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Flyers Gameday: 10/13/18 vs. VGK

October 13, 2018, 6:09 AM ET [169 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game 5: Preview: Flyers vs. Golden Knights

Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (2-2-0) host Gerard Gallant's Vegas Golden Knights (1-4-0) in a Saturday matinee. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center.

The game will be televised on NBCSNP. The radio broadcast can be found on 97.5 FM The Fanatic with an online simulcast at FlyersRadio247.com.

Saturday's game marks a very early wrapup of the two-game season series between the interconference teams. On opening night (Oct. 4) in Vegas, the Flyers skated to a 5-2 victory.

Oskar Lindblom, Wayne Simmonds (even strength and power play goals), Robert Hägg (one goal, one assist for his first multi-point game in the NHL) and Scott Laughton scored for the Flyers. Jakub Voracek had a pair of assists, while Mikhail Vorobyev recorded his first career NHL point with a secondary assist on the Hägg goal. Brian Elliott finished with 23 saves on 25 shots.

Jonathan Marchessault opened the scoring in the first period. Ex-Flyers center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored shorthanded in the third period. Marc-Andre Fleury took the loss for Vegas. He was pulled after the fifth Flyers goal with 11 saves on 16 shots. Malcolm Subban went the rest of the way, and was not tested all that often on nine shots.


Flyers Outlook

The Flyers are coming off a less-than-artistic but psychologically important 7-4 road victory on Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators. The win erased some of the sting of Tuesday's 8-2 shellacking in the home opener at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. After an off-day on Thursday, the Flyers practiced on Friday Voorhees in Voorhees.

Early in practice, Travis Konecny appeared to take a Ivan Provorov shot off his foot while going toward the net on a tip-in drill. He skated off gingerly to talk with trainer Jim McCrossin, briefly attempted to resume practice and then left the ice. Konecny's status for Saturday's game is unknown as of this writing. The Flyers, who only have 12 available forwards assuming Konecny is able to play, did not make any callups from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday. If a callup is made on Saturday morning, Taylor Leier or Nicolas Aube-Kubel would be candidates.

The Flyers are already down two key forwards. James van Riemsdyk is out five to seek weeks from Oct. 6 with a lower body injury sustained in a 5-2 loss in Colorado. Nolan Patrick is out a week to 10 days with an upper-body injury suffered in the first period on Wednesday in Ottawa.
Jordan Weal, a healthy scratch in three of the first four games, centered the second line at practice on Friday.

In Ottawa, the top line trio of Claude Giroux (power play goal, two assists), Jakub Voracek (power play and 2-on-1 even strength goals, three assists) and Sean Couturier (went to the net and was rewarded for a second time early this season) stepped up big in a much-needed situation. Scott Laughtons scored a nifty backhanded goal and added an empty netter. Robert Hägg rounded out the scoring for the Flyers, scoring his second goal of the young season. Shayne Gostisbehere bagged a pair of power play helpers.

Calvin Pickard got the win in goal in Ottawa. Elliott appears slated to get the start on Saturday.

The Flyers power play has connected on five of 20 chances thus far. The penalty kill was 6-for-7 in the first two games but has been strafed (7-for-12) over the last two games. Philly has also struggled to limit opposing scoring chances thus far; according to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Flyers have already yielded an even 100 scoring chances (46 of the "high-danger" variety) over the first four games.

Gap control, puck management and forward corps back-pressure have all been lacking in the first four games, and the defensemen individually and collectively have struggled. Gostisbehere has been the Flyers' best blueliner to date.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall was in Allentown on Friday to watch the Lehigh Valley Phantoms play the Springfield Thunderbirds. Unfortunately, he got a bird's eye view of one of the ugliest games the Phantoms have ever played since the team was relocated from Glens Falls to the Lehigh Valley. The Phantoms were on the receiving end of a 7-0 thrashing.

Hextall witnessed the Phantoms give up five power play goals. The defense, including top prospect Philippe Myers, and forwards struggled mightily on both sides of the puck. Starting goaltender Carter Hart (who yielded a soft goal in the closing seconds of the first period) was pulled midway through the game after stopping just 12 of 16 shots. Relief goaltender Anthony Stolarz fared little better (13 saves on 16 shots). Defenseman Mark Friedman took a puck to the mouth in the second period, although he later returned. Forward Mike Vecchione took two offensive zone penalties in the first period and then committed an awful turnover on a cross-ice pass attempt high in the defensive zone. To top it all off, the Phantoms power play generated very little quality of on an 0-for-4 evening.

Golden Knights Outlook

The Golden Knights could be a tired team on Saturday afternoon. They are playing for the fourth time in less than six evenings; all on the road. It's been a very rough road trip thus far for the defending Western Conference champions: a 4-2 loss in Buffalo on Monday, a 5-2 loss in Washington on Wednesday, and a 4-2 defeat in Pittsburgh on Thursday including two breakaway goals and a hat trick for Phil Kessel.

During the opener against the Flyers at home last week, the Golden Knights had trouble preventing the Flyers from getting through the neutral zone and attacking with speed. They also weren't getting key saves from Fleury (who was pulled mid-game). Vegas outchanced the Flyers early in the match and during the latter portion while chasing the game but they were very breakdown-prone and appeared to be sorely missing the presence of suspended defenseman Nate Schmidt in particular.

The Golden Knights have had Corsi victories in each of their games thus far but all four of their losses have been well-deserved on the balance. Offensively, William Karlsson brings a three-game point streak into Saturday's matinee.

After a 2-1 win in Minnesota on Saturday, the Golden Knights embarked on their current 4-in-6 eastern road trip. Tired legs or not vs. a Flyers team that has rested at home for two nights, Vegas needs to end the trip on an up-note before returning home for a rematch against the Sabres on Tuesday.

PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)

FLYERS

28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier -93 Jakub Voracek
23 Oskar Lindblom - 40 Jordan Weal -11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton- 24 Mikhail Vorobyev - 17 Wayne Simmonds
22 Dale Weise -15 Jori Lehterä -12 Michael Raffl

9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
8 Robert Hägg - 47 Andrew MacDonald
6 Travis Sanheim - 3 Radko Gudas

37 Brian Elliott
[33 Calvin Pickard]

Scratches: 26 Christian Folin (healthy), 19 Nolan Patrick (upper body), 25 James van Riemsdyk (IR, lower body), 30 Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body), 38 Corban Knight (IR, upper body), 5 Sam Morin (ACL surgery).

GOLDEN KNIGHTS

81 Jonathan Marchessault - 71 William Karlsson - 19 Reilly Smith
67 Max Pacioretty - 56 Erik Haula - 92 Tomas Nosek
38 Tomas Hyka - 21 Cody Eakin - 40 Ryan Carpenter
28 William Carrier - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 75 Ryan Reaves

3 Brayden McNabb - 6 Colin Miller
27 Shea Theodore - 5 Deryk Engelland
15 Jon Merrill - 22 Nick Holden​

29 Marc-Andre Fleury
[30 Malcolm Subban​]

Scratches: 24 Oscar Lindberg (healthy), 77 Brad Hunt (healthy), 26 Paul Stastny (IR), 89 Alex Tuch (IR), 88 Nate Schmidt (NHL suspension).
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