Quick Hits: June 3, 2022
1) Flyers Daily: Flyers defenseman Cam York is Jason Myrtetus's guest on Friday's edition of Flyers Daily. He discussed his 2021-22 rookie season with the Phantoms and Flyers, the experience of playing the right side of his defense pair for the first time in his career, his offseason objectives and more. To listen, click here.
2) There is nothing new to report on the Flyers coach search front except for the fact that Philadelphia has reportedly had three separate discussions with Barry Trotz; two via Zoom and one in person. That does not portend anything beyond Trotz, who has drawn strong interest from multiple teams, at least doing his due diligence on Philadelphia as a possibility. He's also met with Winnipeg and plans to meet (or has already done so) with several other clubs. On a leaguewide basis. there is a bottleneck in teams filling head coach vacancies because teams are waiting to see first which destination Trotz chooses. Apart from Winnipeg, the Flyers are believed to be competing for Trotz's services with Vegas, Detroit, Chicago and, quite possibly, Dallas. Trotz has apparently made clear to all teams that, while he respects their need to move ahead with their offseason plans one way or another, he is not going to rush to make a decision on which team he will coach next.
3) Today in Flyers History: June 3, 1997 n need of a Game Two win to knot the 1997 Stanley Cup Final at one game apiece before the scene shifted to Joe Louis Arena, the Philadelphia Flyers did not get the hoped-for fast start against the Detroit Red Wings.
Early goals by Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman forged a 2-0 lead for the Red Wings before the first period reached the halfway point. Undaunted, the Flyers rallied to square the game at 2-2 by the first intermission as Rod Brind'Amour converted penalties on Slava Fetisov and Igor Larionov into power play markers at 17:42 and 18:51. Rookie defenseman Janne Niinimaa assisted on both goals.
The Flyers partisans packing the Wells Fargo Center (then called CoreStates Center) went bonkers when Brind'Amour knotted the game. Unfortunately, a turnover high in the offensive zone by Eric Lindros created a counter-attack for Detroit early in the second period and a Kirk Maltby slap shot from just inside the right point eluded Flyers goalie Garth Snow (24 saves on 28 shots) to restore a 3-2 lead for Detroit just 2:39 into the second period.
Shanahan scored his second goal of the game midway through the third period to secure a 4-2 win for Detroit.
4) June 3 Flyers Alumni birthday: Jason Akeson (1990).