GAME 35: FLYERS @ SABRES
Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (17-13-4) are in New York State on Wednesday to take on interim head coach Dan Granato's Buffalo Sabres (6-23-4). Game time at KeyBank Center is 7:30 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the second game of a back-to-back set between the teams in Buffalo and the seventh of eight games between the teams this season. The Flyers are 5-1-0 against the Sabres to date this season.
Philly got humiliated on home ice, 6-1, in the first meeting of the season. Brian Elliott then recorded a shut-out in a 3-0 victory two nights later. Two more Flyers shutout wins followed (Elliott in the first, Carter Hart in the second) in 3-0 finals in Buffalo on Feb. 27 and 28. On March 9 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers had to rally back from deficits of 3-1 and 4-2 to force overtime and then prevail via shootout, 5-4.
Two nights ago, the Flyers fell into a 3-0 hole through two periods then came back to win the game in overtime, 4-3.
Kevin Hayes (11th) got a goal back early in the third period, giving his team a sniff at a potential comeback. Claude Giroux (9th) cut the gap to one goal midway through the stanza. Sean Couturier (10th) knotted the score at 18:31 to force OT. In 3-on-3 sudden death, Ivan Provorov (5th) scored on a 2-on-1 to win the game. Brian Elliott stopped 29 of 32 shots to earn the win.
For Buffalo, Linus Ullmark denied 32 of 36 shots in a losing cause. Henri Jokiharju (2nd goal of the season) tallied a late 1st period goal to open the scoring. In the second period, the hole deepened for the Flyers. An early goal by Cody Eakin (2nd) and a mid-period goal by Brandon Montour (2nd) put the Sabres in the driver's seat but the team couldn't close out the game.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers placed veteran defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere on waivers on Tuesday. The team will know at noon today if he's claimed or clears. Vigneault stated several times on Monday that the move was done "for flexibility on our 23-man roster."
While roster flexibility is part of the equation, that explanation alone does not explain why Gostisbehere was the player waived, and not someone such as Erik Gustafsson (making $3 million this season and a healthy scratch in 12 of the 34 games played to date). Apart from the fact that Gostisbehere's cap hit is $1.5 million higher than Gustafsson's, there may be other considerations. My theory is that waiving a player who has been in this organization since the 2012 Draft, whether he is claimed today or not, sends more of a message from the general manager to the locker room than it would with a one-year hired hand who clearly will be gone after this season if not by the trade deadline.
Waivers are unpredictable but the Flyers seem to feel that Gostisbehere more likely will clear today than be claimed. If he clears, his $4.5 million cap hit through 2022-23 in a flat-cap environment would be the primary reason -- not the lack of any team that feels he could benefit their roster. Cap considerations nowadays are at least equal weight, and sometimes even greater, than on-ice considerations in decision-making on acquisitions.
If Gostisbehere clears waivers, he could be in the Flyers' starting lineup tonight. Starting Gustafsson is an alternative if Gostisbehere clears and is assigned to the Taxi Squad or if he's claimed.
Vigneault announced on Monday that Carter Hart would be a healthy scratch for at least two games. He will announce today whether Elliottt once again gets the start for the Flyers or if he tabs Alex Lyon for his first NHL game of the season.
In Monday's game, Vigneault rolled three forward lines in the third period. Joel Farabee, Oskar Lindblom and Nolan Patrick spent the final period and the brief overtime on the bench. That decision included removing Farabee and Patrick from the power play (Philly had two power plays in the third).
Sabres Outlook
The Sabres enter this game winless in their last 18 games (0-15-3). Two of their regulation losses and two of their three post-regulation losses have come against the Flyers. Buffalo's last win was a 4-1 road victory over the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 23.
In Monday's game, young center Dylan Cozens was lost to an upper-body injury in the first period. Tage Thompson, who missed a would-be empty net goal late in the third period right before the Flyers tied the game, returned from an illness for that game.
Since the time of their last win, the Sabres lost star center Jack Eichel to an upper-body injury, relieved Ralph Krueger of his head coaching duties, and traded veteran center Eric Staal as well as goaltender Jonas Johansson.
The Sabres' penalty kill has also been a team bright spot against the Flyers' so far this season, going 13-for-14 overall. Buffalo is the NHL's least-penalized team this season, both in terms of times shorthanded and team PIMs per game.
Projected lineups
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
25 James van Riemsdyk - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
21 Michael Raff - 21 Scott Laughton - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
86 Joel Farabee - 82 Connor Bunnaman - 81 Carsen Twarynski
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 5 Phil Myers
55 Sam Morin - 56 Erik Gustafsson
37 Brian Elliott
[34 Alex Lyon]
PP1: Giroux, Raffl, Farabee, Voracek, Provorov.
PP2: Hayes, Couturier, JVR, Konecny, Gustafsson.
Scratches: 19 Nolan Patrick (healthy), 23 Oskar Lindblom (healthy), 79 Carter Hart (healthy).
Injured reserve: 8 Robert Hägg (shoulder, 2-4 weeks from 3/17/21), 48 Morgan Frost (shoulder surgery).
COVID-19 protocol: None.
SABRES
4 Taylor Hall - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 72 Tage Thompson
68 Victor Olofsson - 15 Riley Sheahan - 23 Sam Reinhart
53 Jeff Skinner - 27 Curtis Lazar - 21 Kyle Okposo
13 Tobias Rieder - 20 Cody Eakin - 9 Steven Fogarty
62 Brandon Montour - 33 Colin Miller
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 10 Henri Jokiharju
44 Matt Irwin - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
35 Linus Ullmark
31 Dustin Tokarski
PP1: Reinhart, Mittelstadt, Hall, Olofsson, Dahlin
PP2: Okposo, Sheahan, Thompson, Skinner, Miller, Ristolainen
Scratches: 24 Dylan Cozens (upper body), 40 Carter Hutton (lower-body). 78 Jacob Bryson (undisclosed).
Injured Reserve: 9 Jack Eichel (upper body), 19 Jake McCabe (right knee, out for season), 74 Rasmus Asplund (upper body), 3 William Borgen (fractured forearm, out 6-to-8 weeks from Feb. 23), 13 Tobias Rieder (undisclosed), 28 Zemgus Girgensons (hamstring surgery, out for the season).
COVID-19 protocol: None.
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PHANTOMS VS. BEARS
Scott Gordon's Lehigh Valley Phantoms (10-3-2) host Spencer Carbery's Hershey Bears (11-4-2) at the PPL Center on Wednesday night. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The match between the longtime archrivals -- the Flyers' AHL affiliate since 1996 versus their former longtime AHL affiliate -- will be nationally televised on NHL Network.
Rookie Phantoms forward Tanner Laczynski has been scorching hot of late, scoring six goals in four games last week. Fellow rookie Wade Allison has three goals and six points in his first five games in the American Hockey League.
For a full Flyers farm system rundown of how prospects have progressed this season, check out the
March 2021 edition of the "Prospect Pipeline" podcast on the Flyers Broadcast Network. In this edition, recorded last Friday, Brian Smith and I were joined by Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr. We discussed the Phantoms, the NCAA, CHL, Europe and preparations for the 2021 NHL Draft.
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