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Quick Hits: April 28, 2020
1) According to statements made by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly to various outlets including the Philadelphia Inquirer, the NHL might opt to move up the postponed NHL Entry Draft from its original June 26-27 schedule to earlier in June, and would conduct the Draft online, in similar fashion to the recent NFL Draft. The NHL Draft was originally slated to be held in Montreal.
The annual Draft Combine, held in Buffalo, was originally slated for June 1-6. That is unlikely to take place this year, at least in terms of physical fitness testing and medical exams, but teams may have access to online interviews with prospective candidates.
IF the NHL is able to reschedule postponed regular season games and the Draft were to be held in June rather than being pushed back to an abbreviated off-season, the league may nevertheless hold a Draft lottery and seed all picks based on regular season points percentages.
There is no clarity yet on how conditional picks in this year's Draft will be handled. It is possible that such picks could be rolled back to the 2021 Draft. Alternatively, such selections could be converted into between-rounds sandwich picks.
Daly said that nothing was set in stone at this point: neither the date of the Draft nor the specifics of working out the various complications caused by the forced rescheduling.
2) At some point next season, Flyers right wing Jakub Voracek will move into the Flyers franchise all-time top 10 in scoring. He is already the top point-getter in franchise history among European players. Over the final 18 games this season before the current pandemic-related schedule pause, Voracek posted 17 points. Later today, the Flyers official website will feature an in-depth profile of Voracek's 2019-20 season. Up next in the profile series: Phil Myers' profile will be published on Thursday, followed by Claude Giroux on Saturday.
3) Today in Flyers History: April 28, 2020
Although the Flyers lost in six games to the Buffalo Sabres in the 2006 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, Philadelphia center Peters Forsberg put together one of the most dominant series of any Flyer in the last 20 years. In fact, Forsberg elevated his game to the point that he was almost the sole reason that the Flyers won two games in a series which the team as a whole was severely outplayed.
The Flyers trailed the series two games to zero as the scene switched from Buffalo to Philadelphia. In Game One, Forsberg's creativity and one of the best goaltending performances of Robert Esche's career keyed a comeback in a game Philadelphia ultimately lost in double overtime. Game Two was a blowout win for the Sabres.
In Game 3, a pair of second period goals by Forsberg gave the Flyers their first lead of the series. He later added a late third-period assist that sealed a 4-2 win after the Sabres had drawn back within a goal. Forsberg was named the game's first star. The best was yet to come.
Two nights later in Game 4, early goals by Buffalo's Thomas Vanek and Danny Briere staked the Sabres to a quick 2-0 lead. Things seemed bleak for the Flyers until Forsberg almost singlehandedly willed Philadelphia to a comeback win.
First came one of the most spectacular individual shifts in Flyers' playoff history. Late in first period, Forsberg carried the puck into the offensive zone, stickhandled around all five Sabres and he encircled the the entire offensive zone all the way back to the left half boards, with multiple Buffalo players still giving futile chase. That left Eric Desjardins wide open at center point. Forsberg feathered a pass out to Desjardins, who measured and blasted a shot past Ryan Miller to cut the gap to 2-1 at 12:13 of the first period.
A quiet Wachovia Center crowd oohed-and-awed while Forsberg led the Sabres on a chase and then erupted in a standing ovation after Desjardins scored. The atmosphere went from anxious to electric.
In the second period, Forsberg scored at the 3:26 mark to tie the game at 2-2. The score remained deadlocked until Peter Nedved put the Flyers ahead, 3-2, early in the third period only for playoff ace Briere to re-tie the game for the Sabres with a power play goal less than three minutes later.
Flyers rookie forward R.J. Umberger restored the lead at 9:51. The Sabres, who outshot Philadelphia 11-8 in the third period, put on a heavy push until the Flyers got a late insurance goal before Miller (28 saves on 33 shots) could be pulled for an extra attacker. The scorer: Peter Forsberg, of course.
The insurance goal proved vital, as Mike Grier tallied a short-handed goal for the Sabres in the final half minute of the game. The goal's only effect was to make the final score 5-4 instead of 5-3. Esche finished with 26 saves on 30 shots.
For the second straight game, Forsberg was named the game's first star. Thanks to his six points (four goals and two assists) in two games, the series returned to Buffalo tied at two games apiece. Unfortunately for the Flyers, Buffalo went on to dominate Games 5 (3-0) and 6 (7-1) to win the series.
4) April 28 Flyers Alum birthday: A former Flyers captain and the first overall pick in the 1975 NHL Draft, Mel Bridgman was born in Trenton, Ontario on April 28, 1955 and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario and Victoria, British Columbia.
In the video below, Bridgman holds Boston's Mike Milbury accountable for overzealously grabbing at Paul Holmgren in the aftermath of Holmgren's fight with Terry O'Reilly. Bridgman gives Milbury little choice but to fight him, and proceeds to lay a beating on the Bruins defenseman.
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