Quick Hits: January 7, 2023
1) The Philadelphia Flyers took an off-day on Friday to get some extra rest before a grueling schedule over the next week-plus.
It starts with an 11 a.m. ET practice on Saturday at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees. On Sunday, the Flyers embark on the start of a gauntlet of three games in four nights: versus Toronto at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday (7:00 p.m. ET), on the road in Buffalo on Monday (7:00 p.m. ET), off-day on Tuesday, at home vs. Washington on Wednesday (7:00 p.m. ET). Next Saturday, the Flyers are in DC to take on the Capitals (7:00 p.m. ET) in the second half of a home-and-home set. Come Mon. Jan. 16, the Flyers are on the road in Boston to take on the Bruins in a 1:00 p.m. ET matinee.
The Flyers, who have won four games in a row, made the most of a stretch of games in which they faced only one team (the LA Kings) who are above them in the NHL standings. Things are now about to get tougher. The next five games figure to be a series of tough tests to the improvements that John Tortorella's team has shown since mid-December. Over the last 10 games, the Flyers have won six. The victories have included wins over the New Jersey Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets prior to sweeping a three-game California road trip and coming home to beat Arizona.
2) Phantoms Update: Riding a 24-save performance from Felix Sandström, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms skated to a 3-2 road win against the Rochester Americans. The Phantoms were significantly outplayed in the first period but Sandström made 13 saves (including several tough ones) to get the game to the first intermission in a scoreless tie.
The second period was much more evenly played, with a narrow edge to the Phantoms. Nonetheless, the Amerks held a 1-0 lead by the second intermission following a Lukas Rousek breakaway goal at 13:25. Through two periods, shots were 19-14 in favor of Rochester.
The Phantoms offense came alive in the third period. It was two young players the Flyers organization particularly wants to see step up in Lehigh Valley that ended up leading the way offensively.
Making his AHL debut after undergoing offseason hip surgery, Bobby Brink scored his first pro goal (he had four assists but no goals in his 10-game NHL stint with the Flyers late last season). The goal was scored in transition out of the defensive zone. Egor Zamula passed ahead to Brink, who tallied on a nice rising shot inside the far-side post from the right faceoff dot. Adam Brooks drew the secondary assist at 2:30 of the third period. Amerks goalie Eric Comrie (21 saves on 24 shots) didn't have much of a chance of stopping this snipe of a goal.
At 3:48, the Phantoms took the lead for the first time in the game. The Amerks had to chance an errant pass back down the ice. Getting pressured by a hard-charging Olle Lycksell, defenseman Chase Priske had the puck taken away from him by Lycksell behind the Rochester net. Seeing an open Tyson Foerster in the slot, Lycksell centered the puck in front, and Foerster scored for his 9th goal of the season. The tally broke an eight-game goalless drought for Foerster (0g, 1a in that stretch) after a spell of three goals and six points the previous four games.
The sudden spate of early third period goals continued. First, the Amerks re-tied the score at 5:11 on an Anders Björk one-timer from the faceoff dot in the right circle off a Linus Weissbach feed. However, just 49 seconds later at the 6:00 mark, the Phantoms took the lead for good.
Jordy Bellerive fired a shot on net from the right slot. Comrie made the save. Max Willman attempted to follow it up but was blocked. The puck then went directly to Jackson Cates, who scored (6th goal of the season) from the left slot for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
Sandström stopped six of seven shots in the third period, and the Phantoms a pair of penalties in nailing down the one-goal win.
Veteran defenseman Kevin Connauton, who had been in Switzerland with Team Canada for the Spengler Cup returned to the Lehigh Valley lineup for this game.
The Phantoms' lineup on Friday was as follows:
28 Olle Lycksell - 51 Artem Anisimov - 71 Tyson Foerster 17 Garrett Wilson - 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 25 Cooper Marody 24 Adam Brooks - 9 Cal O'Reilly - 23 Bobby Brink 20 Max Willman - 18 Jackson Cates - 15 Jordy Bellerive
4 Egor Zamula - 47 Louie Belpedio 44 Kevin Connauton - 12 Ronnie Attard 37 Adam Ginning - 29 Wylie Wylie
32 Felix Sandström [35 Pat Nagle]
With Sandström voluntarily on loan from the Flyers on a two-week conditioning assignment, the Phantoms loaned rookie goalie Nolan Maier to the ECHL's Reading Royals. Veteran goalie Troy Grosenick has been out with an injury for much of the season.
The Phantoms' roster is currently pretty healthy. As a result, there's competition for spots in the starting lineup. On Friday, the likes of Isaac Ratcliffe, Zayde Wisdom, Ryan Fitzgerald and Hayden Hodgson were all scratched from the lineup.
On Saturday at 4:00 p.m. ET, the Phantoms are back in action on the road to take on the Toronto Marlies. The game will be streamed for free on AHLTV (no subscription required).