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QUICK HITS: MAY 29, 2018
1) Yesterday marked the 31st anniversary of Game 6 of the 1987 Stanley Cup Final. With the exception of the clinching game of the 1974 Stanley Cup Final against Boston and possibly the dismantling of the Red Army team in 1976, this game was arguably the most famous hockey game played at the Spectrum in the arena's history. It also marked the closest the Flyers have gotten to winning the Stanley Cup since 1975.
J.J. Daigneault's go-ahead goal through a Scott Mellanby screen at 14:28 of the third period produced one of the most raucous crowd celebrations in team history. Turn around the Flyers overtime loss in Game 2 -- assuming Game 3-6 would have gone the same -- and Daigneault's goal would have been the Cup winner instead of "just" the one that necessitated a Game 7 in Edmonton. Oddly enough, in something of a foreshadowing of Daigneault's goal, during OT of Game 2, Peter Zezel fired a shot from just about the same spot of the ice that beat Oilers goalie Grant Fuhr but missed the long side of the net by a narrow margin.
2) On a somewhat related note, two of the sons of members of the 1986-87 Flyers team will be selected in the upcoming 2018 NHL Draft in Dallas. Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, a Voorhees native and US National Team Development Program product, is the son of two-stint Flyers Alum defenseman and current defense development coach Kjell Samuelsson. Everett Silvertips center/right winger Riley Sutter is the son of mid-1980s to early-1990s Flyers two-way center Ron Sutter and a member of the NHL's most prolific family.
Even without their famous bloodlines, both Samuelsson and Sutter would be well-regarded prospects for this year's Draft. Their surnames just add a bit more intrigue to seeing where they end up being selected and how their careers progress.
Mattias, expected to be drafted in the latter half of the first round to early in the second round, isn't quite as big as his 6-foot-6 dad and is a lefthanded shooter unlike Kjell but combines imposing size (6-foot-4, 216 pounds) and superior abilities with the puck on his stick to Kjell.
Kjell was an old-school defensive defenseman who excelled at tying up opposing forwards, using his wingspan and stick to break up plays, or pinning opposing players to the boards to allow a teammate to get the puck. With the puck on his stick in the D-zone, he preferred the off-the-glass-and-out method. In the offensive zone, he had a very heavy shot but it took him a long time to wind up and then uncoil with it. A few times a season, when opponents would simply concede him a point shot, Kjell would hammer one home.
Mattias' game is more in line with the expectations for current-day NHL defensemen. He has above-average two-way upside, and played in all game situations for the USNTDP. While not a speed demon, the captain of Team USA's squad at the Under-18 Worlds is also not deficient in the skating department.
In his own zone, the younger Samuelsson brings well-schooled positional awareness and some physicality to take advantage of his size. Today's rules make it much tougher to clear the porch than in the past but Mattias is adept at boxing out in front and is strong along the walls. Samuelsson stepped up his physical game this season, and took 113 penalty minutes.
Samuelsson moves the puck effectively for a D-man his size and can also join the play up ice. He also has an underrated shot. Among the defensemen on his team this past season, only Bode Wilde (another projected first-round pick this year) outpointed Samuelsson's 11 goals and 31 points.
Samuelsson is committed to Western Michigan, beginning next season. One of his teammates will be Flyers 2016 second-round pick Wade Allison, who will be a junior next season in what will likely be his final collegiate campaign before turning pro.
Sutter, a late birthday player who will turn 19 on Oct. 25, is projected to be drafted in the middle rounds of the 2018 Draft. The 6-foot-3, 205 pound forward plays a no-frills power forward's game, bulling his way to the net and collecting most of his goals from near the crease on deflections, rebounds/loose pucks and tap-ins. He is also underrated at periodically stationing himself about 25-30 feet and getting high tips with his hand-eye coordination.
Among Sutter's 25 goals this season, nine came on the power play. Five of his goals were game-winners.
Entering the 2017-18 season, Sutter was a complementary piece of the puzzle this year on a Silvertips team that later reached the WHL Finals -- backstopped, of course, by top Flyers goaltending prospect Carter Hart -- and wound up ranking sixth on the team in scoring. He got off to a fast start with seven goals coming in the first 11 games.
As the season progressed, Sutter progressively played more minutes for his team. In the WHL playoffs, Sutter scored nine goals (all even strength) and three game winners among his 19 points in 21 games. He was a plus-17 during the postseason. Able to play either center or right wing, Sutter took a lot of faceoffs for his team this season and won 52.4% of 1,364 regular season draws and 50.3% of the 499 he took during the playoffs. He played right wing in 2016-17 but was a center this season.
Sutter is not flashy with the puck on his stick. He is also not a speedster, although he keeps up with the play fine at the junior level and knows where to go. Playing with the right linemates, though, he is effective. He works hard in all three zones, and has shown commitment to growing his game without the puck. In general, Sutter plays with heart and grit -- traits that his father, uncles and some of his cousins are noted for in their own games -- but his overall upside is not as high as his father's was at the same age.
Side note: Sutter and Hart were roommates this season, living with the same billet (Parker Fowlds). The two players formed a close friendship over two seasons together and developed a little postgame celebration jump after the final buzzer of Silvertips victories that become something of a calling card for the team to seal a win.
Riley Sutter was ranked 118th among North American skaters by Central Scouting. Two of his Silvertips teammates, defenseman Wyatte Wylie (#70) and forward Dewar (#80) were ranked a bit higher. This season, Sutter frequently played on a line with Dewar and Washington Capitals prospect Garrett Pilon (son of former tough guy NHL defenseman Rich).
3) May 29 marks the eight year anniversary of the wild first game of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final between the Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks. The pundits' consensus pre-series predictions of the Final being a potential cakewalk for the favored Chicago Blackhawks quickly flew out the window. It turned out to be a highly competitive series as five of the six games could have gone either way, and the Flyers prevailed in two of them.
The series opened with a high-scoring battle in Chicago in Game One. Through 40 seesaw minutes, the Flyers led 1-0, trailed 2-1, led 3-2, led 4-3, trailed 5-4, and went to the second intermission tied at 5-5.
Beleaguered goaltenders Antti Niemi (27 saves on 32 shots) and Michael Leighton (15 saves on 20 shots) were sometimes left helpless and, other times, beaten on seemingly stoppable shots. After the Blackhawks took a 5-4 lead at 15:13 of the second period on a Troy Brouwer goal, Leighton was replaced in net by Brian Boucher.
The Flyers relief netminder faired better, turning aside 11 of 12 shots but was charged with a hard-luck loss after Tomas Kopecy broke the 5-5 deadlock at 8:25 of the third period. The Flyers, who earlier got goals from Ville Leino, Scott Hartnell (power play), Danny Briere, Blair Betts and Arron Asham, could not find another equalizer in the 6-5 loss.
The stage was set for a highly entertaining - but ultimately heartbreaking series for the Flyers.
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