WRAP: FLYERS BEAT LEAFS IN SHOOTOUT, 3-2
One week after going to an 11-round shootout at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the scene shifted to Scotiabank Arena in Toronto for another game that went to a skills competition. This one only went three rounds, however, and the Flyers earned the bonus point over the Maple Leafs, 3-2 (2-1), after the Leafs took the marathon skills competition, 4-3 (2-1), a week ago.
Phil Myers (2nd) and Oskar Lindblom (power play, 8th) scored in the first period for the Flyers; Philly's strongest all-around period of a seesaw, exciting game. Toronto got one goal apiece in the second period from Travis Dermott (1st) and the third from William Nylander (5th) to erase a two-goal deficit.
In the shootout, Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier converted their respective second-round and third-round attempts. After John Tavares and Auston Matthews were unsuccessful, Nylander's goal in the top of the third round forced a bottom end of the round, wherein Couturier ended the game.
Both teams received strong goaltending performances. Brian Elliott earned the win with 38 saves on 40 shots, including eight saves in overtime. He then went 2-for-3 in shootout save opportunities. Frederik Andersen made 30 saves on 32 shots, including three straight point-blank saves in a netfront scramble by the Flyers' fourth line in the third period. He then went 1-for-3 in the shootout after going 10-for-11 last Saturday to Elliott's 9-for-11.
The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. The Maple Leafs were 0-for-3.
The Flyers may have been outshot, 10-8, in the first period but were deserving of the 2-0 lead they took to the locker room at intermission. The Flyers were up their skates, strong on the forecheck and playing a physical brand of hockey. Elliott looked sharp in net when tested.
Myers opened the scoring at 8:08 with his second goal in as many games. Joel Farabee handled the puck on the attack. After a pass was tipped by James van Riemsdyk, it slid to a pinching Myers, who uncorked a blast just inside the left post and right back out of the net.
For a fraction of a second in real time, there was a pause because the puck exited the net so fast that it almost seemed like Myers had simply hit the post. However, the puck indeed went in cleanly and the Flyers had an early lead. JVR (5th assist) and Farabee (2nd NHL assist) picked up the helpers.
Saturday's game was also a milestone night of sorts for Farabee because it was the 19-year-old's 10th NHL game. That means the first year of his NHL entry-level contract has been triggered and he is no longer slide-rule eligible in the American Hockey League. He will come up for restricted free agency for the first time in the summer of 2022.
Lindblom staked the Flyers to a 2-0 lead at 18:28 of the opening stanza. Before that, Travis Konecny kept his feet moving and drew an interference penalty on Toronto's Ilya Mikheyev for the Flyers' second power play of the game. The Giroux unit was unable to score but the Couturier unit got set up and cashed in midway through the man advantage.
From above the dot in the right circle, Konecny saw Lindblom set up to the side of the net in a tripod and sent a sharp pass his way. A flip of the wrists to change the stick angle later and Lindblom had himself a deflection goal as the puck found daylight for his team-leading eighth goal of the season. Konecny (10th assist) and Shayne Gostisbehere (5th assist) collected the apples.
Mitch Marner suffered an apparent ankle injury stepping on a stick moments after the opening faceoff of the second period. The Leafs star forward returned briefly to join the team on its first power play of the game -- the first time the Flyers had a shorthanded situation in four periods dating back to the Carolina game -- but was unable to continue and left the game.
The Leafs generated a multi-shift push in the second period, and it eventually paid off in trimming the gap to 2-1 at 10:11.
Saturday's game was a struggle for Ivan Provorov, who was battling the puck for much of the night. So were other players but Provorov had a pair of glaring giveaways and was uncharacteristically drawn out of position on coverages a couple times as well. Provorov unwisely stepped up in the defensive zone off a neutral zone turnover by the Giroux line, and the play moved right on past him to leave partner Matt Niskanen outnumbered.
Matthews started the sequence. Nylander then found a pinching Dermott joining the play, and Dermott buried a shot from the right slot for his first goal of the season.
A strong penalty kill for the Flyers when Toronto had a chance to draw even helped stabilize things for Philly. The Flyers closed the period out strong, especially the Couturier line. A debuting Andy Andreoff and his linemate, Tyler Pitlick (on a PK rush), had some good moments for the Flyers. It was another strong stanza for Elliott.
The third period was a track meet with a slew of prime scoring chances. Both goaltenders stepped up repeatedly in the seesaw frame, with Andersen making 13 saves and Elliott stopping 10 of 11 shots.
At 3:58, Toronto tied the game at 2-2 off a victorious board battle in deep and a perfect feed by Auston Matthews to an unmarked Nylander near the right post. Justin Holl got the secondary assist (1st) and Matthews got the primary for his second assist of the game and 7th of the campaign to date.
The Flyers' fourth line was particularly effective in the third period, and saw their time extended. All three among Michael Raffl, Andreoff, and Pitlick won battles with regularity and created pressure in the Toronto end but were unable to solve Andersen. The Kevin Hayes and Couturier lines also created some chances.
The game moved to OT, which saw both sides have odd-man opportunities in the frenetic period. The Flyers missed the net on a couple of golden opportunities (they only put one on Andersen to the eight the Leafs forced Elliott to save). Gostisbehere caused a too-many-men penalty in the final seven-plus seconds of the overtime, giving Toronto an offensive zone faceoff and a 4-on-3 power play with enough time to win a draw and create a chance. Philly got the game to a 65-minute tie and brought about the shootout.
Tavares (19:49 TOI, three shots on goal on eight attempts) was held off the scoresheet on this night. He led off the shootout in the top of the first and was denied by Elliott. The lone Philly scorer in last Saturday's skills competition, Travis Konecny, was unable to beat Andersen this time. The goalie snared Konecny's shot with his glove.
In the second round, Elliott stepped up again to deny Matthews. Shooting in the bottom of the round, Giroux elected not to make any moves. He simply would up for a slap shot and blasted a scorcher right past Andersen.
A save by Elliott on Nylander would have ended the game. The Swede kept the shootout going as he moved to the right to open up Elliott just enough to slide the puck through a narrow space in his pads as he sprawled across. The Flyers goalie got some of the shot but not enough to avoid it sliding through and over the goal line.
Now it was up to Couturier. On Nov. 1 in New Jersey, he won the shootout by pulling off the "Peter Forsberg postage stamp" shootout move -- a one-handed lateral change of direction to pull the puck past the goalie with his momentum taking him the other way and then tapping or sliding the puck into the vacated side.
This time around, Couturier made a different move with the same general idea. Moving in deliberately, he pulled off a forehand-to-backhand-to-forehand switch on which Andersen bit. Couturier then tucked the puck inside the left post to secure the bonus point for Philly.
For more on Saturday's game,
click here.
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GAME 17: FLYERS @ BRUINS
In the second half of a weekend back-to-back set, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (9-5-2) are in Beantown on Sunday night to take on Bruce Cassidy's Boston Bruins (11-3-2). Game time at TD Garden is 7 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast will be on 97.5 The Fanatic (or 93.3 WMMR) with an online simulcast on
Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of three meetings this season between the teams, and the lone game in Boston. The teams will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on Jan. 13 and March 10. Last season, the Flyers went 2-1-0 against the Bruins.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Sunday's game is the Flyers' third in four nights and fourth game in six nights. Philly brings a road record of 3-4-1 into the game. After back-to-back ugly road losses to the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins dropped their overall record to 5-5-2, the Flyers have gone 4-0-1 over their last five games. On paper, this game may be the toughest one yet.
On Saturday, the Flyers rolled all four lines and after skating to a hard-fought 2-2 tie through 65 minutes, grabbed the shootout bonus point in Toronto from a 3-2 (2-1) victory.
In Boston, the Flyers are likely to dress the same line combinations as the game against the Maple Leafs. The only difference will be Carter Hart starting in goal for Philadelphia.
Entering Sunday's tilt in Toronto, the Flyers have averaged 3.19 goals per game with allowing 3.00 per game. The power play comes in at 22.2 percent and the penalty kill at 84.4 percent. The team has won faceoffs at a 54.8 percent clip, although the percentage has been dropping a bit of late with Sean Couturier muddling through a shoulder strain and limited in his ability to take draws. On Saturday in Toronto, the left-handed shooter took his first draw right-handed.
BRUINS OUTLOOK
The Bruins are undefeated on home ice in regulation thus far in 2019-20, bringing a lofty record of 7-0-1 at TD Garden into Sunday's game against the Flyers. Heading into the game, the Bruins also have the fatigue factor in their side. Whereas the Flyers will be playing the final segment of a 3-in-4 and 4-in-6, the Bruins have played just once in the last four nights.
However, in the week leading up to this game, Boston has lost back-to-back games in regulation for the first time this season. Before that, they rattled off a six-game winning streak.
On Tuesday, hampered by having a would-be go-ahead goal by Charlie Coyle disallowed on a coach's challenge for offside, the Bruins lost 5-4 in Montreal. On Friday, the Bruins were upset in Detroit, 4-2, by a Red Wings team that had gone 1-11-1 over its previous 13 games.
In a losing cause in Detroit, David Krejci tallied off a Red Wings turnover and Patrice Bergeron scored on a deflection of a Torey Krug shot. Tuukka Rask made 28 saves.
The Bruins have not escaped the injury bug, either in training camp or early in the season. There could be some lineup changes on Sunday, depending on the availability of several players. David Backes (upper body) and Jake DeBrusk (lower body) are both day-to-day, while Joakim Nordström (elbow infection) and Pär Lindholm (upper body) are both on the injured reserve list but very close to being activated. Brett Ritchie suffered an upper body injury in Friday's game in Detroit; his availability to play against the Flyers is questionable.
Entering Sunday's game, the Bruins have averaged 3.63 goals per game with allowing 2.44 per game. The power play comes in at a scorching 30.9 percent and the penalty kill at 84.0 percent. The team has won faceoffs at a 50.5 percent rate.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk - 28 Claude Giroux - 49 Joel Farabee
23 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
81 Carsen Twarynski - 13 Kevin Hayes - 92 Jakub Voracek
10 Andy Andreoff - 12 Michael Raffl - 18 Tyler Pitlick
9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 5 Phil Myers
79 Carter Hart
[37 Brian Elliott]
Power Play 1: Giroux, JVR, Farabee, Gostisbehere, Voracek
Power Play 2: Couturier, Lindblom, Konecny, Provorov, Niskanen
Scratches: 8 Robert Hägg (healthy), 44 Chris Stewart (healthy), 55 Sam Morin (torn ACL).
Injured reserve: 21 Scott Laughton (broken right index finger)
Injured non-roster: 19 Nolan Patrick (migraines)
BRUINS
63 Brad Marchand - 37 Patrice Bergeron - 88 David Pastrnak
22 Peter Cehlarik - 46 David Krejci - 43 Danton Heinen
10 Anders Björk - 13 Charlie Coyle - 19 Zach Senyshyn
18 Brett Ritchie - 52 Sean Kuraly - 14 Chris Wagner
33 Zdeno Chara - 75 Connor Clifton
48 Matt Grzelcyk - 73 Charlie McAvoy
47 Torey Krug - 25 Brandon Carlo
41 Jaroslav Halak
[40 Tuukka Rask]
Power Play 1: Marchand, Bergeron, Pastrnak, Heinen, Krug.
Power Play 2: Cehlarik, Krejci, Coyle, Grzelcyk, McAvoy.
Scratches: 43 Steve Kampfer (healthy), David Backes (upper body, day-to-day), 74 Jake DeBrusk (lower body, day-to-day).
Injured reserve: 20 Joakim Nordström (elbow, close to activation), 26 Pär Lindholm (upper body, close to activation), 27 John Moore (shoulder), 81 Anton Blidh (shoulder), 83 Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), 86 Kevan Miller (knee).
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PHANTOMS OPEN HOME-AND-HOME WITH 3-2 OT WIN VS. HERSHEY
It was far from easy, but the Lehigh Valley Phantoms earned a 3-2 overtime win over the Hershey Bears at the PPL Center on Saturday. A hard-fought, seesaw game that was similar at times to what was simultaneously taking place in Toronto between the Flyers and Maple Leafs, there were pronounced momentum shifts at various junctures of this tilt.
With the team's first victory of the season beyond regulation, the Phantoms improved to 6-2-4 through 12 games. The Bears dropped a point behind the Phantoms at 6-5-3 through 14 games. The teams will rematch on Sunday (5 p.m. ET) at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Mikhail Vorobyev (shorthanded, 3rd) had a breakaway goal and a power play assist for the Phantoms. Greg Carey (power play, 4th) sent the game to the third period tied at 2-2 after the Bears had scored a pair of goals in the middle frame to take a short-lived lead. In the 3-on-3 overtime, Morgan Frost (two assists, 6th and 7th) made a slick move along the board and found an open Andy Welinski for the game-winning goal. It was Welinski's 2nd goal in as many games.
Veteran Matt Moulson (5th) and Liam O'Brien (4th) tallied for Hershey in the second period after the Phantoms had taken a 1-0 to intermission.
Alex Lyon earned the win in goal for Lehigh Valley, stopping 28 of 30 shots. Pheonix Copley denied 29 of 32 Phantoms shots. Sunday's rematch in Hershey could see a goalie matchup between J-F Berube and Vitek Vanecek.
Saturday's game also saw one of the most spirited heavyweight bouts of recent seasons; an epic fight between Lehigh Valley's Kurtis Gabriel and Hershey's Kale Kessy early in the second period.
The fight got both teams and the PPL Center crowd revved up, but it was the Bears who got the game's next two goals. Moulson scored just seven seconds after play resumed and then O'Brien temporary put Hershey ahead 4:04 after Moulson tallied. Both were puck-luck goals, especially the latter, which saw the puck hit Lyon in the mask not just once but twice before going in.
The Phantoms re-established order after killing off a Maksim Sushko high-sticking double minor. With both Kessy (holding) and Connor Hobbs (delay of game) in the box, the Phantoms struck at 5-on-3. The Phantoms controlled the puck and good puck movement from Frost to Vorobyev to Carey at point blank range resulted in a 2-2 deadlock at 19:16 of the middle stanza.
Earlier in the game, Vorobyev gave the Phantoms an early lead as he pounced on a turnover and soloed shorthanded to beat Copley. The Russian third-year pro, who has also played six games (0g, 1a) for the Flyers, has six points in nine AHL games this season.
Frost saw a seven-game point streak come to an end on Wednesday in a clunker of a performance against Wilkes Barre/Scranton in a nationally televised game on NHL Network. On Saturday against Hershey, right from the get-go, Frost was notably much more up on his skates and dictating the pace. As a result, he was on the setup side of multiple scoring chances and a couple of his own as well. In the third period, he was robbed from close range by Copley. Frost got a measure of revenge in OT, slipping a defender on the left board and then making a tape-to-tape pass to Welinski. The Bears and Copley never had a chance to get reset. Frost now has 11 points (4g, 7a) through 12 games.
On a down note, Phantoms third-year defenseman Mark Friedman suffered an injury in the first period and had to leave the game. Friedman, who has quietly been having a very solid start to the season, fell over at the side of the net following a collision along the end boards. Friedman has become a key facet of the Lehigh Valley blueline over the last season-plus, especially with Phil Myers up with the parent team.
Rookie winger Isaac Ratcliffe has had an up-and-down first full month of regular season pro hockey. However, the Flyers' 2017 second-round pick won a few battles on Saturday night, generated a pair of shots and looked good on a mid third period penalty kill. It's a game the 20-year-old can potentially build off in matches to come.
Below is the Phantoms starting lineup from the front end of the home-and-home with Hershey:
10 Greg Carey - 9 Cal O'Reilly - 51 Kyle Criscuolo
24 Mikhail Vorobyev - 17 German Rubtsov - Nicolas 16 Aube-Kubel
15 Maksim Sushko - 23 Morgan Frost- 38 David Kase
29 Kurtis Gabriel - 21 Gerry Fitzgerald - Isaac 19 Ratcliffe
39 Nate Prosser - 14 Mark Friedman
43 T.J. Brennan - 3 Andy Welinski
5 Tyler Wotherspoon - 44 Reece Willcox
34 Alex Lyon
[35 J-F Berube]
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