Preview: Flyers vs. Canucks
John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (1-0-0) will host Bruce Boudreau's Vancouver Canucks (0-1-0) at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday. Game time is 4:00 p.m. EDT.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 5-2 opening-night home win against New Jersey on Thursday. Wade Allison quickly erased an early 1-0 deficit and Travis Sanheim (5-on-5 and power play) and Morgan Frost (5-on-5, empty net) each scored two goals apiece. Carter Hart stopped 35 of 37 shots to earn the win in net.
Vancouver got off to a 3-0 lead on the road in Edmonton in their opener on Wednesday on goals by Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and rookie Andrei Kuzmenko (power play). However, they were unable to hold the lead as the Oilers struck back for five unanswered goals including a Connor McDavid hat trick and single goals by Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse. Thatcher Demko stopped 20 of 24 shots in a losing cause for the Canucks.
The Flyers' injury list lengthened in the opener. Owen Tippett (upper body) was unable to play in the second or third periods and remains out for this game. Likewise, Cam Atkinson (upper body) and Rasmus Ristolainen (undisclosed) did not practice on Friday and are also unavailable against the Canucks.
Philly made three roster moves on Friday: 1) Right winger Hayden Hodgson practiced with the team on Friday but was subsequently placed on waivers for purposes for AHL assignment, 2) Jackson Cates was recalled from the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms and practiced with the team as the fourth line center; and 3) Rookie defenseman Ronnie Attard was loaned to the Phantoms.
As of this writing, assuming Hodgson clears waivers and is assigned today to the Phantoms, the Flyers currently have just 11 healthy forwards and six healthy defensemen. The team could make another callup from the Phantoms for this game in lieu of electing to have Hodgson stay around for this game if he clears waivers at 2 p.m. ET. The blog will be updated accordingly, and lineups for both teams will be added atop the blog.
For an in-depth game preview, see
Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
UPDATE 1:00 PM
The Flyers have recalled Olle Lycksell (No. 62) from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. They have also placed Owen Tippett (upper body) on injured reserve. The projected starting lineup:
21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 57 Wade Allison
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 58 Tanner Laczynski
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 59 Jackson Cates - 62 Olle Lycksell
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
24 Nick Seeler - 54 Egor Zamula
79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]
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Phantoms Regular Season Opener @ W-B/S
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms open their 2022-23 regular season on Saturday with a road game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Game time is 6:05 p.m. EDT. There will be a quick turnaround for Lehigh Valley as they are in Hershey on Sunday afternoon (3:00 p.m. EDT) to take on the Bears.
With Samuel Ersson and Felix Sandström (injured non-roster) up with the Flyers, the Phantoms will open the regular season with veterans Troy Grosenick and Pat Nagle as their goaltending tandem. As a member of Providence last season, Grosenick led the AHL in both save percentage and goals against average. Nagle ended up being pressed into AHL service for a significant portion of last season when the Phantoms were riddled with goalie injury. He performed admirably overall.
Last season, the Phantoms got off to an abysmal start through the first 20 games. The club got better as the season went along but the hole they dug proved too deep to climb out of as a desperation push for a playoff spot down the stretch fell short.
Earlier this week, the Phantoms agreed to mutually terminate the contract of winger Linus Sandin, at least in part for personal reasons. He was placed on unconditional waivers, cleared, and will now return to his native Sweden.
The Phantoms' opening roster is highlighted by a pair of Flyers first-round picks: 2019 selection Cam York and 2020 first-rounder Tyson Foerster. York had been expected to hold down a third-pairing 5-on-5 role with the Flyers along with PP2 duties, but he had a disappointing training camp and was sent to the Phantoms. York had a strong finish to the Phantoms' three-game preseason schedule, which also featured a Foerster goal.
Other notables on the Phantoms roster: 20-year-old rookie forwards Elliot Desnoyers and Zayde Wisdom, 23-year-old rookie Olle Lycksell (a player with considerable SHL experience who stood out at Flyers' Rookie Camp and the first few days of NHL camp), 23-year-old left winger Isaac Ratcliffe and 27-year-old Max Willman (41 games played with the Flyers last season).
Rugged winger Zack MacEwen, who spent the entire 2021-22 season with the Flyers after being claimed off waivers from Vancouver, was waived by the Flyers late in training camp earlier this month. He has since reported to the Phantoms. MacEwen was credited with one goal in two preseason appearances for Lehigh Valley.
On the blueline, York and Ronnie Attard will be accompanied by the likes of Linus Högberg, Kevin Connauton (360 career NHL games), Wyatte Wylie, 26-year-old Louie Belpedio (four career NHL games, 30 points in 69 AHL games for Laval last season), and 22-year-old rookie Adam Ginning (a 2nd-round Flyers pick in 2018).
The Phantoms veteran leadership group including team captain Cal O'Reilly (a shoo-in future AHL Hall of Famer) and power forward Garrett Wilson remains intact.
The coaching staff is also fully intact from last season with head coach Ian Laperriere being assisted by former Flyers captain Jason Smith (defense coach) and Riley Armstrong (forwards). Brady Robinson still works with goalies in the farm system.
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