Quick Hits: Oct. 10, 2021
1) The Flyers do not begin the 2021-22 regular season until Friday, when they host the Vancouver Canucks. The players will have a complete off-day on Monday for a team-building excursion to Atlantic City. They'll also play some golf and have a team dinner. Practices will resume on Tuesday.
2) Before the team went on its mini-break, they went through an intensive practice at the Flyers Training Center on Sunday that featured battle drills, 5-on-5, 5-on-4 (part of which was done via the "upside-down stick" facet among the penalty killers that you see every once in awhile), and 6-5. At the end, there was conditioning skating; far from a bag skate in length but pretty intensive for its duration. Oskar Lindblom said afterwards that while no one finds conditioning skating to be much fun, especially at the end of a fairly lengthy practice, it can pay dividends.
3) After practice, I asked head coach Alain Vigneault what the practical benefit is of doing the upside-down stick 5-on-4 (which made its first appearance of this year's camp). He said that while he's not sure if it has a direct benefit but it's done in order to expand the passing lanes for the power play personnel. They see a little more daylight to work on moving the puck around while still have PKers positionally trying to stop them.
4) The Flyers have until 5 p.m. on Monday to submit their opening night roster and injury list designations. The team plans to open the season with a 20-man active roster (12 forwards, six defensemen and goalies Carter Hart and Martin Jones). On Sunday, the team placed defenseman Nick Seeler on waivers for purposes of sending him to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
5) All forwards were present and accounted for at Saturday's practice, with the same line combinations that started Friday's game in Washington. AHL contracted/ NHL PTO winger Garrett Wilson rotated fourth-line reps with Jackson Cates, with Wilson getting the majority of the work.
6) For the second straight practice, both Ryan Ellis and Rasmus Ristolainen took a maintenance day. This was likely why Cam York (who had a good day on the ice, especially during special teams drills) and Seeler practiced: in order to have three pairings. Ivan Provorov was paired with Travis Sanheim, Keith Yandle was with Justin Braun, and Seeler was paired with York.
7) Vigneault said that all Ellis and Ristolainen have are a few bumps and bruises that accumulated over the exhibition games in which they played. With the season not starting until Friday and the Monday day-off, there's time for both to get in three full practices prior to opening night. Both should be back on the ice come Tuesday. Vigneault noted that rest and recuperation is going to be hard to come by soon enough, so Flyers players need to take that opportunity while there's a relatively relaxed, and home-based schedule through the first four games.
8) One day after doing a rehab skate with skills coach Angelo Ricci (along with Kevin Hayes, Zayde Wisdom and Cooper Zech), Egor Zamula participated in practice with the team. He was worked into occasional reps and stayed on the ice throughout. Vigneault said after practice that, earlier in the morning, Zamula had gotten medical clearance to return to play. He will likely be assigned to the Phantoms on Monday, along with York and Seeler.
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Goalies Shine But Phantoms Fall to Hershey, 3-2
Using a lineup that was missing many of its projected regulars including the first-line and second-line centers, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms found the sledding mighty tough on Sunday when they paid a visit to the Hershey Bears on Sunday.
Hershey prevailed, 3-2, but the score could -- and probably should -- have been a blowout before it was even halfway through. Felix Sandström was outstanding in goal over 40 minutes of action, stopping 28 of 31 shots. Samuel Ersson played the third period, stopping all five shots he faced.
The Phantoms easily could have gone to the first intermission trailing anywhere from 4-0 to 6-0. The ice was utterly tilted and Sandström was under siege all period. This is not a typo: The Bears outshot Lehigh Valley by a whopping 22-1 margin in the first period. Hershey also physically ran roughshod over the Phantoms, hitting early and often (and sometimes with borderline legality).
Even in being a preseason game with quite a few ECHL-level and tryout players filling out the Phantoms lineup, the opening 20 minutes were unacceptable. Sandström alone prevented the score from getting out of hand.
At the start of the second period, looking to give his team some sort of spark, Brennan Saulnier dropped the gloves with Dylan McIlrath. At least in the second period, the Phantoms made it tougher for Hershey to attack their net with impunity and also stepped up their own physicality a notch. Nonetheless, the Phantoms had all of three shots on goal for the first 33 minutes of the game before finally getting a semblance of an attack going.
Trailing 3-0 entering the final five minutes of the middle stanza, the Phantoms finally found some equilibrium. Defenseman Wyatte Wylie fired off a shot that found the net at 18:12 of the second period. Connor Bunnaman and Isaac Ratcliffe got the assists. Of the seven shots on goal the Phantoms generated in the second period, all but two game over the final five minutes of the frame.
The third period, with Ersson now in goal for the Phantoms, was more evenly played. There wasn't much offense from either side but there was plenty of feistiness between and after the whistles. The Phantoms got a two-minute 5-on-3 power play after a Kody Clark tripping penalty was compounded by Bears enforcer Kale Kessy (who has had his share of run-ins with Lehigh Valley players) picking up an instigation minor out of a fight with Connor Bunnaman.
During the ensuing two-man advantage, Tyson Foerster received a pass from Gerry Mayhew and ripped a shot on Pheonix Copley. The goalie fought it off but the rebound went to Linus Sandin, who stashed the puck home to narrow the gap to one goal with 10:04 remaining in regulation.
The Phantoms severely hurt their own chances of pushing to tie the score. Lehigh Valley took three separate minor penalties over the second half of the period, including a late too many men on the ice infraction. For the game, Lehigh Valley mustered a meager 12 shots to 36 for the Bears (a more modest 14-11 deficit over the second and third periods).
The Phantoms, who did not have Morgan Frost, Cal O'Reilly, German Rubtsov, Adam Clendening and several other projected regulars in the lineup, dropped to 1-2-0 on the preseason. They will host the Bears at the PPL Center on Wednesday.
Phantoms lineup on Sunday:
19 Isaac Ratcliffe - 39 Charlie Gerard - 71 Tyson Foerster 20 Max Willman - 16 Matthew Strome - 27 Samu Tuomaala 21 Linus Sandin - 47 Nick Master - 26 Gerry Mayhew 24 Brennan Saulnier - 25 Connor Bunnaman - 42 Hayden Hodgson
6 Linus Högberg - 22 Logan Day 8 Mason Millman - 29 Wyatte Wylie 43 Jackson van de Leest - 40 Ryan MacKinnon
32 Felix Sandström (starter) 30 Samuel Ersson (3rd period)
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Today in Flyers History: October 11, 1967
On this evening 54 years ago, the Philadelphia Flyers played the first game in franchise history. It was a rough night for Keith Allen's team, as the Flyers lost to the host Oakland Seals by a 5-1 score. Bernie Parent took the loss in goal.
Bill Sutherland scored the only goal of the game for the Flyers; the first tally in franchise history. Later, Sutherland would also notch the first home goal in team history when he scored the only goal for either side in the Flyers' 1-0 debut victory at the Spectrum over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Tomorrow is the 54th anniversary of the first game in Flyers history. Unfortunately, we lost 5-1 to the Seals. I had just signed my contract, along with Ed van Impe. We both weren't in game shape yet and had an awful game.
— Joe Watson Official (@JoeWatsonHockey) October 10, 2021
Here is Lou Angotti (RIP) and me in that game. pic.twitter.com/8Jncbu8DOx