Game 79 Preview: Flyers vs. Penguins
In the penultimate home game of the 2021-22 season, interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (24-43-11) will host Mike Sullivan's Pittsburgh Penguins (45-23-11). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 4:00 p.m. EDT (TNT, 97.5 The Fanatic).
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the archrival clubs and the second in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 0-1-2 against the Penguins to date.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 6-3 win in Montreal on Thursday. The victory ended a six-game losing streak for Philadelphia.
The Flyers received two goals from James van Riemsdyk (22nd and 23rd of the season) and one apiece from Oskar Lindblom (12th), Travis Konecny (15th) and Morgan Frost (4th). Apart from yielding a stoppable late-game goal that only represented the difference between a four-goal or three-goal final margin of victory, Martin Jones was strong in net. The veteran stopped 31 of 34 shots.
The Penguins, who are 4-5-1 over their last 10 games but have won their last two matches, are playing the second game of a back-to-back set. On Saturday, the Penguins earned a 7-2 road blowout victory over the Detroit Red Wings to move back into sole possession of third place in the Metro.
Sidney Crosby reached the 30-goal mark for the season; the 10th time in his career that the future Hockey Hall of Famer has achieved that milestone. The Penguins also received even strength and power play goals from Evgeni Malkin (18th and 19th) and one goal apiece from Chad Ruhwedel (4th), Rickard Rakell (20th), Kris Letang (9th) and Danton Heinen (18th).
For an in-depth look at Sunday's matchups. statistical trends and players to watch, see the
Five Things Preview on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 86 Joel Farabee - 46 Bobby Brink
49 Noah Cates - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
23 Oskar Lindblom - 44 Nate Thompson - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Ronnie Attard
84 Linus Högberg - 6 Travis Sanheim
3 Keith Yandle - 54 Egor Zamula
35 Martin Jones
[32 Felix Sandström]
PP1: Konecny, Hayes, Farabee, Brink, Sanheim
PP2: Frost, Laughton, JVR, Tippett, Provorov
PENGUINS
59 Jake Guentzel - 87 Sidney Crosby - 67 Rickard Rakell
16 Jason Zucker - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 17 Bryan Rust
43 Danton Heinen - 77 Jeff Carter - 42 Kasperi Kapanen
23 Brock McGinn - 53 Teddy Blueger - 9 Evan Rodrigues
8 Brian Dumoulin - 58 Kris Letang
5 Mike Matheson - 2 Chad Ruhwedel
28 Marcus Pettersson - 6 John Marino
70 Louis Domingue
1 Casey DeSmith
**********
Three-Point Weekend Not Enough for Eliminated Phantoms
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms took three of four possible points from a home-and-home set against the Hershey Bears on Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately for Ian Laperriere's team, it was too little and too late to prevent themselves from being eliminated from the playoffs.
In a stark reminder of why teams often end up ruing a point here and a point there left on the table, the Phantoms lost four straight games beyond regulation, including a 4-3 home overtime loss to Hershey on Friday. The same night, the Bridgeport Islanders claimed a 4-2 home victory against the Springfield Thunderbirds. As a result, Bridgeport clinched the sixth and final playoff spot out of the Atlantic Division. The Phantoms and Hartford Wolf Pack were eliminated.
On Saturday, the Phantoms were outplayed by a wide margin in Hershey but veteran minor league goaltender Pat Nagle (42-save shutout) single-handedly kept the game scoreless until third-period goals by Cooper Zech (1st of the season) and Linus Sandin (7th) in the first half of the final stanza established a 2-0 lead for Lehigh Valley. Sandin (1g, 1a) and Isaac Ratclife (2a) each finished the day with two-point games.
In the meantime, the free-falling Wolf Pack, who'd gone 1-8-1 over their previous 10 games to drop right out of the playoff race, picked up a 3-2 road win in Bridgeport. Had the Phantoms won even one of the four consecutive games they dropped in overtime (three) or via shootout (one), Lehigh Valley would still have been alive in a playoff spot chase and in control of their own destiny entering the final three games of the season.
Over the team's past 10 games, Ratcliffe has posted eight points (4g, 4a). On the flip side, Wade Allison hit a mini-slump points wise at the worst possible time with three points over his last 11 games (2g, 1a). In the bigger picture, however, it was encouraging that Allison has finally been able to stay more or less healthy across the past six weeks or so after a hellish season in terms of injuries.
The Phantoms' power play struggles, which were nearly as severe as the parent club's and spanned most of the season, ended up being very costly in the end. The team is ranked at the bottom of the 31-team AHL with a 13.9 percent success rate on the power play. The penalty kill was strong overall, ranking 6th at 83.2 percent.
Lehigh Valley will conclude the season with a three-game homestand, hosting Springfield on Tuesday, Cleveland on Wednesday and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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