Injury Updates: Couturier, JVR
The Flyers issued the following injury updates on Saturday morning:
* Center Sean Couturier underwent "back revision surgery" in Dallas on Thursday after he twice had setbacks following an initial back surgery in February. Per the organization, the recovery time is estimated at three to four months.
* Left winger James van Riemsdyk underwent surgery in New York on Friday to repair a broken left index finger. His estimated return to play time, per the Flyers, is six weeks.
There was no update on Cam Atkinson, who remains on the active roster as of this writing but has been dealing with an undisclosed ongoing upper-body issue and has not skated recently.
Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher is slated to speak on Saturday about the injuries.
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Gameday Preview: Flyers vs. Hurricanes
John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (5-2-0) are home on Saturday evening to take on Rod Brind'Amour's Carolina Hurricanes (4-1-1) at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7:05 p.m. EDT.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a
4-2 home win against the Florida Panthers on Thursday. Carter Hart made a career-high 48 saves and the team blocked 29 shots in front of him amid a 104 shot-attempt blitz from the Panthers. Tony DeAngelo (2nd), Scott Laughton (3rd, PPG), Zack MacEwen (2nd) and Joel Farabee (2nd) scored for the Flyers.
Claimed off waivers from the New York Islanders on Thursday, Kieffer Bellows will make his Flyers debut on Saturday.
Neither the Flyers (optional practice on Friday, optional morning skate on Saturday) nor Hurricanes (Friday game, no morning skate on Saturday) ran lines prior to Saturday's game. The expected goalie matchup is Hart against Antti Raanta.
For an in-depth preview of Saturday's game,
click here.
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Phantoms Update
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms will host the Bridgeport Islanders at the PPL Center in Allentown on Saturday evening. Game time is 7:05 p.m. EDT. The game will be streamed on AHL TV (subscription required).
On Friday night, the Phantoms gave up two late third-period goals to fall to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins by a 3-1 score. Max Willman (2nd goal of the season) scored a late first period unassisted goal as he was tripped up. That was all the Phantoms, who were outshot by a 35-23 margin, were able to muster offensively. Starter Samuel Ersson was outstanding for two plus periods, yielding only a power play goal in the middle stanza, before yielding goals at 17:27 and 18:41 of the third period. He finished with 32 saves on 35 shots.
Veteran goalie Dustin Tokarski, a former Phantom, earned the win in goal for W-B/S. The Penguins received goals from Valtteri Puustinen (3rd, PPG), Tyler Sikura (1st) and Corey Andonovski (2nd).Andonovski also assisted on the Sikura game-winner.
Phantoms Friday lineup:
28 Olle Lycksell - 9 Cal O'Reilly - 42 Hayden Hodgson
17 Garrett Wilson - 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 71 Tyson Foerster
48 Alex Kile - 18 Jackson Cates - 20 Max Willman
19 Isaac Ratcliffe - 15 Jordy Bellerive - 14 Zayde Wisdom
45 Cam York - 47 Louie Belpedio
44 Kevin Connauton - 12 Ronnie Attard
37 Adan Ginning - 29 Wyatte Wylie
30 Samuel Ersson
[1 Troy Grosenick]
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