey Bears Alumni game from Hersheypark Stadium along with play-by-play announcer Bob Rotruck and then catching up with the Alumni guys afterwards, especially the ones I don't get to see often at the Wells Fargo Center. The next big Alumni game will take place at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, ME, on Feb. 17 when the Flyers Alumni play the Bruins Alumni. Participating players include Eric Lindros, Danny Briere, Maine Mariners alums like Terry Murray, Frank Bathe and (on the Bruins Alumni side) Ken "the Rat" Linseman. Joe Mullen is also on the Bruins side, while Reggie Lemelin will be behind the bench as coach. For more information, click here.
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PHANTOMS TOP PENGUINS, 5-2
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms picked up an important divisional win on Friday night, downing the visiting Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins by a 5-2 count at the PPL Center in Allentown. The Phantoms are now three points ahead of the Pens (57 points to 54 points) in the battle for first place in the Atlantic Division but the Penguins hold three games in hand and, under the AHL's standings-keeping format, retain first place based on points percentage.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel notched a pair of goals (12th and 13th of the season) and an assist, including a breakaway backhander, as the Phantoms rallied back from early deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 and then pulled away in the third period. Greg Carey (19th), T.J. Brennan (9th) and Mike Vecchione (10th) also scored for Lehigh Valley.
Dustin Tokarski got the start in goal, but was hooked just 6:26 into the first period as Phantoms coach Scott Gordon hit the reset button after Wilkes Barre/Scranton scored twice on their first four shots of the game. In the opening minute of the game, Daniel Sprong scored a breakaway goal off a Mikhail Voroybev turnover. After Carey tied the game, Zach Aston-Reese restored a Pens lead barely a minute player.
Alex Lyon, returned from the Flyers earlier in the day, came in on relief and was stellar in goal. He stopped all 26 shots he faced, including multiple tough saves, and topped Aube-Kubel for first-star honors on the night.
Playing his second game with the Phantoms after being demoted by the Flyers, second-year defenseman Travis Sanheim had two near-miss scoring chances and also nicely set up rookie left winger Oskar Lindblom in front of the net but neither player earned a notch on the score sheet. Sanheim finished at minus-one, as he was out for both the Sprong and Aston-Reese goals along with rookie partner Philippe Myers but both got pluses for being out for the Phantoms final goal. Myers finished the night at minus one, with two shots on goal and an assist on the second Aube-Kubel goal.
The game was a feisty affair throughout, as many of the meetings between the teams have been this season. The Phantoms went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play.
The Phantoms host the Utica Comets on Saturday at the PPL Center. The game will be the Phantoms' final one before the AHL All-Star break.
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CHL AND NCAA PROSPECTS: FRIDAY HIGHLIGHTS
* WHL: Carter Hart came an early power play goal by Austin Strand away from his seventh shutout of the season but earned the win as the Everett Silvertips topped the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds, 3-1, on Friday night. Hart stopped 20 of 21 shots. The scene switches to Seattle on Saturday for the back half of the home-and-home set. Everett hosts the Spokane Chiefs on Sunday afternoon.
* OHL: Isaac Ratcliffe compiled his first career Ontario Hockey League hat trick on Friday, scored three times from in close to the net as the Guelph Storm toppled the visiting Flint Firebirds, 5-3. Guelph is on the road on Saturday to take on Maksim Sushko's Owen Sound Attack and then visit the London Knights on Sunday.
* OHL: Morgan Frost racked up three primary assists as the Sault Marie Greyhounds built up a 4-0 lead on the visiting Windsor Spitfires on Friday. Windsor threw a scare into the Hounds by cutting the gap to 4-3 by early in the third period but the Soo went on to win, 5-3. Frost, who hit the crossbar on a Greyhounds 5-on-3 power play in the third period and also set up a point blank chance for Jack Kopacka that was tipped just wide of the net, finished at plus-one for the game. He won 13 of 18 faceoffs, including an offensive zone draw with 1:06 left that resulted in about 40 seconds worth of Soo puck possession time before the Spitfires made one final push. With Sarnia's Jordan Kyrou on a tear and Frost having had just one point in two games last weekend, Frost (75 points) has dropped to second in the OHL scoring race. The Greyhounds are back in action on Saturday, hosting the Barrie Colts, and then again on Sunday as they visit the Saginaw Spirit.
* QMJHL: German Rubtsov had a goal and an assist, taking second star honors, as the Acadie-Bathurst Titan skated to a 5-1 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday. The Titan host the Rimouski Oceanic on Sunday.
* NCAA: Tanner Laczynski and the host Ohio State Buckeyes went head-to-head with Cooper Marody and Brendan Warren's Michigan Wolverines on Friday night with Ohio State earning a 4-0 win. Laczynski, who is usually more of a passer than a shooter, sniped a nice one-timer goal on a late second-period power play. Marody had five shots on goal for Michigan. The teams play again on Saturday night.
* NCAA: In a nationally televised game, freshman defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk's Wisconsin Badgers defeated visiting Penn State, 4-2, on Friday night. Kalynuk had a solid game despite not getting on the scoresheet, including three shots on goal. The teams rematch on Saturday.