Update 11:40 AM
Flyers center Sean Couturier will not be in the lineup today at Buffalo. He is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Game 27 Preview: Flyers @ Sabres
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (11-12-3) are in New York State on Saturday afternoon to take on Phil Housley's Buffalo Sabres (17-8-4). Game time at KeyBank Center is 1:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised locally on NBCSP. The radio broadcast can be found on 97.5 FM The Fanatic with an online simulcast at
FlyersRadio247.com.
This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season, and the second and final game in Buffalo. The season series concludes at the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 26.
In a nationally televised game on Nov. 21, an atrocious first period that produced a 4-0 deficit proved to be too much to overcome as the Flyers dropped a 5-2 road decision to the Sabres. Nothing went right for the Flyers in the opening 20 minutes. The Sabres imposed their will with tenacious puck pressure and by attacking with speed.
Jeff Skinner, Tage Thompson, Evan Rodrigues and Johan Larsson (1st) scored during the first period deluge. Sam Reinhart (empty net) added a late third period goal. Carter Hutton earned the win in goal, coming up with key saves over the final 40 minutes among his 23 saves on 25 shots.
Alex Lyon, who suffered a mild lower-body injury in warmups but played through it, struggled with his angles and rebounds in his 20 minutes of work. He took the loss with just eight saves on 12 shots. Cal Pickard was scarcely tested in relief with the Flyers doing most of the attacking once down by four, but denied all eight shots on his net. Neither Lyon (now back with the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms) nor Pickard (waived by Philly and claimed by Arizona) are still with the Flyers.
Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds scored for the Flyers during the second period. There was no shortage of subsequent Grade A chances to cut the gap back to one goal, but the Flyers were unable to draw any closer. The Flyers went 0-for-1 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers have played just two games in 11 nights but are about to get very busy. The team is embarking on a grueling five-game road trip. After Saturday's game in Buffalo, will take them to Winnipeg on Sunday afternoon and then through Alberta and British Columbia before returning home.
The Flyers have won just three of their last 10 games overall (3-5-2) but have claimed three of four possible points in the last two. On Thursday at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets, a two-goal comeback by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third period sent the game to overtime but Philly ultimately fell, 4-3, after an OT breakdown in the opening 10 seconds.
In an ultimately losing cause, Travis Sanheim tallied the two goals (1st and 2nd) that forced OT, supplementing a first period goal by Claude Giroux (10th). Travis Konecny had two assists for the Flyers. Anthony Stolarz made several outstanding saves but let in a leaky first goal and had little to no chance on a couple others as he stopped 26 of 30 shots.
The Flyers practiced at the Skate Zone in Voorhees on Friday. Afterwards the team recalled Phil Varone (who will wear uniform No. 44) from the Phantoms. It was the first Flyers -- but not first NHL -- recall for Varone, who won American Hockey League MVP honors with the Phantoms last season. Phantoms coach Scott Gordon has praised the 28-year-old Varone for elevating his two-way game this season above and beyond the form he showed last year.
Entering this game, the Flyers have scored an average 3.00 goals per game (ranked in a tie for 15th) and have a team 3.54 GAA (29th). The team has scored four or more goals in 11 games. But they've also been shut out four times and held to a single goal in three other games.
The Flyers power play comes in at 14.5 percent (11-for-76, 28th) with four shorthanded goals yielded. The penalty kill enters at 72.9 percent (52-for-85, 30th) with one shorthanded goal scored (Dale Weise at Pittsburgh on Dec. 1). The Flyers, however, bring a streak of 14 consecutive successful penalty kills into this game.
The Flyers have scored first in 10 of 25 games and are 6-2-2 in those games. They have trailed first 16 times. When yielding the game's first goal, the Flyers are 5-10-1.
Philly has actually been better on the road than at home so far this season. The Flyers are 5-7-2 at home and 6-5-1 on the road.
Sabres Outlook
The Sabres were scorching hot when they last played the Flyers. The team has cooled off since Thanksgiving, with a mark of 0-2-2 in its last four games. A 2-1 road loss to the Nashville Predators on Monday was followed the next night with a 4-3 home overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Against Toronto, the Sabres battled back from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the third period on Jack Eichel's sixth and seventh goals of the season. Earlier, Sam Reinhart got Buffalo on the board in the second period. In overtime, Austin Matthew scored in the final three seconds to win the game for the Maple Leafs. The Sabres generated 41 shots for the game and had chances to win it in the OT frame. Linus Ullmark (26 saves on 30 shots) took the loss in goal for the Sabres. Buffalo went 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Buffalo goaltender Hutton and defensemen Marco Scandella were both absent on Friday and remain day-to-day with upper-body injuries. The Sabres recalled defenseman Matt Tennyson and goaltender Scott Wedgewood from the AHL in their places. Jason Pominville has been dealing with an upper-body injury but practiced Friday and is expected to play. Eichel and veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian took maintenance days on Thursday but both returned to practice on Friday.
Entering Saturday's game, the Sabres have scored an average 2.97 goals per game (ranked 18th) with a team 2.83 GAA (12th). The power play checks in at 18.3 percent (17-for-93, 19th) with three opposing shorthanded goals allowed. The penalty kill enters at 80.0 percent (67-for-85, 15th) without a shorthanded goal scored to date.
The Sabres' power play has been in a mini-slump of late, going 1-for-13 over the last five games. At the team's practice on Friday, personnel was moved around. The top unit consisted of Eichel (shifted from left half wall to the right), Reinhart (netfront), Jeff Skinner (slot), Tage Thompson (left side) and Ramus Ristolainen (point). The second unit consisted of Kyle Okposo, Casey Mittelstadt, Conor Sheary and rookie defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk - 28 Claude Giroux - 11 Travis Konecny
93 Jakub Voracek - 19 Nolan Patrick - 17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl - 21 Scott Laughton - 22 Dale Weise
23 Oskar Lindblom - 15 Jori Lehterä - 40 Jordan Weal
9 Ivan Provorov - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
8 Robert Hägg - 47 Andrew MacDonald
6 Travis Sanheim - 3 Radko Gudas
41 Anthony Stolarz
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: 44 Phil Varone (healthy), 14 Sean Couturier (lower body), 26 Christian Folin (healthy), 37 Brian Elliott (IR, lower body), 10 Corban Knight (IR, collarbone), 5 Sam Morin (ACL surgery).
SABRES
53 Jeff Skinner - 9 Jack Eichel - 23 Sam Reinhart
43 Conor Sheary - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 29 Jason Pominville
17 Vladimir Sobotka - 71 Evan Rodrigues - 21 Kyle Okposo
72 Tage Thompson - 22 Johan Larsson - 10 Patrik Berglund
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 4 Zach Bogosian
24 Lawrence Pilut - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
82 Nathan Beaulieu - 5 Matt Tennyson
35 Linus Ullmark
[31 Scott Wedgewood]
Scratches: 28 Zemgus Girgensons (healthy), 81 Remi Elie (healthy), 6 Marco Scandella (day-to-day, upper body), 40 Carter Hutton (upper body), 48 Matt Hunwick (IR, neck), 20 Scott Wilson (IR, ankle), 8 Casey Nelson (IR, upper body), 19 Jake McCabe (IR, upper body).
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Phantoms Update: Hart Records 1st Pro Shutout
Highly touted rookie goaltender Carter Hart made a first-period goal by rookie forward Connor Bunnaman (3rd of the season) stand up as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms nipped the Hershey Bears, 1-0, at the PPL Center in Allentown on Friday night. Hart's 26-save shutout was the first of his pro career.
Hart didn't see much rubber in the second and third periods after being busy in the opening frame but he was locked in all night: fluid, on his angles, tracking pucks well and his glove hand especially sharp. When the Phantoms needed a stoppage, he came up with clean saves and held on for the whistle. When it behooved the team to keep play going, Hart was efficient in getting the puck to a teammate.
As is quite often the case with shutouts, there were a couple moments along the way where the winning goalie was vulnerable but a goal narrowly eluded the opponent. A poke-check by Philippe Myers broke up an odd-man rush opportunity for Hershey. During the second period, got help from Taylor Leier sweeping a puck away from near the goal line. Later, Hart recovered from a momentary overplay on a third-period wraparound attempt.
Two of Bunnaman's three goals this season have come at Hershey's expense. At 16:51 of the first period, Bunnaman stashed the rebound of a shot by fellow rookie David Kase (9th assist) into the open right side of the net past goaltender Vitek Vanecek (20 saves on 21 shots). Greg Carey (15th assist) collected the other helper.
Hershey took exception to an early first period hit by Kase, who was penalized for an illegal check to the head, which elevated the temperature of the game. In the second period, Nicolas Aube-Kubel dropped the gloves with Colby Williams and a very active fight ensued.
The Phantoms had opportunities to put the game away in the third period but were unable to cash in on either a 5-on-3 or a later four-minute power play. With Vanecek pulled for an extra attacker, Leier had a shot attempt blocked. Colin McDonald's empty net bid hit the post. Myers iced the puck about three feet wide of the cage. Hart was not phased. He closed the door and the Phantoms had the win.
Lehigh Valley's depth down the middle is being tested right now. Phil Varone is on NHL recall. German Rubtsov (shoulder surgery) is out for the season. Mikhail Vorobyev is also unavailable due to injury.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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