There are five Flyers-related games in Europe between this morning and the mid-to-late morning hours of tomorrow. In addition, there are three Flyers prospects in action tonight. All times are listed in EST.
FLYERS IN EUROPE
* SM-liiga:
Max Talbot and Ilves Tampere are on the road to take on Lukko Rauma in a battle of teams near the bottom of the bottom of the standings. Last-place Ilves is currently 14 points behind Lukko. Live in-game updates will be
available here. Game time is 11:30 AM.
* Allsvenskan: Södertälje SK has won 12 of its last 14 games, but is coming off an ugly loss in Malmö as they return home to play Almtuna.
Matt Read will look to break out of a three-game pointless stretch.
Nicklas Grossmann will play the last of four contracted games with SSK. Live in-game updates will be
available here. Game time is 1:00 PM.
* KHL: Last week,
Ilya Bryzgalov appeared in two straight games for just the second time this season. First he played 30 minutes and not giving up any goals in relief of Rastislav Stana in the front end of a home-and-home with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. He started the second game, yielding four goals in a 4-0 loss. Although none of the goals were the Flyers' goaltender's fault, Bryzgalov returned to the scratch list last game. Next up for CSKA is a road match against Metallurg Novokunetsk. A free live webcast will be
available here. Game time is 7 AM tomorrow morning.
* KHL:
Jakub Voracek has just one point (a goal) in his last four games. His HC Lev Prague team will trek to southwestern Siberia for a game against Sibir Novosibirsk. A free live webcast will be
available here. Game time is 7 AM tomorrow morning.
* KHL:
Ruslan Fedotenko had an assist but did not have one of his better all-around games of the season in his last match. Next up for his HC Donbass Donetsk club is a home meeting with SKA St. Petersburg, which features Ilya Kovalchuk and former Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. A free live webcast will be
available here. Game time is 10 AM tomorrow morning.
FLYERS PROSPECTS
* OHL: There will be three Flyers prospects in action as the Oshawa Generals visit the Peterborough Petes. Flyers' first-round pick
Scott Laughton and defenseman
Colin Suellentrop will start for the Generals while tough guy
Derek Mathers will try to spark a Petes' team that has the worst record in the Ontario Hockey League. A free
radio stream of the Petes' broadcast is available or you can
purchase a live webcast for $6.99. Game time is 7:05 PM tonight.
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Phantoms Report
The Adirondack Phantoms have begun to get an understanding of what
Terry Murray's defense-first system and his soft-spoken but no-nonsense style of coaching is all about. The Flyers' AHL farm team has held opponents to two or fewer goals in seven of their last nine games.
Over that stretch, the Phantoms have recorded one shutout, yielded a single goal five times (including each of the last three games) and given up two goals once. The outlier games were a pair of 5-2 loss to Binghamton and Syracuse in the final two games of a five game road trip; which was also the end of a stretch of 10 of 14 games away from Glens Falls. Undoubtedly, there were a few tired legs by that point, although that's never allowed to be used an excuse.
Murray has frequently scratched
Matt Ford, who was the highest-scoring player (combined Hershey and Adirondack totals) on the team a year ago. Previously, the coach recommended the early-season demotion of second-year pro
Jason Akeson to the ECHL. Akeson, who led the Phantoms in scoring (counting Adirondack totals only) as a rookie last season, generated three assists in his first AHL game of the 2012-13 season.
The message is clear: Even if a player's role is to score, he is expected to back check and pay just as much attention to his play away from the puck as when he is controlling the puck. But Murray doesn't want his players to be strictly defensive-minded. He also wants them to be assertive when they have forechecking and counterattacking opportunities, to be involved in puck battles and to use their particular strengths (size or speed) to maximum advantage.
The latter message has been sent to
Eric Wellwood. The forward, who started in every playoff game for the Flyers last season, has been a healthy scratch four times this season. Wellwood has sat out the first three games of the Phantoms' current home stand.
Murray, who has a wealth of NHL head coaching experience, has made it abundantly clear to his Phantoms players that he doesn't care whether a player has previous NHL experience or is a lock to rejoin the Flyers once the NHL lockout is over. While they are under his tutelage, the players must play the system Murray wants them to play, and must continually strive to improve.
Some of the players with NHL experience seemed a bit distracted by the NHL/NHLPA situation early in the first week or two of the AHL season. Murray and assistants
Kjell Samuelsson and
Riley Cote made sure the players got refocused.
Earlier this season, Murray challenged
Brayden Schenn to pick up the consistency of his all-around game. The coach wanted to see Schenn lead by example on an every-game basis, while playing in all game situations. To his credit, Schenn has risen to the occasion more often than not.
In similar fashion, Murray has provided opportunities for
Sean Couturier to diversify his own game beyond that of a shutdown defensive center. For example, Couturier has been given the chance to run a point on the power play. Couturier is also getting plenty of chances to work on his faceoffs in all three zones, which were one of the few areas he needed improvement as an NHL rookie last season.
The Phantoms' top defensive pairing of
Erik Gustafsson and
Marc-Andre Bourdon did not get off to a good start this season. In this instance, however, Murray and Samuelsson simply exercised some patience and let them work through the tough start. That may have been by design or may have been in part due to the fact that the Phantoms are rather lacking in blueline depth beyond their top five. The other regulars (
Brandon Manning, veteran
Danny Syvret and
Oliver Lauridsen) were having issues of their own.
The patience has paid off in recent games. Gustafsson and Bourdon have looked much more like players in position to challenge for NHL jobs if and when the NHL season gets underway.
In goal, veteran minor leaguer
Scott Munroe has gotten the last three starts and has gotten the job done. Rookie
Cal Heeter has had three good outings among his seven appearances, as well as two average ones and two games (one was his pro debut) in which he struggled. But right now, Munroe is the number one goalie, which is nothing unexpected.
Incidentally,
Niko Hovinen has been rather inconsistent with the ECHL's Trenton Titans in the early going of his first season. As such, I don't think fellow rookie Heeter's spot with the Phantoms is currently in jeopardy. Hovinen would have to string together several strong appearances before that would be a serious consideration.
The Phantoms resume their six-home homestand tomorrow. The club will begin a three-game-in-four night stretch that will see the St. John's IceCaps come to town on Wednesday, followed by Binghamton Senators on Friday and Albany Devils on Saturday.
With the team coming off a three-in-four last week and another on tap, Murray has given full or partial maintenance days to some of his key personnel. For instance, according to Michael Cignoli's
Rink Report blog, Bourdon was given off the second half of Monday's practice.
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Tretiak Defends Bryzgalov
If anyone understands what Ilya Bryzgalov has gone through over the last year, it is legendary Russian goaltender Vladislav Tretiak. The Hockey Hall of Fame inductee gave an interview to Sport Express writer Andrey Kuznetsov (click
here for a patchy Google translation) in which he defended Bryzgalov to his critics and attempted to explain some of the reasons why the NHL goalie has struggled in the KHL during the NHL lockout.
In particular, Tretiak points to Bryzgalov's lack of regular playing time as a key reason why he hasn't been able to get into a rhythm. In his last start, Bryzgalov's team got shut out and the goalie was victimized by four separate defensive breakdowns that left shooters wide open in point blank range.
Tretiak said that people "expect miracles" from goaltenders and that miracles sometimes happen but a goalie needs to be playing regularly to reach the pinnacle of his game and live up to those sorts of lofty expectations.
Tretiak notes that has to worry first and foremost about winning games above trying to get Bryzgalov into a groove. The team already has a fine KHL starting goaltender in Rastislav Stana, who has played well all season. As such, there has been a lack of opportunities for Bryzgalov to work through any problems and get into a rhythm.
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