Quick Hits: November 8, 2021
1) The Flyers held a "skills day" practice on Sunday under the auspices of skills coach Angelo Ricci. The most notable aspect was the participation of Ryan Ellis (who came out early to do a warmup skate and shoot a few pucks) and Kevin Hayes for the duration of the session. The Flyers have a complete off-day today.
Neither player is expected to play against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. However, both are expected to be on the ice with the team for practice on Tuesday. Ellis is expected to speak to the media following the next practice.
2) The Flyers made a cap-related roster move on Sunday. The team assigned Nick Seeler to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms, saving (very modest) money on his daily prorated cap hit. He is likely to be recalled on Tuesday when practices resume.
3) With head coach Alain Vigneault unavailable to speak, Flyers assistant coach Mike Yeo addressed the media after Sunday's skills practice. Among other topics during the eight-minute session, Yeo talked about the team's focus on defensive detail, the importance of playing as five-man units, putting the "next man up" mentality into actual practice when faced with adversity, the Flyers' improved penalty kill and more.
4) Flyers Daily: On the Monday edition of Flyers Daily, Jason Mytetus and I discussed the Flyers at the 10-game mark of the season. We talked about why the team's performance in Washington is a prototype for the process the Flyers need to follow on a consistent basis, while continuing to get strong goaltending. We discuss the week ahead with a three-in-four gauntlet against the Maple Leafs (home), Carolina Hurricanes (away) and Dallas Stars (away) on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. We start it all off with a shout-out the Flyers Warriors.
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5) Phantoms Update: On the heels of absorbing an ugly 7-3 beating at the hands of the host Charlotte Checkers on Saturday evening, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms bounced back with a 5-3 victory over the Panthers at the Bojangles Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.
The Phantoms trailed early, scored four answered goals to take a 4-1 lead and then saw it reduced to a single goal early in the third period. The team stepped up on a crucial penalty kill midway through the final frame before an empty-net goal sealed the win.
Hayden Hodgson (3rd goal of the season) deflected home a Linus Högberg shot to tie the game at 1-1 midway through the first period. The game went intermission that way, although the Phantoms were outshot by an 11-8 margin.
Given a chance to redeem himself for a very rough night on Saturday -- seven goals against on 22 shots over 40 minutes on Saturday, and two goals he seemingly could have stopped -- Felix Sandström settled in as Sunday's game went along. Sunday's game was kind of a see-saw after but there were definite stretches where the Phantoms were outplayed and had to rely on their goaltender to get them over the hump.
The turning point of the game took place at 6:21 of the second period. Cam York (1st goal) took a D-to-D pass from Logan Day, skated in two strides to the top of the left circle and wristed a shot that found the net. Max Willman got the secondary assist as the Phantoms took a 2-1 lead.
Six minutes later, Phantoms defenseman Egor Zamula scored on a somewhat similar play to the York goal. After getting the puck from partner Adam Clenending (three assists on the day) at the left point, Zamula threaded a shot through traffic that extended the Lehigh Valley lead to 3-1. The goal was Zamula's first as a professional player. The Phantoms had a 12-10 shot edge for the period, and a two-margin on the scoreboard at the buzzer.
Phantoms center Morgan Frost came off back-to-back strong games heading into the weekend B2B in Charlotte. His performance on Wednesday against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as Ian Laperriere's team finally got its first win of the season. Unfortunately, Saturday was a rough game for pretty much the entire Phantoms team, including Frost. Most notably, the Phantoms coughed up a shorthanded breakaway away goal after a gaffe by Frost at the offensive blueline.
Frost was quiet for the first two periods of Sunday's game. However, he stepped up big in the third period several times. First, the playmaking center created a scoring chance for Willman, which the hustling winger promptly wired into the net for a 4-1 lead. With the Phantoms struggling mightily overall on the power play (5-for-48, 10.4 percent), this play was a ray of hope.
Fifteen seconds after the Willman goal, Connor Bunnaman was called on a slashing penalty. A Connor Carrick power play goal from the left circle narrowed the Phantoms' lead to 4-2. Barely two minutes later, the Phantoms had a defensive support miscue that led to backdoor goal for Scott Wilson. Sandström didn't have much chance on either goal.
Now the Phantoms three-goal lead was down to 4-3 with 15:13 left on the clock. Two shifts later, Clendening was called for cross-checking, giving the Checkers a chance to tie the game on the power play. Fortunately, Sandström came up with a vital save after the dangerous Zac Dolpe beat German Rubstov and then split the D to go one-on-one with Sandström.
Before the kill ended, Frost made one of two really good defensive plays he made in the final stanza, and the Phantoms survived. Later, he thwarted a rush for Charlotte on the backcheck and the once-threatening sequence fizzled out into an off-side.
With about three and a half minutes left in the third period, the Checkers had another golden chance to tie the game. Thankfully, they missed on a half-open net. During the final stanza, the Phantoms also needed a critical goal-saving shot block from Linus Högberg to protect their lead. It's fair to say that very little has come easily this season so far.
Finally, at 18:09, the Phantoms iced the victory.
Gerry Mayhew got the puck to Frost, who maneuvered into potential shooting position with an empty net now staring at him. Although Frost only has one goal through the first nine games, he unselfishly passed the puck to crash-and-bang linemate Garrett Wilson (1st goal of the season) for a tap-in empty netter. The assist was Frost's second of the game, and seventh on the young season. He now has six points (1g, 5a) over the team's last four games.
On Wednesday, the Phantoms will be closer to home when they visit the arch-rival Hershey Bears. On Friday, the Phantoms are in Rhode Island to play the Providence Bruins. The team then immediately comes home to Allentown to host the Springfield Thunderbirds on Saturday.
6) The Phantoms' already lengthy injury list worsened over the past week. Highly touted 19-year-old sniping winger Tyson Foerster got banged up in Saturday's debacle and did not play on Sunday. Maksim Sushko also exited the lineup due to injury. Brennan Saulnier returned in Sushko's place. Additionally, defenseman Wyatte Wylie is dealing with an upper-body issue.
The Phantoms dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen for Sunday's game. Eighteen-year-old rookie winger Samu Tuomaala, the Flyers' second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, was once again scratched. At this point, I am wondering if the teenager is nursing an undisclosed injury that the organization wants to make sure is resolved before assigning him to the Ontario Hockey League. Having Tuomaala hanging around as a constant healthy scratch even when there are only 11 other forwards available makes no sense in and of itself.
7) Congratulations go out all of the Philadelphia Flyers Warriors players, families, head coach Brad Marsh and assistant coach Rob Baer. Over the weekend, the Flyers Warriors Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 teams won the championships in their respective tournament divisions at the 2021 USA Hockey Warrior Classic. The championship games were held on Sunday morning to early afternoon at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees.
After the Flyers' practice was finished on the other rink at the complex, the NHL team's American players -- Cam Atkinson, Joel Farabee, James van Riemsdyk, and Nate Thompson -- went over to the other side of the building to watch the Warrior Classic tournament and root on the Flyers Warriors. They shouted encouragement and pounded on the glass when the Flyers-affiliated team of disabled veterans won the USA Hockey sanctioned tourney's highest-level championship.
Earlier, Atkinson joined the Tier 2 squad on the ice during their trophy and banner ceremony to present the team with an autographed stick inscribed with a thank you for their service to our country. Atkinson also stopped by the Tier 1 team's locker room to wish them luck in their championship game against the Colorado Warriors.
The Flyers Warriors vs. Colorado game was a barn burner; a tense, see-saw affair that saw the Flyers' side take a 2-0 lead in the first period only to see Colorado score the next three goals. The Flyers Warriors then battled back in the third period to skate off with a 6-3 victory. Devon Richio, a Marine Corps veteran and Philadelphia fire fighter, scored the championship winning goal in the Tier 1 tournament.
Flyers Hall of Famers Mark Howe, Paul Holmgren and John LeClair -- all of whom are also United Stated Hockey Hall of Fame inductees -- served as the honorary co-chairmen on the 2021 Warrior Classic tournament. After each of the championship games, the trio presented the championship trophies and banners to the victorious squads.
It was great to see the Flyers Warriors' hard work pay off at every level and for the players and families to bask in the admiration and respect they received from both the American-born legends of the NHL parent franchise as well as the team's current players. Less than three years ago, the Philadelphia team -- not yet affiliated with the Flyers or with USA Hockey -- had its first Learn to Play session with a small group of local military veterans. Now there are three full rosters, and they're all national champions at their respective levels of play.
Immense credit goes to Marsh, Baer and Bob "the Hound" Kelly (who is a part-time assistant coach). Ultimate credit, though, goes to the players themselves and their families. Being a Flyers Warrior involves a lot of commitment. Marsh and Baer run intensive practices every weekend and the Flyers Warriors players engage in many team-building events as well volunteering in the community in conjunction with the Flyers Alumni Association and working to support their fellow disabled veterans.
Although I'm only peripherally associated with the Flyers Warriors in my capacity as the Flyers Alumni Association's content manager and a writer for the Flyers' official website, I've gotten to know many of the players. I couldn't be happier for them.
Final note: Many in the Tier 3 group did not know how to skate at all until going to the clinics run by Marsh and Baer. Watching their final game and seeing how fundamentally sound they are now in playing hockey, you'd never know that many were complete novices who'd never even played rec league hockey before they joined the Flyers Warriors.
Ultimately, though, hockey is just a vehicle for these men and women. The Flyers Warriors, at their core, are about camaraderie, having a healthy and therapeutic outlet, and providing service and mutual assistance to fellow veterans and their families. All players have VA-certified disabilities of at last 10 percent. Returning to civilian life after military service is often fraught with difficulties. The USA Warrior Hockey program changes lives.
A handful of the Warrior teams have NHL team affiliations. In some cases, the "affiliation" begins and ends with permission to adopt the NHL club's name and/or logo. The Flyers Warriors program has become the gold standard; it is a genuine affiliate organization primarily because Flyers community relations director Marsh, Flyers amateur hockey program director Baer and Flyers ambassador of hockey Kelly have made sure the affiliation is not just a platitude. The Flyers Warriors ARE another branch of the Flyers' brand.
In my opinion, every NHL franchise should adopt that model. They all have a "Military Appreciation Night" but not all show more than a small fraction of the commitment to local veterans that the Flyers do.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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