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Flyers Defeat Senators, 2-1
There's no such thing as a bad win, but some carry a little more weight than others. Going into Ottawa on Saturday night, the Philadelphia Flyers had been winless in three games and were wrapping up a three-game road trip that had rather frustrating up to that point. Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators figured to be fired up to break a stretch of four consecutive regulation losses.
There was also an emotional component. Claude Giroux played his first career game against his longtime team. He entered the game one goal away from his 300th career tally and attained the feat in the early minutes of the first period.
Everything seemed to be stacking up in Ottawa's favor. Except for this: Flyers goaltender Carter Hart is off to a fantastic start this season, and he's instilling confidence that he will keep the team in most every game. Moreover, the Flyers have already shown that they are a much more resilient team than recent past editions. It's not a positive that the club has yielded the game's first goal in nine of the 11 games played so far but it shows some character to be 6-3-2 on the season with five of the wins coming in games where the Flyers have trailed first. That's already as many wins in that circumstance as the Flyers had for the entire 2021-22 season.
The Flyers came ready to work in Ottawa once they regained equilibrium from a 1-0 deficit on the scoreboard and 6-0 gap in shots on goal. A power play created by Nicolas Deslauriers yielded a Kevin Hayes deflection goal on Philly's first shot of the game. Thereafter, a highly competitive hockey game ensued.
The Flyers were the better team for significant stretches of the game, especially in the second period. During the segments where Ottawa had an edge, Hart stepped up with vital saves. He also got 29 blocks in front of him. When shots got through, the goalie was usually able to see the puck. In all three zones, the Flyers battled for space and started winning puck battles. The team's breakouts and neutral zone play were better. The penalty kill was a little more authoritative (and when it wasn't).
John Tortorella's lineup on Saturday was a combination of the lines featured amid mid-game juggling in the previous game in Toronto plus a couple of other changes. Rasmus Ristolainen, who has been struggling mightily in his four games since returning from the Injured Reserve list, was a healthy scratch, along with left winger Kieffer Bellows.
Morgan Frost, a healthy scratch in Toronto, returned to the lineup albeit on the fourth line. He was part of a seemingly mismatched and miscast line with Deslauriers and Tanner Laczynski. On this night, at least, it worked. The line forechecked very effectively and spent most of their shifts in the offensive zone.
Most notably, there was a big payoff on a hard-working shift with Zack MacEwen on the ice with Wade Allison, Frost, Nick Seeler and Justin Braun. MacEwen, after getting a shot attempt blocked, wired home what proved to be the game-winning goal at 18:24 of the second period.
Braun returned to the lineup after a one-game absence, replacing Ristolainen. Egor Zamula struggled in this game and was moved down from Travis Sanheim's pairing. After starting the game with Seeler, Braun was reunited with Sanheim. The starting lineup was as follows:
74 Owen Tippett - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
49 Noah Cates - 23 Lukas Sedlak - 17 Zack MacEwen
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 48 Morgan Frost - 58 Tanner Laczynski
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 54 Egor Zamula
24 Nick Seeler - 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
The game wasn't flawless. In terms of puck management, the Flyers were guilty of a few too many failed clears and unforced turnovers, for one thing. They also had Senators get behind the defense a couple times, most notably on a Shane Pinto breakaways that Hart denied. However, when there was a breakdown, the team usually rebounded pretty quickly.
Zamula's confidence seems to be low right now. Ditto Noah Cates, at least on the offensive side of the puck. He's still stuck on five shots on goal for the season through 11 games. Frost played a good game from a details standpoint in limited ice time (10:04 across just 14 shifts) but was fighting the puck and overthinking when he had it on his stick. He also fell down at least three times. On the bright side, Frost went 4-for-5 on faceoffs (he's 11 for his last 15 dating back to the Rangers' game), won a couple of 50-50 pucks and had a good takeaway. Laczynski's ice time was also quite sparing (9:22 over 15 shifts) but he had a self-created scoring chance and seemed more in synch than he was in the Toronto game.
Hart improved his record to 6-0-2 on the season. He was rock solid in turning aside 31 of 32 shots. Cam Talbot took the loss, saving 26 of 28 shots.
The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. Ottawa was 0-for-5.
**********
Phantoms Claim 3-2 OT Win in Laval
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-5-1) got back in the win column on Saturday afternoon as they skated to a 3-2 overtime road victory against the Laval Rocket (2-6-3). The Phantoms also broke their undesirable streak of having allowed at least one opposition power play goal in each previous game this season.
Samuel Ersson (35 saves on 37 shots) started both ends of the weekend back-to-back set because Troy Grosenick was unavailable on Saturday due an undisclosed injury described as minor. Veteran minor leaguer Pat Nagle was recalled from the ECHL's Reading Royals to back up Ersson in Laval. Ersson played well in a losing cause on Saturday in Belleville and was even better in Sunday's game. He got locked into a goaltenders' duel with Kevin Poulin (36 saves on 39 shots) and came out on the winning side.
The Phantoms took a 1-0 lead to the first intermission as they cashed in on a power play. At the 11:54 mark, Phantoms captain Cal O'Reilly took a cross-ice feed from Tyson Foerster and fired home the game's first goal. Cam York got the secondary assist.
Laval drew even at 16:12 of the second period on a Peter Abbandonato goal. However, the Phantoms quickly regained the lead at 17:48 on one of the prettiest goals of the season so far as Zayde Wisdom created a slam-dunk for Olle Lyckell off the rush. Jackson Cates got the secondary assist. After not collecting a point on the season prior to this weekend, Wisdom racked up three bonafide primary assists in the last two games. He also had several scoring chances but none found the net. Lycksell has goals in back-to-back games.
Laval's Anthony Richard made it 2-2 at 13:38 of the third period. He eluded York on a rush, got past a secondary checking attempt by Louie Belpedio and then tucked the puck past Ersson for the tying goal.
The Phantoms got a 4-on-3 power play in overtime and took full advantage. O'Reilly teed up a one-timer for York at the top of the right circle. York blasted it home to end the game and then made a beeline off the ice and down the tunnel when teammates were still celebrating on the ice and the bench. O'Reilly and Foerster drew the assists at 2:44 of sudden death.
Recently acquired by the Flyers organization from Chicago in exchange for Cooper Zech, Bucks County native and Penn State alum Evan Barratt made his Phantoms debut in Saturday's game.
Isaac Ratcliffe, who has not yet found the form he showed in the second half of last season and has mostly been relegated to fourth line minutes, was a healthy scratch from Ian Laperriere's lineup on Saturday. Ryan Fitzgerald, Adam Ginning and Wyatte Wylie also exited the lineup. The Phantoms still have some notable injuries including Adam Brooks and Cooper Marody.
Saturday's lineup was as follows:
20 Max Willman - 9 Cal O'Reilly - 42 Hayden Hodgson
17 Garrett Wilson - 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 71 Tyson Foerster
28 Olle Lycksell - 18 Jackson Cates - 14 Zayde Wisdom
22 Evan Barratt - 15 Jordy Bellerive - 48 Alex Kile
45 Cam York - 47 Louie Belpedio
44 Kevin Connauton - 12 Ronnie Attard
6 Linus Högberg - 3 Adam Karashik
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