Quick Hits: Oct. 15, 2018
1) The Philadelphia Flyers (2-3-0) had an off-day on Sunday. Today, the team resumes practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, in preparation for Tuesday night's game against the Florida Panthers (0-2-1) at the Wells Fargo Center.
2) Flyers left winger Oskar Lindblom was in the locker room and seemed OK after Saturday's afternoon game. Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb stapled Lindblom's head to left side boards with a mid third-period hit. Lindblom was down on the ice for awhile but eventually went off on his own power.
3) The Flyers dodged the bullet on two other potential injuries. With the way that Scott Laughton went off in the second period after falling over Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury's pads and wiping out heavily into the end boards, it was surprising that he returned for the third period. Laughton, who is off to a strong start this season, said after the game that he felt fine.
The previous day, Travis Konecny had to leave practice early after taking a puck off his foot. By the time Saturday morning rolled around and the Flyers (who have only 12 available forwards right now, including Konecny) had not made a recall from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms, it was pretty clear that Konecny was OK to play.
4) The Phantoms showed some resiliency on Saturday night. One night after they were embarrassed in a 7-0 home debacle against the Springfield Thunderbirds, Lehigh Valley trailed the host Thunderbirds by a 4-2 score late in the third period.
With 2:23 left in regulation, David Kase was Johnny-on-the-spot near the net to cut the gap to a single goal on his first AHL tally. Then, with goaltender Anthony Stolarz (27/31, 3/4) pulled for an extra attacker, Greg Carey (3rd goal of the season) scored with 23 seconds left to force OT and, eventually, a shootout. In the skills competition, Stolarz stopped three of four shots and successful shootout attempts by Taylor Leier and German Rubtsov won the game.
5) After going a miserable 2-for-7 on the penalty kill at home against Springfield on Friday, Lehigh Valley went 8-for-8 on the PK on the road in Springfield on Saturday.
6) On a similar "hockey is a strange game sometimes" note, 2017 first-round pick Morgan Frost had six points (1G, 5A) in the two games leading into the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds' Sunday home game against the North Bay Battalion. Frost lacked nothing for scoring chances on Sunday, both on the setup and shooting (six shots on goal) end but came away blank.
His best scoring opportunity wasn't even one of his shots on goal. He had a half-open net on a shorthanded 2-on-1 chance but backhanded a shot wide of the net. In OT, Frost was on the set up side of a three-attempt sequence in close that was not finished. Later, Frost ended up getting beaten on the defensive side of the puck on the winning OT goal sequence for North Bay.'
7) Flyers 2018 first-round pick Joel Farabee scored his first official collegiate hockey goal (he previously scored one in an exhibition game) as the Boston University freshman tallied on a shorthanded breakaway in a 5-3 loss on Saturday.
Fellow 2018 1st-round pick Jay O'Brien has played well for Providence thus far but is still looking for his first collegiate point after three games.
Wisconsin sophomore defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk had a dominating game on Saturday in a high-scoring 7-5 win over Boston College. Kalynuk racked up power play and empty-net goals, one assist, five shots on goal and a plus-five evening.
8) The sixth annual Faceoff Against Cancer, highlighted by a game featuring the Flyers Alumni Team, took place yesterday at Hatfield Ice. Each year, the event raises money that goes directly to the support of several local cancer patients. To learn more about the three recipients of this year's fundraiser,
. This year's event raised approximately $70,000.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»