Apologies in advance for the early posting of "tomorrow's" blog. I will unavailable to write this evening or tomorrow morning, so this is the most timely way to get today's updates and tomorrow's game links posted.

*********

PHANTOMS: SCHENN BURNS EX-TEAM FOR HAT TRICK IN 4-1 WIN

In the first game against the Los Angeles Kings organization since being traded to Philadelphia in the summer of 2011, Brayden Schenn exploded for a natural hat trick in the Adirondack Phantoms' 4-1 victory over the Manchester Monarchs. Garrett Roe scored the other goal for Adirondack, while goaltender Cal Heeter turned back 36 of 37 shots to earn the victory.

The Phantoms trailed 1-0 midway through the first period following an even strength goal by Manchester's Brandon Kozun. Schenn singlehandedly took over the game from there.

First, Schenn notched a power play goal to tie the game less than three minutes after Manchester opened the scoring. In the opening 20 seconds of the second period, Schenn put the Phantoms ahead to stay. At the 5:36 mark of the middle period, Schenn got loose on a breakway and snapped a shot past Martin Jones to finish off the hat trick.

Roe gave the Phantoms a little extra insurance with a third period power play goal. Heeter, who made 26 of his saves over the final 40 minutes, took care of the rest along with the Adirondack defense.

The Phantoms have allowed a combined four goals over their last four games; a sign that the defensive system preached by Terry Murray is starting to take hold. The club is 3-1-0 over than span (the lone defeat was a 2-1 loss to Albany) and has improved its season mark to 6-6-0-0.

Sean Couturier returned to the Adirondack lineup after missing two games with the flu. He did not figure in any scoring but was credited with three shots on goal. Ben Holmstrom earned a pair of assists on goals by Schenn, while Eric Wellwood, Marc-Andre Bourdon and Matt Ford were credited with one assist apiece.

Although Erik Gustafsson did not get on the scoresheet in the game, he continued to show marked progress from his struggles in the opening week of the regular season. He was easily the Phantoms' best defenseman against Manchester.

The Phantoms return to action on Friday night. The road trip continues with a visit to play the Binghamton Senators. Game time will be at 7:05 p.m. eastern.

***********

SIMMONDS LEAVES LIBEREC

Czech Extraliga team HC Bili Tygri Liberec announced on Wednesday that Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds has left the team to return to North America, citing family reasons.

St. Louis Blues forward Chris Stewart is also leaving the team, with plans to rejoin German Bundesliga team Eispiraten Crimmitschau. Simmonds and Stewart joined the German minor league team in early October, departing to sign with Liberec at the conclusion of their 30-day contracts.

On Tuesday, Simmonds, Stewart and Liberec team captain Petr Nedved all sat out in a European Trophy game in Switzerland against SC Bern. It was initially said that the club was simply giving its top line the day off rather than playing what amounted to an exhibition game (Liberec was already out of playoff contention in Euro Trophy play). A few hours later, Eispiraten issued a press release to announce that Stewart was returning to Germany. No mention was made of Simmonds' status until the next morning.

Liberec general manager Ctibor Jech made no secret of his unhappiness with Simmonds' and Stewart's decisions in the team press release. That much is clear even in doing a Google Translate of Jech's quotes.

The GM said Simmonds and Stewart were "substandard" (I suspect "less than forthcoming" might be a better word) in their handling of their impending departures. Jech claimed the two players had met with the team's new head coach the other day and did not let on their intention to leave. Jech said the team complied with the two NHL players' request not to make the trip to Switzerland, and were then later informed that neither player would be rejoining them when the Czech Extraliga season resumes on Saturday.

According to Jech, Simmonds and Stewart should not have been at contractual liberty to leave at their own discretion. The deal was supposed to run either until the end of the current season or the end of the NHL lockout, whichever came first.

The GM added, however, that he accepted Simmonds' explanation that he had a pressing family issue to deal with in Canada. The team would also not to prevent Stewart from going back to Germany if that's where he prefers to play. Jech said that it's still possible that either or both players could return to the team but that it seemed unlikely, and concluded that the loss weakens the already-troubled team.

In six games with the Tigers, Simmonds recorded four goals, two assists and 16 penalty minutes. Stewart had just one assist while dressing in five games on the top line with Simmonds and former Flyers center Nedved.

************

Grossmann Signs Short-Term with SSK; Read Aims for Thursday Return

After much difficulty lining up insurance coverage that would enable him to play during the NHL lockout, Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann has signed a short-term contract with his original Swedish pro team, Södertälje SK. According to a team press release, Grossmann will play four games with SSK. The first game will be on Saturday.

Grossmann's name has been repeatedly linked to SSK during the lockout, and team officials have been open all along in saying that they were trying to arrange through its corporate sponsors and other sources for a way to offset the defenseman's hefty insurance premiums. However, the team announced a few weeks ago that it had been unable to secure the financing.

In the meantime, Grossmann worked out with a Division I team and also practiced with the injury-riddled SSK team. It remains to be seen if a longer-term arrangement can be made beyond the four games (assuming the NHL lockout isn't settled soon), but Grossmann said he's simply happy to be playing hockey again even if it's only for a few games.

"Obviously, it feels really cool to get to play with the team I developed in," he said in the press release. "I'm really hungry to play because I haven't played a game since the playoffs with the Flyers. I know a lot of the guys around the team from before and I've trained with them a bit, so it feels like I'm already part of the group. I hope I can bring some experience and steady defensive play."

Grossmann's Flyers and SSK teammate, Matt Read remains day-to-day with a foot injury. He took a puck off the foot in practice last Friday and missed yesterday's game. New York Rangers forward Carl Hagelin, who has made a deadly line combination with Read in the middle and French national player Damien Fleury on right wing, remains out of the lineup with a shoulder injury.

Read returned to practice on Wednesday. Barring any setbacks, he is slated to return to the lineup on Thursday, when SSK travels to play Karlskrona. Game time will be at 1 PM eastern U.S./Canada time.

Come Saturday, Grossmann will be paired on Saturday with Anaheim Ducks' defenseman Cam Fowler. The latter has signed w/ SSK for duration of the NHL lockout, per a separate press release issued by the team.

Despite missing both Read and Hagelin up front as well as three starting defensemen, SSK won yesterday for the ninth time in its last 10 games.

*************

FLYERS IN KHL: WEDNESDAY ROUNDUP

* Jakub Voracek earned a pair of assists in Lev Prague's 3-2 win over Torpedo.

* Ruslan Fedotenko had two regulation assists and later scored the shootout winning goal in HC Donbass Donetsk's 3-2 win over Neftekhimik. It was the second time this season that Fedotenko has scored the winning goal in a shootout. In this match, he logged 20:21 of ice time and and went 14-for-27 on faceoffs.

* Ilya Bryzgalov was scratched as the third goaltender for CSKA Moscow in a 2-0 shutout win over Atlant Moscow. Rastislav Stana earned the shutout, but only had to face 14 shots for the entire game.

*************

FLYERS JUNIOR PROSPECTS IN ACTION THURSDAY

* The slumping Oshawa Generals will attempt to turn around their fortunes when they visit the London Knights. Scott Laughton will serve the eighth game of his 10-game suspension, while defenseman Colin Suellentrop will try to put a couple straight rough games in the rear-view mirror. Game time is at 7:05 PM. BROADCAST: A free radio stream (Knights' broadcast) will be available here. You can also purchase a live webcast for $6.99.

* The Peterborough Petes are currently mired with the worst record in the OHL. The team will try again for its elusive fifth win of the season when it hosts the Ottawa 67s. Tough guy Derek Mathers has come on offensively of late, scoring three goals in November after not scoring a goal in October. Game time is 7:05 PM. BROADCAST: A free radio stream of the Petes' broadcast is available or you can purchase a live webcast for $6.99.

***************

Kindle users: Please sign up for Flyers Buzz. For more information click here.

Click below to follow me on Twitter:

More from Bill Meltzer