IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: FLYERS ROUNDUP
Five different Philadelphia Flyers tallied points in their respective opening games at the 2017 IIHF World Championships. Claude Giroux had a pair of assists, while Travis Konecny, Jakub Voracek, Ivan Provorov and Valtteri Filppula collected one apple apiece. Roundup below:
Canada 4 - Czech Republic 1
In a tournament opening game involving six different Flyers players, Canada prevailed over the Czech Republic by a 4-1 count in IIHF World Championships preliminary round action on Friday at AccorHotels Arena. The Canadians never trailed in the game, building a 2-0 lead over the first 40 minutes and then going to skate off with a three-goal margin of victory.
Team Canada captain Claude Giroux (two assists, one shot on goal, plus-one, 14:01 TOI over 22 shifts, 2 PIM) centered a line with Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon. Brayden Schenn (12:07 TOI over 14 shifts, even in plus-minus) played with Wayne Simmonds (12:16 TOI over 15 shifts, even in plus-minus) and Alex Killorn. Travis Konecny (one assist, five shots on goal, plus-one, 12:23 TOI over 16 shifts) was on a line with Mitch Marner and Brayden Point. Sean Couturier did not dress for the game. He is reportedly day-to-day with an undisclosed ailment.
For the Czech side, team captain Jakub Voracek (one assist, one shot on goal, minus-two (+1, -3) in plus-minus, 18:47 TOI over 30 shifts) played right wing on a line with Jan Kovar and Lukas Radil. Defenseman Radko Gudas (four shots on goal, 2 PIM, even in plus-minus, 17:45 TOI over 33 shifts) was paired with Radim Simek.
Giroux assisted on a Mike Matheson power play goal in the opening minute of the second period. With 7:19 left in the third period, Voracek assisted on a Radil goal that narrowed a 2-0 gap to 2-1. Previously, he had Kovar set up on a give-and-go with a gaping net staring at him but Kovar shot the puck too high. Two minutes after the Radil goal, Konency (primary) and Konecny got the helpers on Tyson Barrie's goal off the rush that restored a two-goal lead at 3-1. Earlier, during a mid-first period scrum after a whistle, Gudas popped Giroux in the face. Both players were penalized (Gudas for roughing, Giroux for high-sticking).
Radko Gudas just punched his #Flyers teammate Claude Giroux. That was odd. #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/NOm0jcdRTI
— Steven Ellis (@StevenEllisNHL) May 5, 2017
Russia 2 - Sweden 1 SO
Trailing 1-0 nearly eight minutes in the third period, Russia got a goal from Sergei Andronov to knot the score. After a scoreless overtime, Artemi Panarin scored the lone goal in the shootout to win the game for the Russians. Elias Lindholm notched the only tally for Sweden, late in the first period. Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov, wearing uniform No. 29, assisted on the Andronov goal. Overall, Provorov logged 19:22 of ice time over 24 shifts. He recorded two shots on goal and was even (-1. +1) in plus-minus.
Finland 3 - Belarus 2
Valtteri Filppula assisted on the game's first goal (Sebastian Aho) as Finland built a quick 2-0 lead and went on to win, 3-2, in regulation. The pesky Belarusian side battled back to tie the game in the third period before Veli-Matti Savinainen tallied a mid-period goal to put the Finns back ahead to stay.
Saturday Games involving Flyers
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and his Team France teammates are in action against Norway. Another game will see the Czechs (Voracek, Gudas) take on Belarus.
In matches not involving Flyers participants, Denmark plays against Latvia, Switzerland opposes Slovenia, Slovakia plays against Italy and Sweden plays Germany.
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WHL Bantam Draft: Flyers Connections
The Western Hockey League's annual Bantam Draft was held on Friday. Congratulations go out to Ridley Greig (son of former Flyers/Phantoms forward and longtime current Flyers western Canada scout Mark Greig) and Cohner Saleski (the nephew of Broad Street Bullies era Flyers right winger Don Saleski) for their respective top-17 selections in the draft.
Ridley was selected 8th overall by the Brandon Wheat Kings. Cohner was chosen 17th overall by the Prince Albert Raiders.