Ek’s Note. I will be back tomorrow with all the rumors, but today enjoy who I feel is HANDS DOWN the #1 Flyers writer on the planet!
Game 6: Flyers vs. Sharks
John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (4-1-0) are right back in action on Sunday to host David Quinn's San Jose Sharks (1-6-0). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT.
The Flyers completed a three-game road trip on Saturday with a 3-1 win over the Nashville Predators. The Sharks, who will be in action for the third time in four nights, sustained a 2-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils. Sunday's game marks the conclusion of a four-game east coast road trip for the Sharks.
Neither the Flyers nor the Sharks held a morning skate on Sunday. Philadelphia made a roster move on Sunday morning, returning Jackson Cates to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. For an-depth preview of this game, see Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
Projected lineups (subject to change)
Flyers
86 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 57 Wade Allison
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 17 Zack MacEwen
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 23 Lukas Sedlak - 58 Tanner Laczynski
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
24 Nick Seeler - 54 Egor Zamula
79 Carter Hart/ 32 Felix Sandström
Sharks
28 Timo Meier- 48 Tomas Hertl - 94 Alexander Barbanov
13 Nick Bonino - 39 Logan Couturer - 11 Luke Kunin
10 Evgeny Svechnikov - 7 Nico Sturm - 62 Kevin Labanc
23 Oskar Lindblom - 16 Steven Lorentz - 83 Matt Nieto
4 Scott Harrington - 65 Erik Karlsson
44 Marc-Edouard Vlasic - 5 Matt Benning
38 Mario Ferraro - 51 Radim Simek
47 James Reimer
36 Kaapo Kahkonen
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Wrap: Flyers Down Predators, 3-1
The Philadelphia Flyers concluded a three-game road trip with a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena. Stellar goaltending by Carter Hart, 22 blocked shots by his teammates, and a three-point game from Joel Farabee led the way.
The Flyers (4-1-0) took four of six possible points on the road trip. They return home on Sunday to host San Jose. Nashville dropped to 2-4-1 on the young season.
Kevin Hayes (1st goal of the season) gave the Flyers an early 1-0 lead at 3:13 of the first period. Zack MacEwen made it 2-0 on a rebound goal at 18:36. Farabee assisted on both goals. There was no scoring in a second period controlled by Nashville except for a five-minute stretch in the early portion of the stanza.
In the third period, Farabee (1st) gave the Flyers a little more breathing room as Hayes extended his season-opening point streak to five games. Matt Duchene (2nd, power play goal) broke up the shutout bid late in regulation but the Predators drew no closer.
Hart flirted with a shutout for 57:42. He finished with 31 saves on 32 shots. Juuse Saros stopped 22 of 25 Flyers shots.
The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play. The Predators were 1-for-3.
Claimed off waivers from the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday, Lukas Sedlak made his Flyers' debut in this game. He skated 9:45 of ice time across 14 shifts (including 40 seconds of PK time). Sedlak had a golden scoring chance in the second period, hitting the post. He put three shots on net.
For an in-depth game recap, period-by-period analysis, stats and highlights, see the
Postgame 5 on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
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Phantoms Rematch with Monsters at the PPL Center
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-1-1) will play the second half of a home back-to-back set at the PPL Center when they rematch on Sunday with the Cleveland Monsters (3-1-0). Game time is 3:05 p.m. EDT. The game will be streamed on AHL TV (subscription required).
On Saturday, the Phantoms took a 2-1 lead into the third period but subsequently had to rally late in the third period to get the game to overtime. Cleveland's Emil Bemström ended the 3-on-3 sudden death overtime with a goal against countryman Samuel Ersson at the 42-second mark.
Ersson played brilliantly for two periods. He stopped 21 of 22 shots through the opening 40 minutes including a breakaway save. The only puck that got past Ersson through two periods was a Brendan Gaunce rebound tally at 10:23 of the first period. Ersson argued, to no avail, that he'd been interfered with on the initial shot.
Hayden Hodgson potted the game's first goal at 7:13 of the first period. The sequence started with Adam Ginning landing a heavy hit in the neutral zone. Defense partner Linus Högberg claimed the puck and moved it up to Garrett Wilson. After receiving pass from Wilson, Hodgon fired a shot from the right circle past Pavel Cajan.
The game remained knotted at 1-1 on the Hodgson and Gaunce goals until 11:57 of the second period. With Lehigh Valley on a power play, Desnoyers elevated a backhanded shot from the left side of the net under the crossbar for a 2-1 Phantoms lead. Tyson Foerster and Cam York picked up the assists on the play. Desnoyers has scored a goal in each of his first three games in the American League.
Trailing 2-1 entering the third period, Cleveland went on to score on three of their final nine shots of the evening. At 1:41 of the third, Richards tied the game at 2-2 (assisted by Marcus Björk and Bemström). With Cleveland on the power play, Bemström scored from the top of the left circle to give the Monsters a 3-2 lead at 11:31. Highly touted rookie defenseman David Jiricek received the lone assist on the go-ahead goal.
The Phantoms pulled Ersson for an extra attacker. On the ensuing 6-on-5, Lehigh Valley made it 3-3 with 1:02 remaining in regulation. Foerster passed back to Ronnie Attard at the right point, teeing up a one-timer for the hard-shooting defenseman. In an ensuing puck scramble, Olle Lycksell kept the attack going. He didn't score, but the puck went right to Phantoms captain Cal O'Reilly and the future AHL Hall of Famer tied the game from the right side of Cajan's net.
In overtime, the Monsters won the opening faceoff and never relinquished puck possession. Finally, Bemström completed his two-goal, three-point evening. Receiving a pass from Gavin Bayreuther, Bemström cut in from the left circle and beat Ersson from the slot to win the game for the Monsters. Ersson finished the night with 27 saves on 31 shots, which took a little bit of the luster off the gem he worked on for the first two periods.
The Phantoms are likely to start veteran Troy Grosenick in goal in Sunday's rematch. Desnoyers will look to extend his season-opening goal streak to four games.
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