Quick Hits: February 5, 2024
1) The Flyers returned to practice on Sunday at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, FL, on Sunday afternoon. The team will hold another practice on Monday morning before taking on the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
The big news on Sunday was the return of Owen Tippett to practice. Barring any setbacks on Monday, it appears that Tippett is on track to exit IR and play on Tuesday. The winger told Brian Smith on Sunday that he's feeling much better now and the weeklong hiatus in the schedule was a big help in recovering from the ankle injury he sustained on January 20.
At Sunday's practice, Tippett skated on a newly created line alongside center Sean Couturier and veteran right winger Cam Atkinson. Will the line stay together for awhile? That remains be seen. Flyers head coach John Tortorella tends to be quick to shuffle around the wingers on his line combinations, particularly if things don't click in the first period and most especially when the team starts 11 forwards and seven defensemen (wherein the same combination of three forwards often do not go out together on back-to-back shifts).
Assuming Tippett is activated from IR before Tuesday's game, the Flyers will need to make a roster move. Seemingly, the likeliest move will be to return winger Olle Lycksell to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Lycksell has held his own, seeing more favorable usage and a little more ice time, during his most recent recall.
2) NHL All-Star Game selection Travis Konecny returned to practice on Sunday along with the rest of the Flyers' team. He recorded one assist in Team McKinnon's 4-3 (2-0) shootout loss to Team McDavid in the first 3-on-3 mini-game at the 2024 All-Star Game in Toronto on Saturday afternoon.
At practice on Sunday, Konency skated the right wing on a line with Morgan Frost and left winger Joel Farabee. As a trio, they clicked on their shifts together while Couturier was out of the lineup with a mild groin strain.
3) The Flyers full lineup during rushes at practice on Sunday was as follows:
74 Owen Tippett - 14 Sean Couturier - 89 Cam Atkinson 86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny 74 Tyson Foerster - 25 Ryan Poehling - 27 Noah Cates 44 Nic Deslauriers/62 Olle Lycksell - 21 Scott Laughton - 19 Garnet Hathaway
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen 8 Cam York - 9 Jamie Drysdale 24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker 5 Egor Zamula - 18 Marc Staal
33 Samuel Ersson 40 Cal Petersen
4) The American Hockey League All-Star Game is on Monday night at Tech CU Arena in San Jose, CA. Game time is 9:00 p.m. ET. The broadcast is on NHL Network in the United States and TSN in Canada.
Phantoms rookie right winger Samu Tuomaala, who is second in the league in rookie scoring with 35 points (13g, 22a) in 43 games played, will represent Lehigh Valley.
In the Skills Competition on Sunday, the Western Conference prevailed, 18 points to 13 points. Tuomaala participated in the hardest shot competition, finishing fifth among eight competitors with a 97.3 MPH slap shot. Riley Tufte of the Colorado Eagles (Avalanche farm team) won the competition with a 100.9 MPH shot.
Tuomaala, somewhat surprisingly, struggled in the accuracy shooting competition. He used up his eight allowed shots and hit only two of the first targets. LA Kings prospect Brandt Clarke (Ontario Reign) won the competition by going 4-for-4. During the season to date, Tuomaala boasts a 16.5 percent shooting percentage and has shown an ability to snipe the corners.
Tuomaala also participated in the concluding breakaway relay. He was unable to beat Dustin Wolf of the Calgary Wranglers (Flames farm team) on his one attempt.
5) On Saturday, the Phantoms fell back down to hockey .500 (18-18-7) as they suffered a 3-1 home loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the PPL Center. A third period shorthanded goal by the Penguins' Joona Koppinen proved to be fatal for Lehigh Valley. They had a chance to draw even at 1-1 and instead found themselves in 2-0 hole with 15:19 remaining in regulation while struggling to generate scoring chances.
W-B/S goalie Joel Blomqvist (20 saves on 21 shots) carried a shutout for 58 minutes until Phantoms rookie forward JR Avon (8th goal of the season) scored on a 6-on-5 at 18:06 to cut the gap back to one goal. An empty-netter by the Baby Pens' Jon Gruden at 18:36 sealed the final outcome. Ty Smith opened the scoring back in the first period.
23 Bobby Brink - 22 Rhett Gardner - 20 Cooper Marody 16 J.R. Avon - 56 Jacob Gaucher - 27 Samu Tuomaala 13 Brendan Furry - 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 19 Wade Allison 48 Alex Kile - 24 Adam Brooks - 14 Zayde Wisdom
6 Emil Andrae - 12 Ronnie Attard 37 Adam Ginning - 2 Helge Grans 98 Victor Mete - 5 Ethan Samson
31 Parker Gahagen [32 Felix Sandström]
6) On this week's Mondays with Meltzer edition of the Flyers Daily Podcast, Jason Myrtetus and I discuss the Flyers' outlook as they exit the All-Star break. Are there concerns about Sean Couturier constantly being asked to play 20+ minutes a night? While the Flyers have a relatively light February schedule in terms on the number of games (nine games, just one back-to-back), it's a difficult schedule in terms of quality of opposition. How much will February shape potentially being sellers at the trade deadline? What are the known factors and x-factors as the stretch drive starts to approach?
To listen to the 25-minute episode, click here.