After an extremely busy weekend of games involving Flyers prospects and current Flyers playing in Europe, there is only one Philly-related match on Monday, excluding an HC Lev Prague game sans
Jakub Voracek.
The lone game on the docket is an MHL (Russian-based junior league) match involving 2012 Flyers seventh-round pick
Valeri Vasiliev and his MHK Spartak team taking on Atlant Moscow at 9 AM eastern U.S./Canada time. An English boxscore of the match will be available
here.
Over the course of the NHL lockout, I have preferred to focus on the games that are actually being played -- in whichever league they may be taking place -- rather than delving frequently into the work stoppage itself. However, with a brief respite in the schedule, I wanted to express just how gravely concerned I've become over the last few weeks with the state of the negotiations.
Once September rolled around and there were no negotiations taking place, I fully expected October to be lost. I was also not surprised that the pre-Thanksgiving portion of November was also a casualty. I didn't like it one bit, but I wasn't surprised.
Now we are getting into real dangerous territory where the entire season could be jeopardy. If the NHL carries through with its reported threat to axe the Winter Classic within the next week -- multiple sources have said the marquee event of the regular season is already as good as gone -- it becomes probable that there will be no NHL hockey played at all in the 2012 calendar year.
From that point, it's a question of whether both sides have dug in their heels so deeply that they're willing to push another entire season off the cliff or if one side will largely cave in and there will be a 1994-95 scenario of a greatly shortened season.
I haven't gotten to the point yet where I feel like the entire season will be lost, but I also no longer feel certain there will be a resolution. Canceling the Winter Classic so early (essentially as a scorched earth tactic in order to prevent the NHLPA from using it as negotiating leverage) is a terrible sign for just how far downhill this entire damnable exercise of greed, ego and hubris has rolled.
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PHANTOMS POWERPLAY RALLIES LATE, SPEARHEADS COMEBACK WIN
The Adirondack Phantoms rode two late power play goals to a 4-3 overtime victory in Syracuse on Sunday. The Phantoms salvaged the final game of a three game in three night stretch over the weekend, and improved their season record to 3-4-0.
The game seemed destined to be another exercise in frustration for the Flyers' AHL affiliate. Struggling to finish scoring chances against Crunch goaltender Riku Helenius, the Phantoms went 0-for-8 on the man advantage (they've struggled on the man advantage throughout the early part of the season) despite improved puck movement. In the nick of time, the Fcashing in on its final two opportunities of the penalty-laden game.
With the Phantoms on a 5-on-3 power play late in regulation, coach
Terry Murray pulled goaltender
Cal Heeter to create a 6-on-3 attack.
Brayden Schenn tied the game by ripping a shot past Helenius with 1:02 remaining in regulation.
After Syracuse was nabbed on a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty will 11 seconds left in regulation, the Phantoms received a carryover two-man advantage in overtime. The extra frame lasted just 11 seconds before defenseman
Brandon Manning pinched up to the top of the right circle and one-timed home a Schenn pass to win the game.
Schenn had a hand in all four Adirondack goals. In the second period, he assisted on a pair of goals scored by
Tye McGinn; one on a rebound goal off a
Danny Syvret shot and the latter on a 2-on-1 chance. In addition,
Sean Couturier drew assists both on Schenn's game-tier and Manning's game-winner.
Syracuse got two goals in the second period by Alex Killorn, who was later narrowly denied on two different bids to complete a hat trick. Brett Connolly notched the game's first goal back in the first period.
The game's dramatic finish to the game overshadowed a strong goaltending performance by Heeter. The rookie goaltender made 32 saves -- including a half-dozen of the difficult variety -- to keep the game manageable for his team. Heeter's play on Friday was also a positive for Adirondack, even though his stat line from the game may not have looked pretty. On Sunday, he got his first AHL win.
The Phantoms got into plenty of penalty trouble of their own during the course of the game. Syracuse received seven power plays, scoring twice.
Referee Tom Chmielewski, who also worked Saturday's game against Rochester and had both benches barking at him all game, once again got into several hollering matches with players and coaches on each side. The more they yelled, the more penalties he called. The Phantoms nearly unraveled in the second period by worrying more about what Chmielewski was doing than about the game itself.
Defensively, the Phantoms still have quite a bit of work to do. They were once again guilty of too many unforced turnovers and coverage breakdowns, which does not sit well with a defense-oriented coach such as Murray. There were stretches during the game where the Phantoms over-relied on Heeter to bail them out of trouble.
Defenseman
Erik Gustafsson had his best game of the young season. Apart from assisting on Schenn's goal, he made several good reads at both ends of the ice. That was a positive sign because the Swedish defenseman had largely struggled through the first six games of the season. Earlier in the weekend, Murray temporarily moved Gustafsson down to the third pairing.
Marc-Andre Bourdon played a poor game in his post-injury return to the lineup on Saturday. He had a few shaky early moments on Sunday as well but settled in as the game progressed.
Murray has been repeatedly juggling personnel and line combinations early in the season. On Saturday,
Eric Wellwood was a healthy scratch after a poor effort on Friday. On Sunday, Wellwood returned to the lineup, along with
Mike Testwuide while
Matt Ford and
Tyler Brown were coach's decision scratches. Defenseman
Oliver Lauridsen was also missing from Sunday's lineup.
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SUNDAY EUROPEAN GAME ROUNDUP
* Extraliga:
Wayne Simmonds did not record a point in HC Bili Tygri's 3-2 overtime loss to Pirati Chomutov. He spent 12 minutes of the game serving penalties, as the Czech referee slapped him with a 10-minute misconduct in addition to a minor penalty. Chris Stewart did not play in the game. Ondrej Pavelec took the loss in goal for the 13th-place team. The game was
marred by a group of Chomutov "fans" starting a racist chant directed at Simmonds; club management has pledged to investigate and said the people responsible are not welcomed back at the arena.
* KHL: Once again,
Ilya Bryzgalov was scratched by CSKA Moscow in favor of Rastislav Stana. CSKA had relatively little trouble dispatching Sibir by a 4-2 score. Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and two assists. Alexander Radulov tacked on a late empty net goal.
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SUNDAY JUNIOR PROSPECT ROUNDUP
* OHL:
Nick Cousins contributed two assists toward the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds' 6-2 win over the Guelph Storm. He now has 24 points (7 goals, 17 assists) in 16 games played. Cousins' rescheduled court hearing is slated to take place one week from today, barring another postponement.
* OHL: Peterborough downed Oshawa 3-2 via shootout. Generals defenseman
Colin Suellentrop had one assist. The Petes'
Derek Mathers did not record a point and took a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct in which he was the lone player taken off; thereby creating a power play for Oshawa.
* WHL:
Tayor Leier returned to the Portland Winterhawks' lineup after missing the last game due to an undisclosed injury. He had a strong game, opening the scoring in what turned into a 6-0 romp over the visiting Tri-City Americans. Later in the game, Leier earned an assist on highly touted defenseman Seth Jones' third goal of the season.
* J20 SuperElit:
Fredric Larsson missed his second straight game with an upper-body issue. He is expected to return to the lineup on Wednesday. Larsson's Brynäs J20 team defeated Timrå on Sunday by a 6-3 score.
* MHL:
Valeri Vasiliev did not record any points or penalty minutes for MHK Spartak in Sunday's 3-2 win over Atlant Moscow. He was credited with one shot on goal and was even in the plus-minus department. The same two teams face off again today.
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