QUICK HITS: JANUARY 12, 2018
1) With their bye week coming to an end, the Flyers will return to the ice on Friday for a rare 4 p.m. practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees before the team takes on the New Jersey Devils in Newark on Saturday. I will not be attending the Flyers' practice today because I will be on the way to Allentown to cover the Phantoms vs. Springfield game at the PPL Center.
2) The Carolina Hurricanes jumped up into lower wildcard position on Thursday night with a 3-1 win over the Washington Capitals in the front end of a home-and-home set that concludes Friday night in Raleigh. If the Capitals win in regulation in the rematch and the Flyers defeat the Devils by any means on Saturday, Philly will move into the lower wildcard position via tiebreaker advantage (currently 19 ROW to 17). A regulation win against the Devils would be optimal, of course, as it would also move the Flyers to within four points of New Jersey for third place in the Metro and also give the Flyers a 20-19 ROW edge on the Devils.
3) In the newest edition of the FlyerBuzz show on Flyers Radio 24/7, Brian Smith and I discussed a wide array of topics on a 37-minute edition of the show. Subjects included our observations on the first half of the season, the team's absolute need to avoid its tendency to struggle immediately after lengthy breaks in the schedule, a discussion of the pros and cons of a remaining schedule that is very heavy in divisional games, the legacy of Eric Lindros, various prospect updates (Carter Hart, Oskar Lindblom and Morgan Frost) and next Friday's outdoor Flyers Alumni game in Hershey, which will be broadcast live on Flyers Radio 24/7. If you missed FlyerBuzz or Bob Rotruck's Phantoms Update show yesterday, both are available on-demand for free.
4) Speaking of the Phantoms, the team is expecting to have Samuel Morin back in the lineup on Friday night after a month-long absence. The blueline had been utterly decimated by injuries and NHL callups but is finally back intact. After the defense corps got riddled with personnel absences, it was the forwards' turn. While rookie center Mikhail Vorobyev (lower-body injury) is still missing from the lineup along with two-way forward Corban Knight, the Phantoms expect to have back Matt Read and Cole Bardreau.
5) Also, a final note related to Flyers Radio 24/7 programming. During the run-up to next Thursday's retirement of Eric Lindros' No. 88 jersey, the Flyers' official online station is airing the original radio broadcasts of a series of memorable games from his Flyers career. So far, there have been airings of his first game and of the second game (vs. Montreal) of his back-to-back hat tricks in March 1995. I listened to the latter broadcast on the way back from the FlyerBuzz taping at the Wells Fargo Center, and it was fun not only to relive the Legion of Doom dominating shift after shift and a key shorthanded goal by Rod Brind'Amour but also to hear the old commercials that aired during the breaks in the act.
6) Morgan Frost, leading the OHL in points, assists and plus-minus rating will go for a 19-game point streak tonight when the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds host Maxim Sushko's Owen Sound Attack. For an in-depth profile of Frost and a look at his development since the 2017 Draft, click here.
7) Other Flyers prospects who are back in action on Friday night: German Rubtsov (Acadie-Bathurst Titan @ Baie-Comeau Drakkar), Wade Allison (first of back-to-back games for Western Michigan @ St. Cloud State), Isaac Ratcliffe (Guelph Storm @ Kingston Frontenacs), Tanner Laczynski (first of back-to-back games for Ohio State @ Penn State), Matthew Strome (Hamilton Bulldogs @ London Knights) and Cooper Marody (first of back-to-back games for Michigan @ Minnesota).
8) Making his return to his home league after collecting a silver medal in very sparing use by Team Sweden at the World Junior Championships, defenseman Linus Högberg skated 11:35 of ice time and was minus-one in Và¤xjö's 2-1 win over Karlskrona on Thursday.
9) Nolan Howe, the son of Hall of Fame defenseman Mark and the grandson of the late, legendary Gordie, operates the "Know Howe Hockey Camp" for kids. Registration is now open for the 2018 camp (Aug. 7-9, Aug. 14-16), with sessions at Grundy Arena in Bristol, PA. Mark Howe will be a special on-ice instructor. Camp is open for birth years 2007 and up. For more info, click here.