Game 46 Preview: Flyers vs. Avalanche
Looking to extend a five-game winning streak, the Philadelphia Flyers (25-14-6) will host the Colorado Avalanche (29-14-3) at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. Game time is 1:00 p.m. ET.
On Thursday, in one of the team's best 60-minute performances of the 2020s, the Flyers dominated a very good Dallas Stars team on the way to a rousing 5-1 victory. The Flyers outplayed the Stars in all three periods, showing a relentless forecheck, speed on the rush, strong goaltending and solid play on both ends of special teams.
In the Dallas game, Owen Tippett (five goals, six points in the last five games) scored two goals. Morgan Frost (2g, 5a in the last seven games) notched primary helpers at even strength and on the power play. Cam Atkinson (three goals in the last three games) slam-dunked a power play goal. Scott Laughton patiently converted a penalty shot into a goal. Sean Walker opened the scoring with a goal off the rush via a between-the-legs backhanded touch pass from Frost. Samuel Ersson saw just 15 shots for the game, stopping 14.
Carter Hart is likely to return to the net for Saturday's game. Earlier this season, Hart made 38 saves when the Flyers upset the Avalanche in Denver. It's likely that the Flyers will otherwise use the same 11-forwards, seven defensemen lineup on Saturday that they featured against Dallas on Thursday.
Playing their fifth game in less than eight nights, the Avalanche will play the final game of a five-game eastern road trip. The club is 2-2-0 so far on the trip and is coming off a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
Projected lineups (subject to change) are below. For the Avs, backup goalie Justus Annunen has been returned to the AHL's Colorado Eagles but the lineup for Saturday should otherwise be similar to the starting lines against Boston. For an in-depth preview of the matchup, including team trends, keys to victory, stats and more, see today's
Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
FLYERS
74 Owen Tippett- 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 89 Cam Atkinson
71 Tyson Foerster - 21 Scott Laughton - 18 Garnet Hathaway
27 Noah Cates - 25 Ryan Poehling - (rotation)
6 Travis Sanheim - 9 Jamie Drysdale
8 Cam York - 26 Sean Walker
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
5 Egor Zamula
79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]
Avalanche
********
Phantoms Update: Lehigh Valley Looks for Split in Cleveland
Ian Laperriere's Lehigh Valley Phantoms (16-15-6) suffered a 4-2 road setback on Friday evening against Trent Vogelhuber's Cleveland Monsters (24-10-2). The Phantoms and the North Division leading Monsters will rematch on Saturday at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Game time is 7:05 p.m. ET The game will be streamed live on AHLTV (subscription required).
Special teams was the big difference in Friday's outcome, as the Phantoms went 0-for-4 on the power play while the Monsters were 2-for-4. The Phantoms played a solid opening 20 minutes in an action-packed first period (14-7 Phantoms shot on goal edge) but three unanswered goals by Cleveland in the second period proved to be too much for Lehigh Valley to overcome.
James Malatesta (9th and 10th goals of the season) scored back-to-back goals early in the second period and then assisted on a Jake Christiansen power play tally late in the second period as Cleveland forged a 4-1 lead after the tied entered the second period deadlocked at 1-1. Luca Del Bel Belluz (5th) goal of the season scored in the first period and then had the primary helper on the Christiansen PPG at 18:11 of the second period.
For Lehigh Valley, the biggest highlight on Friday was rookie standout Samu Tuomaala's 12th goal of the season. At 17:31 of the first period, after defenseman Adam Ginning's shot attempt was blocked but bounced back out in front off the end boards, Tuomaala showed very quick hands to score from the slot before goalie Jet Greaves (24 saves on 26 shots) could recover. Olle Lycksell collected the secondary apple.
Unfortunately, the Phantoms' 1-0 lead was so short-lived that there wasn't even time to announce the Tuomaala tally over the public address. A mere 12 seconds passed between the ensuing center ice faceoff and Del Bel Belluz tying the score at 17:44. The Phantoms never led again. At 7:14 of the third period, the Phantoms' fourth line got the team back within 4-2. Jacob Gaucher (4th goal of the season, all scored since the Christmas break) cut the gap to two goals. Lehigh Valley drew no closer. The Gaucher goal was assisted by Victor Mete and Brendan Furry.
Cal Petersen saw 22 shots for the game on Friday, stopping 18. The Phantoms played a pretty solid overall game in front of him, especially at 5-on-5, but Cleveland was the more opportunistic team. Felix Sandström (6-4-2, 3.31 GAA, .877 SV%) is the likely starter on Saturday.
Neither Petersen (5-8-2, 3.26 GAA, .890 save percentage) nor Sandström have delivered nearly the hoped-for consistency from outing to outing that the Phantoms need in goal this season, although both have sporadically provided good games or (more accurately) strong portions of games for Lehigh Valley. Most recently, Sandström was excellent in the Phantoms' home win over Hartford last Friday but couldn't come up with much-needed saves in the Phantoms' 6-0 road blowout loss at the hands of the Rochester Americans on Saturday.
Inconsistent -- and sometimes dowright shabby -- goaltending has made it hard for the Phantoms to get on any sort of sustained roll since the team swept a three-game Canadian road trip back in mid-to-late November. There have been other issues at play. The team's two-way play at 5-on-5 has been spotty. A key strength through most of the season, the power play (now 9th in the league at 20.4 percent) has hit a recent dry spell. The PK hasn't been bad overall (80.9 percent) but dropped to 20th in the league and 9th in the Eastern conference after Friday night.
Not to put all of it on the goaltending, because that wouldn't be accurate or fair, but there have been too many times this season where "momentum saves" have been needed and neither Petersen nor Sandström have been able to come up with that one tough-but-not-impossible stop that could make a huge difference to erase a chance in front of them. There have also been a few too many outright bad goals allowed at inopportune goals allowed by one goalie or the other, especially considering that both have NHL experience.
That does not excuse some the breakdowns from the defense corps (which generally moves the puck well and has some offensive firepower) and blown coverage responsibilities from forwards. This particularly true of the wingers, but there have a few times where centers haven't helped the D protect the house. Defenseman Helge Grans returned from a six-week injury absence for Friday's game, but he, too, was inconsistent prior to the injury.
The Phantoms have had a rough year in terms of the injury bug this season. On Friday night, they were still without power forward Wade Allison as well as defenseman Louie Belpedio.
Allison got off to a very rough start this season and hurt his chances of a return NHL recall after spending all of last season on the Flyers' NHL roster. He subsequently picked up his play and looked much, much better before the all-too-familiar issue of the player getting hurt and missing time reared its head again. Belpedio acquitted himself well in a third pairing role with the Flyers while Rasmus Ristolainen and Marc Staal were out with injuries, but was squeezed out by the numbers game.
It hasn't been all bad for the Phantoms. Tuomaala has put himself back on the prospect radar screen with a strong rookie year (and AHL All-Star Game selection). Fellow rookie J.R. Avon's speed and nascent upside as a player who can move up or down the lineup has shown some under-the-radar promise. Emil Andrae (3g, 15a in 28 games) has come as advertised as a power play presence and stretch passer, although he still a lot to learn in his overall game before he's ready to push again for an NHL job after starting out the season on the Flyers.
Tanner Laczynski (8g, 18 a in 32 games) has looked like a viable NHL fourth-line option and still has some supporters within Flyers Hockey Ops but he did not win over head coach John Tortorella last season and he's unlikely to beat out his NHL competition -- namely, the better-skating Ryan Poehling or the now-healthy Noah Cates -- to get back up to the Flyers.
Olle Lycksell (15g, 27 points) may be relegated to the dreaded "tweener status": productive offensively in the AHL, especially on the power play, but not quite potent enough offensively at the NHL level or well-rounded enough to be a player Tortorella would feel comfortable playing regularly. Lycksell struggled a bit after returning to the Phantoms from an NHL recall (in which he only dressed in one game and saw very limited ice time) but has recently started scoring again.
Both Rhett Gardner (semi-recent NHL recall, dressed in one game but saw very few shifts) and Adam Brooks have had some injury issues this season. They are strictly NHL deep depth options but could help the Phantoms with both now healthy.
Coming off promising AHL rookie seasons last year, none among forward Elliot Desnoyers (4g, 13 points this season) nor defensemen Ronnie Attard (7g, 20 points but still with ongoing defensive consistency concerns) and Adam Ginning have played to a level where they've made it clear cut they'd help the Flyers if recalled. In Ginning's case, it was hoped he'd emerge as Lehigh Valley's clear-cut shutdown D after showing signs of doing so last year. More consistency this season is needed from all three, as well as Andrae, Grans and others.
Cooper Marody is a pretty consistent offensive threat for the Phantoms as a dynamic playmaker, especially on the power play. However, he remains a 5-on-5 defensive liability and his skating has always held him back from extensive looks as an NHL candidate. Nonetheless, Marody leads the Phantoms with 32 points (9g,23a) and he is a big part of Lehigh Valley's overall power play potency.
Friday's starting lineup in Cleveland was as follows:
28 Olle Lycksell - 9 Tanner Laczynski - 27 Samu Tuomaala
17 Garrett Wilson - 22 Rhett Gardner - 20 Cooper Marody
16 J.R. Avon - 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 24 Adam Brooks
13 Brendan Furry - 56 Jacob Gaucher - 14 Zayde Wisdom
37 Adam Ginning - 12 Ronnie Attard
6 Emil Andrae - 2 Helge Grans
98 Victor Mete- 5 Ethan Samson
40 Cal Petersen
[32 Felix Sandström]
Â
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»