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Flyers Gameday: 11/17/18 vs. TB; Phantoms Update

November 17, 2018, 8:30 AM ET [620 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game 20 Preview: Flyers vs. Lightning

Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (9-9-1) are at home on Saturday afternoon to take on Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning (13-5-1). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 1:00 p.m. ET.

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.

This is the first of three meetings this season between the teams. They will rematch on Dec. 19 in Tampa and Feb. 19 back in Philadelphia. Last season, the Flyers played Tampa tough, going 1-1-1 with a road win and a road shootout loss (in a wild 7-6 contest) in the mix.

Flyers Outlook

The Flyers will reach the unofficial quarter pole of the season with this game. They have fallen back to statistical .500 on the season with back-to-back losses to Florida and New Jersey after rattling off a 5-0-1 run. Saturday's game marks the conclusion of a five-game homestand.

Over the last two games, the Flyers have scored only a single goal. A disallowed first period would-be power play goal for Shayne Gostisbehere against the Devils and a combined six hit goal posts (five in the New Jersey game including four in the first period) have punctuated the frustration of the last two games. A third period tally by Jakub Voracek set up by Oskar Lindblom in a 2-1 loss to the Panthers stood as the Flyers' only goal so far this week. New Jersey shut out the Flyers, 3-0.

The Flyers lost goaltender Brian Elliott for approximately two weeks when he suffered a lower-body injury on a sequence in the latter part of the third period that saw Kyle Palmieri score a wraparound goal that gave New Jersey a 2-0 lead. Elliott has posted a 1.55 goals against average and .931 save percentage over his last seven games.

In Elliott's absence, the Flyers will turn to Cal Pickard and Alex Lyon (recalled from Lehigh Valley on Friday) to hold down the fort in goal. Michal Neuvirth was on the ice on Thursday but remains on injured reserve.

Radko Gudas missed Thursday's game due to illness. He returned to practice on Friday. The team held an optional practice, with 14 participating players, so line combinations for Saturday could not be determined. There is no morning skate on Saturday.

Entering play on Saturday, Claude Giroux leads the team with 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 19 games. Giroux's next point will be the 700th of his career. Additionally, with 478 assists, Giroux is two away from catching Brian Propp for second on the Flyers' all-time list.

Voracek is second on the team with 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in 18 games. He is followed by Couturier (seven goals, five assists), Simmonds (seven goals, three assists), Lindblom (four goals, six assists) and Patrick (five goals, four assists in 15 games played).

Through 19 games, the Flyers have scored 57 goals but allowed 65, an average of 3.00 goals scored per game (19th in the NHL) with a team 3.42 goals against average (29th). The power play, 1-for-19 in November and 3-for-43 since starting the season at 5-for-20, comes in at 12.7 percent (tied for 29th) with four shorthanded goals yielded. The penalty kill, which was not scored upon last game, comes in at 71.2 percent (30th).

Lightning Outlook

Throughout most of the NHL, there is parity. Tampa is one of the few teams that is a clear-cut notch above the pack, both on paper and in the team's overall on-ice performance to date: deep and talented offense, a very good blueline led by one of the NHL's top all-around defensemen (Victor Hedman) and excellent goaltending on most nights.

The goaltending part of the equation, at least for the time being, has become a question mark. Standout young goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy is sidelined with a broken foot, which moved Louis Domingue up to the No. 1 role while the Russian star is out. Even without Vasilevskiy, the Lightning remain a formidable opponent who can win games many different ways.

The Bolts enter this game coming off a 4-3 win over Pittsburgh. Brayden Point made NHL history, scoring three power play goals in a record 91-second span of game time (19:57 of the first period, 0:41 and 1:28 of the second period) to record a natural hat trick. Point has 12 goals on the season among his team-leading 22 points. Domingue stopped 28 of 31 shots.

On the injury front, veteran defenseman Anton Strålman is day-to-day with an upper body injury. Forward Ondrej Palat (lower-body injury) is on injured reserve.

As a team, the Lightning have scored 67 goals and yielded 53. The team's average 3.53 goals per game is tied with Colorado for the league's most potent offense, while the team 2.79 GAA ranks 9th. Tampa's power play comes in at 27.1 percent (5th overall) and penalty kills enters at 85.7 percent (4th).


PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)

FLYERS

28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom - 19 Nolan Patrick - 93 Jakub Voracek
25 James van Riemsdyk - 40 Jordan Weal - 17 Wayne Simmonds
22 Dale Weise - 21 Scott Laughton - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel

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

33 Cal Pickard
[34 Alex Lyon]

Scratches: 26 Christian Folin (healthy), 15 Jori Lehterä (healthy), 37 Brian Elliott (lower body), 30 Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body), 12 Michael Raffl (IR, lower body), 10 Corban Knight (IR, collarbone), 5 Sam Morin (ACL surgery).

LIGHTNING

10 J.T. Miller - 91 Steven Stamkos - 86 Nikita Kucherov
37 Yanni Gourde - 21 Brayden Point - 9 Tyler Johnson
17 Alex Killorn - 71 Anthony Cirelli - 7 Mathieu Joseph
73 Adam Erne - 13 Cedric Paquette - 24 Ryan Callahan

81 Erik Cernak - 77 Victor Hedman
27 Ryan McDonagh - 5 Dan Girardi
55 Braydon Coburn - 98 Mikhail Sergachev

70 Louis Domingue
[80 Edward Pasquale]

Scratches: 62 Danick Martel (healthy), 29 Slater Koekkoek (healthy), 6 Anton Strålman (day-to-day, upper body), 18 Ondrej Palat (IR, lower body), 88 Andrei Vasilevskiy (IR, broken foot).

************

Phantoms Update: Four-goal Comeback Lifts Phantoms in Providence, 5-4


Trailing 3-0 in the first period and 4-1 by the first intermission, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms staged a dramatic comeback to earn a 5-4 road victory against the Providence Bruins on Friday night. The Phantoms improved to 9-4-2 on the season, while Providence remained in last place in the Atlantic Division, dropping to 5-8-2.

In nearly 47 minutes of relief work for starting goaltender Carter Hart, Anthony Stolarz held the Bruins to one goal on 25 shots. Most of the shots he saw were from the outside but when he was tested, apart from an iffy jam-in goal at the left post that gave Providence a 4-1 lead in the first period, Stolarz gave his team a chance to come back.

The Phantoms got their comeback bid rolling on the opening shift of the second period, as Chris Conner (7th goal of the season) cut the gap to 4-2. Midway through the middle frame, reigning AHL MVP winner Phil Varone brought the Phantoms back within a goal. That set the stage for a dramatic third period that saw the teams combine for 25 shots (13 for Lehigh Valley) and the Phantoms to score twice to win the game.

Lehigh Valley drew even at 4:55 of the third period as Carsen Twarynski (1st goal) bulldozed his way to the net on a rush, scoring the goal and leaving goalie Dan Vladar (21 saves on 26 shots) in a heap in the crease. Similar to an NHL play involving Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson, the goal was allowed to stand yet Twarynski was also penalized for goaltender interference. Providence head coach Jay Leach argued the ruling vehemently but to no avail.

At 15:03, the Phantoms took their first lead of the game and the only one they'd need. On a Lehigh Valley power play, defenseman Philippe Myers (4th goal) pinched into the circle, collected the puck and rifled it into a half-open net to put the Phantoms on top, 5-4. Mike Vecchione and Zach Palmquist drew the helpers.

Back in the first period, things looked bleak for the Phantoms. Hart was pulled at 13:01 of the frame after yielding three goals on eight shots. The first two goals would have been tough to stop. Both were scored point-blank, and the Cameron Hughes goal that made it 1-0 just two minutes into the game came about directly as the result of a giveaway by Myers. The third goal by Colby Cave was a seemingly routine chance -- a shot from up high without much on it -- but it may have deflected. The way that Varone reacted afterward, smashing his stick over the crossbar, and the way Hart was handcuffed by the puck certainly suggested the puck changed direction.

Tough chances notwithstanding, the Phantoms needed some saves to erase the miscues and instead found themselves in a deep hole early. Rookie forward Connor Bunnaman (2nd goal) got himself near netfront and swept home a loose puck at 17:33 to get the Phantoms on the board at 3-1. However, one minute later, Karson Kuhlman moved out from behind the goal line near the left post and the puck ended up behind relief goaltender Stolarz to put Providence back on top by three goals.

Completing a disastrous first period, Phantoms rookie center German Rubtsov (who has been enjoying a strong campaign thus far) was taken into end boards on a routine hit and was injured on the play. Since there was only one angle shown and it was with his back turned, it hard to tell if Rubtsov's shoulder got wedged, his wrist jammed or if he smacked his jaw into the glass. Any which way, he went off in obvious upper-body distress and did not return to the game.

The Phantoms return to action on Saturday night, visiting the Springfield Thunderbirds (8-4-2) at the MassMutual Center.

Below is the Phantoms starting lineup in the Providence game:


10 Greg Carey- 26 Phil Varone - 9 Cole Bardreau
24 Carsen Twarynski - 21 Mike Vecchione - 22 Chris Conner
25 Connor Bunnaman - 17 German Rubtsov - 38 David Kase
23 Taylor Leier - 15 Mikhail Vorobyev - 13 Colin McDonald

43 T.J. Brennan - 37 Mark Friedman
6 Philip Samuelsson - 5 Philippe Myers
7 Zach Palmquist - 44 Reece Willcox

31 Carter Hart
[41 Anthony Stolarz]
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