PREVIEW 7:30 AM EDT
Tonight's exhibition game with the New York Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center will officially be the fourth game in three nights for the Philadelphia Flyers. It the second consecutive game night for the group of players that remained in Philadelphia while the other portion of the split squad was in Canada for back-to-back games with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Last night in Philadelphia, the squad coached by assistant Craig Berube battled back from a 2-0 deficit to forge a 3-2 lead in the third period on goals by Jakub Voracek, Vincent Lecavalier and Jason Akeson. Washington tied the game in the final half minute and went on to win 4-3 via four-round shootout.
After a scoreless first period that saw the Flyers outshoot Washington by a 10-7 margin, Wayne Simmonds was whistled for three minor penalties in one extended delayed-call sequence. First, he was called for an initial holding penalty. Then he got called for cross-checking. Barking at the referee about the double minors immediately earned Simmonds an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty before the penalties were announced.
During the ensuing six minutes worth of power play time, Washington got on the board first. At the 3:29 mark, John Carlson fired a center point slap shot through traffic in front of Ray Emery. Mathieu Perrault and Eric Fehr earned the assists.
The Flyers had a slew of scoring chances as the period progressed but were unable to find the net against starter Michal Neuvirth. The Capitals changed goalies at the 10:26 mark of the middle stanza, as David Leggio came in to get some work.
Washington extended its lead to 2-0 at 16:35 of the second period. Emery made an initial save in close but a rebound came out to Joel Ward in point blank range in the middle slot. Ward rifled a return shot through Emery's legs. Jason Chimera and Fehr got the helpers.
The Flyers finally got on the scoreboard in the final minute of the second period. Jason Akeson made a perfect pass to a wide open Jakub Voracek in the right slot, and last season's Bobby Clarke Trophy winner stashed the puck home at the 19:15 mark. Sean Couturier earned the secondary assist.
Philly tied the game early in the third period on a play that brought a rapidly dwindling crowd to its feet. With the Flyers on the power play, Vincent Lecavalier skated to one of his favorite shooting spots in the right circle. Rookie defenseman Samuel Morin teed up a nice little setup pass and Lecavalier blasted a shot home to tie the game at the 1:53 mark.
At 6:09 of the third period, the Flyers took their first lead of the preseason. Voracek sprung his linemates on a 2-on-1 rush. Leggio got a piece of Couturier's initial shot from in close but couldn't avoid the rebound going to Akeson, who stashed the puck in the net.
Emery, who went to distance in goal for the Flyers, generally looked calm and collected in stopping 29 of 32 shots. He made numerous tough saves in the game. However, he allowed a weak-looking tally by Ryan Stoa in the final 22 seconds of regulation, which tied the score
at 3-3 and sent the game to overtime.
In the shootout, the Flyers netminder denied the Caps (Chimera, Fehr, Andre Burakovsky) in each of the first three rounds. At the same time, Akeson, Michael Raffl, Lecavalier and Petr Straka were unable to convert for Philadelphia. Finally, Joel Rechlicz tucked a backhander past Emery to win the game for the Caps.
Morin received a lot of playing time in this game, logging 23:14 and getting work in a variety of game situations. While there were occasional rough patches with his footwork and a couple giveaways where he tried to do a little too much with the puck, the team's first round pick in the 2013 Draft played very well for the most part. He did not seem overwhelmed and displayed high-end potential in many different aspects of the game -- passing, shooting, coverages and physical play.
Playing in his first game in North America, Raffl did not look out of place. He showed good speed and two-way awareness in his first game. The Austrian created a couple of scoring chances and had three good looks at the net on scoring chances of his own but was unable to find the net. He also showed a willingness to engage physically, and was credited with a pair of hits.
Despite his lack of size and average skating, Akeson showed once again that he has above-average ice vision and offensive anticipation. After the game last night, Voracek said that he felt he and Akeson read off each other well and that Akeson's ability to find his linemates reminds him a little bit of Claude Giroux in that specific way.
There were a couple of fights during the third period last night, with Kris Newbury tangling with Michael Latta and Brandon Manning dropping the gloves with Garrett Mitchell.
This morning, the Flyers' players who did not play last night in Philadelphia, including the injury-rehabbing Giroux will skate. The one who played last night will not skate because the New York Rangers are coming to town for tonight's 7 p.m. game. It is likely that Yann Danis will be in goal tonight for the Flyers with Carsen Chubak as the backup and Emery getting the night off.
The lineup and line combinations will change a bit tonight to get work for some different players. Last night's lineup against the Capitals looked like this:
Michael Raffl - Vincent Lecavalier - Wayne Simmonds
Jason Akeson - Sean Couturier - Jakub Voracek
Petr Straka - Chris VandeVelde - Matt Mangene
Taylor Leier - Kris Newbury - Derek Mathers
Kimmo Timonen - Braydon Coburn
Samuel Morin - Mark Streit
Brandon Manning - Matt Konan
Ray Emery
[Yann Danis]
***************
At the same time the aforementioned portion of the Flyers training camp roster played the Capitals, Peter Laviolette and the grouping that opened the preseason against the Maple Leafs in London, Ont., on Sunday rematched with the Leafs at Toronto's Air Canada Centre last night. The Flyers prevailed via shootout, 3-2.
Former Flyers left wing James van Riemsdyk opened the scoring with an unassisted goal at 12:30 of the first period. The player for whom he was traded to Toronto, defenseman Luke Schenn, tied the game with 18 seconds remaining in the opening period. Nicklas Grossmann and Tyler Brown earned the assists.
Jamie Devane restored the lead for the Maple Leafs with 3:10 remaining in the second period, ripping a shot past Cal Heeter (who went the distance in goal for Philly). Flyers defenseman Bruno Gervais answered with a long-distance slap shot goal in the third period to force overtime and, eventually, a shootout.
Unlike the shootout in Philly, in which each of the first six shooters came up blank, there were goals aplenty in the shootout in Toronto. Ultimately, the Flyers prevailed by going 4-for-7, with Tye McGinn notching the winning goal after Nick Cousins, Matt Read and Scott Laughton also converted their attempts. Brayden Schenn and Marcel Noebels missed the net on their attempts, while Max Talbot's shot was turned away.
I don't know last night's Philadelphia line combinations for the game in Toronto, but this is the lineup that dressed for the game:
Forwards: Matt Read, Brayden Schenn, Max Talbot, Tye McGinn, Adam Hall, Scott Laughton, Ben Holmstrom, Nick Cousins, Tyler Brown, Rob Bordson, Marcel Noebels, Jay Rosehill.
Defensemen: Nicklas Grossmann, Luke Schenn, Andrej Meszaros, Erik Gustafsson, Bruno Gervais Oliver Lauridsen.
Goalie: Cal Heeter (Steve Mason was the backup).
************
Kindle users: Please sign up for Flyers Buzz. For more information
click here.
Click below to follow me on Twitter:
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»