Wrap: Flyers Defeat Oilers, 6-3
On Thursday night, the Philadelphia Flyers became the team to beat the Edmonton Oilers this season, skating to a 6-3 victory at Rogers Place. The victory was accomplished despite top-pairing defenseman Ryan Ellis missing his second straight game with an unspecified nagging injury.
Two goals by Cam Atkinson -- a first-period buzzer beater and the game winning goal -- led the way offensively. Philadelphia also received tallies from Claude Giroux (4th), fourth-line center Nate Thompson (1st) and Sean Couturier (empty net, 2nd).
Carter Hart was excellent overall in goal, stopping 34 of 37 shots to earn the win. Hart's play in the second period in particular prevented the Flyers from falling behind.
Rasmus Ristolainen, who missed part of the third period while being stitched up after a second-period mishap, played his best game so far with his new team. A defensive stop by Ristolainen in the first period started the 200-foot sequence that ended with Giroux's wraparound goal. He also led the team with six credited hits and four blocked shots.
Atkinson set a new Flyers franchise record with six goals in his first five games with the team. Both he and Giroux have recorded at least one point in each game played so far.
For much more on Wednesday's win over the Oilers -- including analysis, stats and highlight clips -- see the
Postgame 5 on the Flyers official website.
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Game 6 Preview: Flyers @ Vancouver
There's no time for the Flyers to savor Wednesday's win in Edmonton. Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (3-1-1) are right back in action tonight. The club has traveled to British Columbia to take on Travis Green's Vancouver Canucks (3-3-1). Game time at Rogers Arena is 10:00 p.m. ET (NBCSP+, 93.3 WMMR).
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams, and the lone game in Vancouver. On October 15, the Flyers dropped a 5-4 (2-0) game to the Canucks via shootout at the Wells Fargo Center.
A dominant first period and a late two-goal comeback were just enough for the Philadelphia Flyers to skate off with one point. Joel Farabee notched a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who also received tallies from Cam Atkinson, Travis Konecny (power play) and Claude Giroux. Sean Couturier had a pair of assists, as did Keith Yandle and Ryan Ellis. Ivan Provorov chipped in one helper.
For Vancouver, J.T. Miller (one goal, two assists, shootout goal) and Elias Pettersson (one power olay goal, one assist, shootout winning goal) led the attack. Alex Chiasson (5-on-3 power play goal, one assist) also had a multi-point game. Vasily Pozkoldin sniped an early second period goal that started the Canucks' four-goal onslaught. Tyler Myers, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Conor Garland and Quinn Hughes added one assist apiece for the game.
Martin Jones will make the start for the Flyers in the rematch in Vancouver. The status of Ryan Ellis (day-to-day with an undisclosed nagging injury) remains unclear. The Flyers may also insert Patrick Brown in the lineup for the first time since he was claimed off waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights. Assuming Zack MacEwen is not chosen to exit the lineup in favor of Brown, this game will his first against the Canucks; the Flyers claimed MacEwen off waivers from Vancouver before the start of the season but work visa issues prevented him from playing in the opener against the Canucks or the second game against Seattle.
The Flyers will not have a morning skate in Vancouver, so lineup decisions will not be available until Vigneault has his pregame media availability. Projected lineups will be posted prior to the game.
The Canucks enter this game coming off a 3-2 home loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. In a losing cause, Alex Chiasson (PPG, 2nd goal of the season) and Bo Harvat (4th) scored goals for the Canucks. Demko stopped 27 of 30 shots.
Brock Boeser was unavailable to play in the first game against the Flyers. He's since returned to the Canucks' lineup.
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Wrap: Phantoms Fall Again to WB/S. 4-2
Ian Laperriere's Lehigh Valley Phantoms remain winless on the young AHL season (0-4-1) after suffering a 4-2 road setback on Wednesday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (4-1-0). The Pens have already beaten the Phantoms three times this season.
On the brighter side, Wednesday's game saw the Phantoms score more than one goal for the first time this season. They also tallied their first five-on-five goal of the campaign. The Phantoms held a brief 2-1 lead in the first period. Unfortunately, they didn't score again and had another frustrating night on the power play (1-for-5, with multiple lost opportunities to change the complexion of the game as it developed).
Gerry Mayhew (2nd goal of the season) tallied a first period power play goal set up by Morgan Frost. Defenseman Adam Clendening notched his first goal of the season shortly past the midway point of the frame. Isaac Ratcliffe and Maksim Sushko picked up their respective first points of the season with assists on the play.
Overall, though, the Phantoms did not generate much offense on the night. The team was held to 22 shots overall and just six in the third period despite being in comeback mode with a two-goal deficit. The Phantoms hurt themselves with penalties in the final frame including a 5-on-3 disadvantage.
Felix Sandström absorbed the loss in goal for Lehigh Valley. He stopped 21 of 25 shots. The Pens went 2-for-5 on their own power plays. Radim Zahorna tallied power play and even strength goals for WB/S, who also got a goal apiece from Jamie Devane and former Flyers draftee Michael Chaput (power play).
The Phantoms are on the road on Friday to play the undefeated Utica Comets (3-0-0, 10-4 goal differential in their favor). The next night, the Phantoms host the Syracuse Crunch (2-2-1) at the PPL Center.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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