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Quick Hits: Mixed Flyers News, Taxi Squad Update, Phantoms, Alumni |
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Quick Hits: February 11, 2021
1) There was good news and bad news from the Flyers and the National Hockey League on Wednesday. The good news was that there no new Flyers additions to the league's COVID-19 protocol list after the additions of Travis Sanheim on Sunday and both Claude Giroux and Justin Braun on Tuesday. The team is not out of the woods yet in terms of avoiding a full-fledged outbreak but yesterday was definitely a "no news is good news" day on that front.
The bad news, at least in the very short term, is that the NHL proactively postponed Sunday's game at Madison Square Garden -- bringing the Flyers up to four postponements. The hope is that the Flyers can return to practice on Monday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. The team's next scheduled game is against the Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center next Thursday (Feb. 18). The next day, the team is slated to depart for Lake Tahoe to get ready to play against the Bruins on the 21st of the month.
"Abundance of caution" is the phrase of choice the NHL uses to categorize Sunday's postponement and keeping the Flyers players off the ice through this weekend. Hopefully, all will remain quiet -- i.e., no additional Flyers on the COVID protocol -- through the weekend. As of now, the Flyers' situation is nowhere near as bad as those being experienced by the New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres and Minnesot Wild.
2) With each successive postponement around the NHL, the chances decrease of every team being able to complete a 56-game schedule. In that event, the playoff seedings and cutoff will be determined by points percentage rather than total points. This bears continuous monitoring. As of right now, the Flyers have only missed one game, and their 13 games played is still the most in the East Division. This will, however, change with the postponements of the games tonight and Saturday against the Devils and Sunday against the Rangers.
In terms of points, the Flyers are presently two points behind the Bruins (who have played one fewer game to date). In terms of points percentage, the Flyers' .692 also ranks second in the division. The third-place Washington Capitals are idle until Sunday, following the postponements of two games in Buffalo. The first-place Bruins, who have won four in a row, visit the Rangers (4-5-3) on Friday and the Islanders (5-4-2) on Saturday.
3) The Lehigh Valley Phantoms settled for one point on Wednesday night in a 2-1 overtime loss at the Prudential Center in Newark to the Binghamton Devils. Max Willman fed David Kase for a shorthanded 2-on-1 goal at 13:46 of the first period. That was the lone tally the Phantoms -- who did not score until the final minute of regulation in last Saturday's 2-1 overtime win in the season opener in Hershey -- were able to muster.
The Phantoms had three power plays in the third period (0-for-4 overall) but were unable to score. For the second straight game, veteran goalie Zane McIntyre played well for Lehigh Valley, although he wasn't as busy in this game as he was in the first two periods of the opener. Ben Thomson tied the game at 1-1 early in the third period and then Brett Seney won it for the Devils with a goal on the opening shift of overtime.
4) Tanner Laczynski, who made his professional debut on Saturday after missing Flyers training camp following off-season core muscle surgery, was out of the lineup last night due to a groin pull. Also sidelined: 2020 first-round pick Tyson Foerster (fractured right shinbone), rookie power winger Wade Allison (ankle surgery), second-year winger Isaac Ratcliffe (rehab skating after rib fracture and collapsed lung).
5) With three Flyers players in COVID-19 protocol, Samuel Morin and Derrick Pouliot have been recalled from the Phantoms and added to the Taxi Squad. Likewise, goalie Felix Sandström was added to the Taxi Squad. Carsen Twarynski, Andy Andreoff, Nate Prosser. I have not seen an announcement that Alex Lyon has been added to the Phantoms roster but the vet needs game action, since he has not played since mid-March 2020.
6) Feb. 11 Flyers Alumni birthdays: Lew Morrison (1948), Mike Richards (1985), Max Talbot (1984), Bob Wilkie (1969).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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