GAME 58: FLYERS @ PANTHERS
Beginning a two-game trip to the Sunshine State, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (31-19-7 overall, 12-14-3 away) are in Sunrise on Thursday to take on Joel Quenneville's Florida Panthers (30-20-6 overall, 16-10-2 home). Game time at the BB&T Center is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast will be on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on the
Flyers Radio 24/7 component of the Flyers Broadcast Network.
This is the third and final meeting of the season between the teams and the second and final game in Florida. The Flyers are 1-1-0 in the two games to date.
In Sunrise on Nov. 19, 2019, the Flyers got off to quick 1-0 lead on a goal by Travis Sanheim. The Flyers' other highlight was a pretty goal scored by Morgan Frost in his NHL debut, stepping out from behind the net and elevating a backhander over Sergei Bobrovsky to cut a 4-1 deficit to two goals. Florida went on to win, 5-2. The Panthers received goals from Colton Sceviour, Brett Connelly, Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Mike Hoffman (empty net).
Carter Hart was pulled at 10:23 of the second period after allowing four goals on 18 shots. Brian Elliott went the rest of the way, stopping all shots he faced. Sergei Bobrovsky earned the win for Florida, stopping 35 of 37 shots.
Three nights ago, the teams convened at the Wells Fargo Center, as the Flyers claimed a 4-1 victory in Hart's return from a nine-game absence due to a lower right abdominal strain. Hart needed some time to get settled in early but soon did. He earned the win with 30 saves on 31 shots. Ex-Flyer Bobrovsky absorbed the loss. He stopped 30 of 33 shots.
Mackenzie Weegar opened the scoring early in the first period. Ivan Provorov got it back to send the teams to the first intermission tied at 1-1. In the second period, James van Riemsdyk finished off a transitional rush led by Jakub Voracek, starting near the attack blueline. Travis Sanheim scored in a late-period scramble around the net to build a 3-1 lead. Claude Giroux tallied a long-distance empty-net shorthanded goal to ice the win for the Flyers.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers must bounce right back from an emotionally hard-to-swallow 5-3 regulation loss to the New York Islanders in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Trailing 3-0 at the first intermission, the Flyers battled all the way back to tie the game at 3-3 late in the third period but then yielded a point shot goal by Ryan Pulock in the final minute of the game.
Travis Konecny (19th), Robert Hägg (2nd) and Sean Couturier (16th) scored in what was ultimately a losing cause for Philadelphia. Brian Elliott took the loss, with 20 saves on 24 shots. Semyon Varlamov denied 35 of 38 shots for the Islanders.
After missing three games due to illness, losing 10 pounds, rookie winger Joel Farabee returned to the lineup on Tuesday. To accomodate his return, Vigneault made rookie center Morgan Frost a healthy scratch and moved Scott Laughton (two assists against the Islanders) to the third line center spot vacated by Frost.
Shayne Gostisbehere, who has been working to recover his game conditioning and timing since returning from Jan. 14 arthroscopic knee surgery, has been dealing with what is said to be procedure recovery-related soreness in his knee.
PANTHERS OUTLOOK
After their loss in Philadelphia on Monday, the Panthers skated to a 5-3 road win in New Jersey on Tuesday. They did on a night where neither Jonathan Huberdeau nor Aleksander Barkov figured in any of the scoring.
The Panthers yielded an early power play goal to Jack Hughes on Tuesday but then claimed each of the next three goals -- Brett Connolly (18th), Mike Matheson (7th) and Mark Pysyk (8th) -- before New Jersey very briefly drew back within a goal. On the very next shift, Frank Vatrano (15th) restored a two-goal lead. On the shift after that, Noel Acciari (19th) opened a 5-2 lead that the Panthers held the rest of the way. With Bobrovsky resting, backup goalie Sam Montembeault delivered a 25-save victory.
Combined with the Flyers losing in New York, the Panthers moved back within three points of the Flyers in the wildcard race. Both Philly and Florida will be playing for the third time in four nights and the fourth time in six; thus, it's a neutral fatigue factor.
Truth be told, apart from the favorable end result, the way that Monday's game in Philadelphia unfolded for large segments was the opposite from how the Flyers wanted to approach playing the Panthers. The game was too wide open at times for Vigneault's liking against a team that usually thrives in such conditions; trading off rushes and odd-man opportunities. Luckily for the Flyers, Hart settled in nicely over the final 50 minutes and the Panthers' failed to execute on many of their best chances. Open shots either missed the net or passes narrowly missed connections, with the puck sailing harmlessly away to end the opportunity.
The Flyers do not want to press their luck. The game plan was -- and remains -- to throw superior structure at the Panthers and then to press their foot on the gas when pucks are turned over. Puck possesion wise, the Flyers established an edge on Monday -- largely due to strong play by their third and especially their fourth lines -- but there were too many breakdowns defensively that gave time and space for Florida to counterattack.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS (based on Tuesday's Lineup)
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
49 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 21 Scott Laughton - 18 Tyler Pitlick
12 Michael Raffl - 82 Connor Bunnaman - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim -5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hägg - 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[37 Brian Elliott]
Power Play 1: Giroux, Couturier, Konecny, Voracek, Provorov.
Power Play 2: JVR, Hayes, Farabee, Sanheim, Niskanen.
Scratches: 53 Shayne Gostisbehere (knee), 48 Morgan Frost (healthy).
LTIR: 55 Sam Morin (torn ACL, out for season), 23 Oskar Lindblom (Ewing sarcoma, out for season), 19 Nolan Patrick (migraines).
PANTHERS
11 Jonathan Huberdeau - 16 Aleksander Barkov - 63 Evgenii Dadonov
7 Colton Sceviour - 21 Vincent Trocheck - 10 Brett Connolly
77 Frank Vatrano - 14 Dominic Toninato - 68 Mike Hoffman
19 Mike Matheson - 55 Noel Acciari - 13 Mark Pysyk
52 Mackenzie Weeger - 5 Aaron Ekblad
61Riley Stillman - 6 Anton Strålman
3 Keith Yandle - 2 Josh Brown
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
[33 Sam Montembeault]
Power Play 1: Huberdeau, Barkov, Dadonov, Hoffman, Yandle
Power Play 2: Trocheck, Connolly, Matheson, Vatrano, Ekblad
Scratches: 8 Jayce Hawryluk (healthy), 62 Denis Malgin (healthy), 9 Brian Boyle (upper body, day-to-day).
IR: 60 Chris Driedger (lower body).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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