Following is a preview of today's games involving Flyers players, player news and results from yesterday's games:
KHL: CSKA MOSCOW @ SLOVAN BRATISLAVA -- 1:00 PM EDT
Europe's most storied hockey club, CSKA Moscow, is in Slovakia today to take on that country's most successful all-time club, Slovan Bratislava. Slovan left the Slovakian Extraliga after last season to join the KHL.
There is no word yet on whether
Ilya Bryzgalov (4 GP, 1-3-0, 3.27 GAA, .887 SV%) or Rastislav Stana (12 GP, 7-2-0, 1.47 GAA, .951 SV%, 3 SO) will be in goal for CSKA today. Head coach Valeri Bragin does not publicly reveal his starting goalie in advance of games.
One would suspect that Stana gets the nod today. It's not just because he's a Slovak. Stana is coming off a shutout in his last start and has simply been the better goaltender thus far in the early regular season.
A
free webcast of the game is available.
EUROPEAN TROPHY: EISBÄREN BERLIN (DEL) @ LULEÅ HF (ELITSERIEN) -- 1:00 P.M.
It is Bears versus Polar Bears today as the Luleå HF Bears play host to Eisbären Berlin in a European Trophy tournament game. The tournament actually started back on July 31 and will conclude in late November (for more information on the tourney itself,
click here).
Today's game presents one of the more intriguing matchups: a clash between a high-scoring offensive team and one that plays stifling defense.
With the additions of
Claude Giroux (4 GP, 2 G, 8A, 10 PTS) and
Danny Briere (4 GP, 3G, 9A, 11 PTS), an already capable Eisbären offensive attack has become one of the most explosive in Europe. The two-time defending German champions are 5-1-1 in European Trophy play thus far.
Swedish club Luleå is a perfect 7-0-0 in European Trophy games thus far. First-place finishers during the Elitserien regular season last year, Luleå is just two points off the pace thus far in 2012-13. The club's hallmark the last couple years has been playing suffocating team defense and cashing in on opposing team's frustration.
How consistently stingy is Luleå defensively? In 14 Elitserien games to date, the club has yielded just 22 goals (1.57 per game). In 7 European Trophy matches, LHF has given up 11 goals (1.57 per game). Last season in Elitserien play, the club had a 1.89 team goals against average.
Thus far in DEL play, Giroux and Briere have had plenty of open ice. But when there hasn't been a lot of operating room, they've created it for themselves almost at will. It's also not too often that Luleå has to attempt to shut down world-class players of their caliber.
There is no live webcast available for the game; the European Trophy television coverage in Europe is still lacking in general until the championship round. There is live streaming audio for the game, but none in English. The box score will be available
here.
Yesterday, host team Luleå held a press conference to welcome Giroux and Briere to the city and promote the game. It's not too often that a team has a press conference for two visiting players but it's obvious that the European leagues are trying to get as much traction and publicity as possible during the NHL lockout.
Click
here to see the Giroux/Briere press conference in Luleå.
ALLSVENSKAN: SÖDERTÄLJE SK VS. MORA IK -- 1:00 P.M. EDT
Today's game in Södertälje features as much NHL star power as you will ever see in a match below the Elitserien level. Los Angeles Kings standout Anze Kopitar (10 GP, 4 G, 7A, 11 PTS) is in town with Mora to take on the team with the hottest line in Allsvenksan.
Flyers forward
Matt Read (5GP, 2G, 8A, 10PTS) has posted points in every game he's played to date. He's centering a line with New York Rangers speedster Carl Hagelin (4GP, 2G, 5A, 7PTS) and French national team winger Damien Fleury (5 goals).
There will be
live updates available in English during the game.
SIMMONDS (UNOFFICIALLY) SIGNS WITH LIBEREC
USA Today reported yesterday that
Wayne Simmonds and St. Louis Blues winger Chris Stewart have signed with Czech Extraliga club HC Bili Tygri Liberec (Liberec White Tigers). The article quoted agent Eustace King, who said it was a done deal and the players picked the Czech club because they had two open slots for import players and were willing and able to arrange for insurance coverage.
The club, however, has yet to put out a press release announcing the signing.
GROSSMANN IN LIMBO
Flyers defenseman
Nicklas Grossmann will not be joining Matt Read on Södertälje. The team announced yesterday that is not been able to line up sufficient third-party financing to cover the high cost of insuring Grossmann against the big NHL contract extension he signed with Philly earlier this year.
You may have noticed during the lockout that there have been many more forwards than defensemen and goalies signing abroad. Most of the defensemen who have signed are ones who play more offensive-minded styles.
Quite simply, it's an economic decision. Effective defensive defensemen may be valuable in helping to contribute to a few more early- to mid-season wins for European teams, but they are not going to help sell any extra tickets, generate significant added publicity in the media or be the center of merchandising opportunities (as Giroux and Briere have been for Eisbären).
If the NHL lockout drags on into 2013, then you will see a few more European clubs looking to add defensive defensemen and checking forward to aid in their playoff pushes. Of course, that is still contingent on budgets, available roster spots and, when applicable, import player limits.
Grossmann wanted to play for Södertälje, which was his original upper-level junior and professional team. Since that option is not available -- barring a change of mind by SSK's corporate sponsors and private donors -- if he wants to play during the lockout, he'll either have to find a team able to cover his insurance or else absorb much of the cost himself in order to get into some game action.
FEDOTENKO FRUSTRATION SALVED BY DONBASS VICTORY
Yesterday was not one of the better games that
Ruslan Fedotenko has played since the veteran Ukrainian forward signed in the KHL with Donbass Donetsk for the duration of the NHL lockout.
He was whistled off for three minor penalties; two in the offensive zone, and an end-of-game skirmish. He had a tough day in the faceoff circle, going 9 for 21. Because of the penalties he took, he skated a season-low 15:06 of ice time.
At the end of the day, however, Fedotenko's team notched a 4-2 victory over Avtomobilst Yekaterinburg. The forward also notched an assist in the game on a hard-working play finished off by Alexei Ponikarovsky.
In 13 games played to date, Fedotenko has one goal, four points, eight penalty minutes and an average 18:36 of ice time per game. He also also had two attempts in shootouts, scoring once.
VORACEK CLOSING IN ON RETURN
There have been no setbacks in the recovery timetable for
Jakub Voracek, who suffered a sprained knee on Oct. 7. The injury did not require surgery, and Voracek will not need to wear a knee brace upon his return to the ice for the KHL's HC Lev Prague (or the Flyers, if there's a settlement to the lockout).
Voracek may be cleared to practice later this week, but is probably at least a week away from being ready to play again.
SHEFFIELD APPEALS SESTITO SUSPENSION
The Sheffield Steelers have filed an appeal to the EIHL in an attempt to rescind or reduce the automatic three-game suspension
Tom Sestito received as a result of a match penalty on Sunday. The league will make a ruling today or tomorrow.
The chances of the suspension being lifted are slim. Sestito was thrown out of a game against the Hull Stingrays as a result of a shoulder check that connected with the head of the much-smaller Andy Ward, knocking the player briefly unconscious. Ward was taken off the ice on a stretcher, and hospitalized as a precaution. The player sustained a concussion and lacerations to his head, but is otherwise OK.
One of Ward's teammates, Ryan Hand, immediately went after Sestito and the two players fought. As a result, Sestito was assessed 30 minutes worth of penalties on the play (25 for the check to the head and accompanying match penalty, plus 5 for fighting).
In five EIHL games to date, Sestito has six points (3 goals, 3 assists) and 54 penalty minutes. He has had three fights, including one on Saturday against Coventry Blaze forward Benn Olson; a player Sestito previously tangled with in the AHL and with whom he and Sheffield head coach Ryan Finnerty engaged in a not-so-friendly chirping battle on Twitter over the remainder of the weekend.
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