Quick Hits: Sept. 29, 2021
1) The Flyers opened their six-game preseason slate on Tuesday night with a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders at the Wells Fargo Center. Philadelphia got goals from Egor Zamula and Maksim Sushko will New got regulation tallies from Adam Pelech and Noah Dobson before Anthony Beauvillier scored on a counterattack in the opening shift of overtime to end the game.
Carter Hart stopped 17 of 18 shots while playing the first 40 minutes of the game. Samuel Ersson went the rest of the way, making 9 saves on 11 shots. Cory Schneider (10 saves on 11 shots) went roughly the first 30 minutes for New York, with Ken Appleby (15 saves on 16 shots going the rest of the way for New York).
Hart's performance, especially during a sluggish first period that saw the Flyers get outplayed, was one of the main positives for the Flyers. So, too, was the play of the likes of newcomers Ryan Ellis and Derick Brassard. Oskar Lindblom fared well in board battles, created a power play, set up a partial screen on Zamula's goal off a faceoff win by Brassard, and had a couple of scoring chances of his own. Veteran defenseman Nick Seeler, Zamula's partner, quietly played a solid game that head coach Alain Vigneault described as having "fight and bite".
For a full recap of the game, see the Postgame 5 on the Flyers official website.
2) The team will hold a noon practice today at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees. Tomorrow, the club will be in Boston to play the Bruins at TD Garden. Look for the lines of James van Riemsdyk, Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee as well as Nate Thompson, Scott Laughton and Nicolas Aube-Kubel to be in the Flyers' lineup. The defense will have Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen as the top pairing with Cam York and Adam Clendening as another. Martin Jones will play the opening 40 minutes in goal with Felix Sandström going the rest of the way.
3) KHL: Thea teams featuring Flyers goaltending prospects Ivan Fedotov (CSKA Moscow) and Alexei Kolosov (Dinamo Minsk) will respectively be in action today (Fedotov) and tomorrow in KHL action. Both the 24-year-old Fedotov and the 19-year-old Kolosov are off to very strong starts for their clubs.
4) Today in Flyers History: Flyers Beat New England in NHL vs. WHA Clash
During the 1974 offseason, the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association agreed to arrange a seven-game series of exhibition games between the two archrival leagues shortly before the start of their respective regular seasons.
In the first game of the series, the WHA's Houston Aeros defeated the St. Louis Blues, much to the consternation of NHL president Clarence Campbell. The second game of the series pitted the defending Stanley Cup champion Flyers against the New England Whalers.
Campbell, as was well-known, was no fan of the Flyers. However, as much as he disliked the franchise's maverick and rough-and-tumble image, he despised the World Hockey Association even more. The thought of the NHL dropping a second straight game to the WHA was unpalatable to Campbell, especially when it involved the NHL's league champions.
Much to the league president's relief, the Flyers delivered a 4-2 win. Two goals by Campbell's least-favorite player in the NHL, Dave "the Hammer" Schultz, led the way. The Flyers grabbed a quick 2-0 lead on goals by Schultz and prospect forward Bob Sirois. On the opening shift of the second period, Bill Barber opened a 3-0 lead. Schultz tallied again midway through the second period to extend the lead to four goals.
The Whalers got one back late in the second period on a goal by ex-Flyer Don Blackburn and another late in the third on a power play goal by Bob Charlebois (one goal. one assist on the night) but it was too little and too late.
It wasn't quite like our game against Red Army two years later but we got a congrats telegram from Clarence Campbell (who hated us) after we beat WHA's New England Whalers 4-2 in a game 47 years ago today. Campbell was nervous b/c the NHL had lost 1st game (Houston vs. STL) of 7 pic.twitter.com/RZBD567jXH
— Joe Watson Official (@JoeWatsonHockey) September 29, 2021
The two leagues split the first four games of the series before the NHL clubs won each of the final three. The final scores:
Houston Aeros 5 - St. Louis Blues 3 FLYERS 4 - New England Whalers 2 Atlanta Flames 3 - Winnipeg Jets 1 San Diego Mariners 4 - California Golden Seals 3 Minnesota North Stars 5 - Toronto Toros 3 Vancouver Canucks 4 - Edmonton Oilers 3 Pittsburgh Penguins 5 - Cleveland Crusaders 3