Quick Hits: November 4, 2019
1) After playing back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday that went to shootouts, the Flyers had an off-day yesterday. The team will hold an 11:30 a.m. practice today at the Skate Zone in Voorhees in preparation for hosting the Carolina Hurricanes at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday evening. The Canes started out like gangbusters in October but have cooled off a bit of late, going 5-4-1 over the last 10 games including a 5-3 loss to the Devils on Saturday. Seven different Canes players have scored 3 or more goals so far, while nine have done so for Philly.
2) As a Sunday feature on the Flyers' official website, I took a look at the recent tweaks on the Flyers' power play. On Saturday, Michel Therrien decided to move Claude Giroux back to the left half boards (which resulted in Philly's second goal on Saturday against the Maple Leafs). He also changed around which power play units that Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere skated with for at least that game. Since Provorov had a power play goal and a power play assist on Saturday, he will likely stay on the Giroux unit for the time being. For a more in-depth look, see
More Power to Ya.
3) In the current weekly installment of "Therien's Take" on the Flyers' official site, Chris Therien discusses how leadership can take on different forms and names the four teammates in Philadelphia whom he considered the most inspirational leaders on the team and why he regarded each in that way:
Click here for more.
4) Phantoms update: The Lehigh Valley Phantoms went 1-1-1 over their three-in-three set on the weekend, which saw them drop a 4-3 home shootout against Wilkes Barre/Scranton on Friday, earn a 3-2 regulation win in Bridgeport on Saturday and then drop a regulation 4-3 rematch in Bridgeport last night.
The Phantoms trailed 1-0 early in the game on an Otto Koivula power play tally for the Sound Tigers before a late first period goal by Cal O'Reilly (1st) knotted the score heading to the first intermission. A Nicolas Aube-Kubel deflection goal (4th) off a Mark Friedman point shot gave the Phantoms an early second period lead but David Quenneville got it back on the power play for Bridgeport with 4:28 left in the period.
On his final shift of the second period, Morgan Frost -- who had been pretty quiet in the game up to this point --dangled right around defenseman Kyle Burroughs and generated a pair of scoring chances; first for himself and then for Andy Andreoff on a rebound follow-up attempt.
In the third period, Aube-Kubel had a golden opportunity to put the Phantoms ahead again as the puck sat in the blue paint with goalie Jakub Skarek (31 saves on 34 shots) down and out. However, a defender got just enough of the puck and/or Aube-Kubel's stick that the puck was not able to be jammed into the net.
The reprieve was brief for Bridgeport. On the next shift, Frost (4th goal of the season) put the Phantoms back on top, 3-2. On the play, Maksim Sushko got a piece of an attempted Bridgeport clearing pass and Frost picked it off in the right circle. Frost then cut across over the middle and, against the grain, fired off a wrister that found the back of the net.
The Phantoms seemed to be in control of the game at this point. Frost generated another scoring chance at the tail end his next shift, intercepting a puck in the neutral zone and leading an odd-man rush with Andreoff joining him. On this play, Frost was perhaps a little too unselfish as he passed up a shot to try to feed the puck to his linemate and the pass was blocked out of harm's way.
At 7:35 of the third period, the Sound Tigers got the game re-tied at 3-3. Alex Lyon (24 saves on 28 shots) was unable to cleanly handle an unscreened point shot by Mike Cornell and Simon Holmström pounced on the juicy rebound and stuffed it home. Holmström also scored for Bridgeport in Saturday's game against the Phantoms.
The Sound Tigers (2-6-3) then scored what proved to be their losing-streak ending goal at 10:06 of the third period. Off a clean faceoff win in the offensive left circle, Koivula tallied his second goal of the game as, moving into the slot, he deflected home a Parker Wotherspoon shot from the point. It was the second assist of the period for Wotherspoon, whose older brother, Tyler, is a defenseman for the Phantoms.
The Phantoms had several good cracks at drawing even again and forcing OT, including a late-game power play (eventually a 6-on-4 when Lyon was pulled for an extra attacker) that started with 2:17 left in the game. In the final 15 seconds of the game, veteran Phantoms forward Greg Carey hit the post. The Sound Tigers gained possession and moved out of the zone. They were unable to find the empty net but time expired before the Phantoms could get back up-ice again.
Lehigh Valley (4-2-4 overall) saw their eight-game point streak (4-0-4) come to an end. On Wednesday night, the Phantoms will host Wilkes Barre/Scranton at the PPL Center.
5) Sam Morin dressed in two of the Phantoms three games this weekend; the Friday and Sunday games. After missing nearly two years of hockey in terms of game action, the organization wanted to avoid playing him in all three segments of the weekend 3-in-3 roughly eight months after he completed rehab from ACL surgery. I personally thought he looked better in Sunday's game than in Friday's, but there were mixed reviews.
6) With this third period goal, Frost increased his current point streak to seven games. After being held off the scoresheet -- despite roughly a half-dozen scoring chances either on the shooting or setup end of plays -- the Flyers 2017 first-round pick has nine points (4g, 5a) over his current streak.
The sense I got from talking to people around the Flyers as Frost started to heat up offensively is that they did not feel Frost wass quite ready for an NHL recall yet despite the Flyers' need for another middle-six center in the lineup to enable Claude Giroux to move back to left wing. The organization is thrilled that Frost is already holding his own in the American League -- there was never an iota of doubt about his puck skills or vision -- but wants to see him to continue to adjust to the pro game in a few specific areas before he's deemed ready moved up to the NHL.
* When Frost moves his feet and pushes the pace, he is one of the fastest skaters on the team and can turn mundane plays into scoring chances -- either for a linemate or for himself -- in the blink of an eye. However, there's a perception that, to be ready for the AHL-to-NHL jump, Frost needs to dictate the pace not just a few times a game when he sniffs out a scoring chance but with greater consistency. He's already on the right track in that area.
* The 200-foot demands of being a center are a little bit more elevated than being a winger, and there are needed puck battles and faceoff consistency adjustments that Frost will likely evolve over a larger sample size. Defensively, he goes to the right spots most of the time (as he did in the OHL) but there are still adjustments to make so he doesn't end up in mismatches against bigger and more experienced centers; a must if he's to play center in the middle segment of an NHL lineup.
* Frost, who won the OHL Coaches' Poll in the "Smartest Player", "Best Stickhandler" and "Best Playmaker" categories, only has 10 games of pro experience thus far and is still figuring out some puck-management traits. He'll need these as he continues to adapt from the junior game to be ready to succeed in the NHL.
Some of the saucer and backhand passes, dangles, toe-drags, and stutter steps that enabled him to shake loose from OHL defenders have a much lower success rate for skill players in the NHL. He was a prime shorthanded scoring threat in the OHL (19 shorthanded points over the past two seasons) but is not considered ready yet to join a pro-level PK because some of his risk management in terms of trying to steal passes or exit the zone early to receive a pass in transition is still in the developmental stage. Overall, Frost is still learning which situations to make a little simpler decision and where he can swing for the fences.
* With all of this said, sometimes necessity forces an organization's hand. Nolan Patrick's return to the Flyers' lineup is unpredictable; he's still on the same nebulous week-to-week basis, subject to his migraine issues. Scott Laughton, who moved from center to left wing before suffered a broken right index finger and going on LTIR, is still a few weeks away. Giroux is again playing center now but the hope, ideally, is to move him back to left wing when they are able to do so. So, it's certainly plausible that the Flyers' hand could be forced a bit to add a center if the team doesn't pick up the pace soon from its 6-5-2 start.
Specific to Frost, even before his three-point weekend against the Pens and Sound Tigers, there was excitement over the adaptations he's been making at the AHL level. His pure offensive upside may be even a bit north of Joel Farabee's but the 19-year-old Farabee is already able to handle the 200-foot responsibilities of an NHL winger while still getting his share of scoring chances whereas the belief is that Frost needs a little more time adapating his all-around game so that he is put in position to succeed when he comes up.
If one recalls the day in training camp that Sean Couturier utterly dominated Frost on one head-to-head line drill after another; these are the situations that the Flyers would like to see Frost get a little more fully prepared to handle. Thankfully, even in the NHL, most of the matchups he'd face wouldn't have the bar set on Couturier's level. But in a middle-six role at the NHL level, the matchups will get a lot more demanding than those Frost is seeing right now in the AHL. He's holding his own already but isn't dominating them yet despite his innate hockey IQ and very high skill level.
Last Wednesday, Mikhail Vorobyev found himself on the ice in a mismatch against Sidney Crosby and was eaten alive. I put that one on the coaches as Pittsburgh's Mike Sullivan got Crosby out there in a situation where the Flyers bench had left themselves vulnerable with the team already trailing in the game.
Back in camp, one day after being deliberately fed to Couturier by Alain Vigneault and Michel Therrien, the Flyers had Frost going head-to-head with Vorobyev. That was a more even battle, even though Frost gave up both size and two years of North American pro hockey experience. Vorobyev slightly got the better of it, by the eye test.
Fast forward about six weeks. Frost has already noticeably improved in that span. But there's still a level-of-competition jump he'll have to make at some point -- hopefully in the not-too-distant future --- but the feeling was that it's still a work in progress. Again, if it were just a question of ice vision, passing and quick shot release, Frost would not have needed a single day in the AHL. It's the overall game that's being prepped for a big jump.
7) Don't forget about German Rubtsov in the equation. He's held his own, frankly better than the more experienced Vorobyev did after a strong first game, in very sparing ice time in his first two NHL games. Rubtsov's situation, apart from still being a work in progress in the pro-level faceoff circle, is a little different than Frost's. The organization already is comfortable that Rubtsov's 200-foot game as a center is developed enough to hold his own in managed match-ups in the NHL but they had hoped to give his nascent offensive game (which is there, too, and has been displayed in the AHL) a little more time to come along.
Long-term, Rubtsov probably slots more on the third-line side of middle six and the hope for Frost is that he could be more on the second-line plus PP time side of it. The Flyers don't want Frost getting fourth-line minutes with no special teams work whereas the feeling is that Rubtsov can probably handle that right now and eventually move up a line.
Two different players with two different sets of attributes, but both are fine prospects with a good chance at eventually being solid contributors in the NHL. If that's a problem, it's a good one to have. Especially with the uncertainty around Nolan Patrick, both in short-term and long-term management of his migraine issues, it is vital to have system depth down the middle.
Final thought: Thank goodness the Flyers have Kevin Hayes. Couturier is playing (and playing well) through a hand/wrist issue. Giroux is in the middle, when he's now better on wing. Laughton, who may also be better on wing, is injured. I don't even want to imagine where the Flyers would be right now without Hayes. Even on nights where he doesn't post points, he generally makes positive on-puck and off-puck contributions. He's a very well-rounded player, and became so because Vigneault wouldn't let him be anything less than that as a young player with the Rangers.
8) Another rookie pro at the nascent stages of pro-level development is Phantoms rookie winger Isaac Ratcliffe. He's mostly playing toward the lower end of Scott Gordon's lineup at 5-on-5 -- and does not yet see power play time -- but there are flashes of his upside on a shift or two almost every game. Despite his prolific OHL goal-scoring totals the last two seasons, Ratcliffe is still very raw as a pro and clearly a player that will need at least one full AHL season, and probably more but you can see glimpses of what may be in his future.
I'll be interested to compare the second-half of his AHL rookie season to the first. For now, I'd describe his progress rate as gradual.
In Sunday night's game in Bridgeport, Ratcliffe blocked a second-period shot off his leg and was in a lot of pain afterward, maybe a half-notch down from the worlds of hurt that Michael Raffl was in during his final shift of the Vegas game in Philly on Oct. 21. Ratcliffe, however, remained on the bench and did play in the third period. No doubt he's still very sore this morning but it looked like it could be worse when it first happened.
9) Yet another rookie pro in the Phantoms lineup is winger Maksim Sushko. I'll say the same thing for him that I did about Rubtsov: don't overlook him just because there are higher-profile names on the team. Sushko is coming along rapidly as a speedy winger with bottom-six upside
and even a bit of offensive bite.
As a 20-year-old rookie, Sushko isn't yet at a Michael Raffl level where he can moved around an NHL lineup as needed beyond being an asset as a fourth-line winger but I think there's potential for him to develop along those lines. He's already on that type of path in the AHL where he is
developing some 200-foot game, shows upside to be trusted off-puck, and can produce a bit (3g, 2a thus far) when placed with skilled linemates.
10) ECHL: The Reading Royals are now on a four-game winning streak and have taken over the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The big news from Sunday is that first-year goaltender Felix Sandström recorded his first North American pro shutout. He turned back all 27 shots he faced in a 1-0 win over Adirondack at Santander Arena.
11) Today in Flyers History: On Nov. 4, 1967, Leon Rochefort notched the first hat trick in Flyers history. The Quebec native did it in the fabled Montreal Forum in a 4-1 upset of the Canadiens. The biggest star of the night, however, was local boy Bernie Parent. The Rosemont product and future Hockey Hall of Famer and NHL 100 honoree turned back 33 of 34 shots (including 14 in a lopsided second period in terms of puck possession disparity) and even received an ovation from the Canadiens partisans in the stands at the end of the night.
For more about one of the most notable nights of the Flyers' first year of existence,
click here.
12) Nov. 4 Flyers Alumni birthday: The late Ed Hoekstra was born in Winnipeg on Nov. 4, 1937. He was an original Flyer who dressed in 70 regular season games and all seven playoff games in the franchise's inaugural 1967-78 season, The expansion franchise acquired the veteran center's contract when it purchased the Quebec Aces as its American Hockey League farm club.
Hoekstra recorded 15 goals, 36 points, six penalty minutes and a plus-six rating at even strength in his season with the Flyers. He had one assist in the playoffs as the Flyers lost in seven Stanley Cup quarterfinal games to the St. Louis Blues.
Hoekstra retired as an active player on Oct. 2, 1968. However, he soon changed his mind and decided to play for the Denver Spurs of the Western Hockey League (which had claimed Hoekstra from the Flyers via minor league draft after he was ticketed to return to Quebec). He later played 97 games in the World Hockey Association and retired for good in 1974 as his 37th birthday loomed.
The player's older brother, Cecil Hoekstra, also briefly played in the NHL for the Montreal Canadiens during a long career spent mostly in the minor leagues. Proud of being an original Flyer as the franchise grew to be one of the NHL's best organizations, Ed Hoekstra remained a devoted Flyers fan for the rest of his life after hanging up his skates.
In his later years, Hoekstra suffered from the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis but remained as self-sufficient as possible. He passed away on Nov. 10, 2011 in St. Catharines, Ontario. Riding his electric mobility scooter, the retiree was fatally struck by a car. The 86-year-old driver, who was unhurt, did not see Hoekstra until it was too late. Ed Hoekstra, a widower with six children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren at the time of his passing, was 74 years of age.
13) Flyers Alumni News: Legion Of Doom linemates John LeClair (@John_LeClair10 on Twitter), Eric Lindros (@88EricLindros), and Mikael Renberg (@MikaelRenberg) will be making their first public autograph appearance together on Sun, Dec 8, 2019 at "The Philly Show" in King Of Prussia.
For more info:
click here.
14) Flyers Warriors Update: The Flyers Warriors joined the Comcast Military contingent that marched in yesterday's Philadelphia Veterans Parade. Carrying their championship banner for the 2019 USA Hockey Warrior Classic, the Flyers Warriors appeared on TV during the live coverage by 6ABC.
Today, the Flyers Warriors are holding a semi-open skate at the Wells Fargo Center; the event is open to veterans with an interest in playing hockey. An RSVP is required (email
[email protected]) along with proof of military service. Equipment will not provided, so bring your own. Attendees will have the opportunity to skate with the Flyers Warriors, learn more about the USA Hockey Warrior program and potentially join the Flyers Warriors team. The program requires proof of a 10 percent or more disability to be eligible to play in USA Hockey sanctioned Warriors events.
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