Game 7 Preview: Flyers @ Flames
Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (4-1-1) will face Darryl Sutter's Calgary Flames (5-1-1) on Saturday night. Game time at the Scotiabank Saddledome is 10:00 p.m. ET (NBCSP+, 97.5 The Fanatic).
This is the first of two meetings this season between the teams. They will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on Nov 16 (Flyers Hall of Fame induction night for Paul Holmgren and Rick Tocchet).'
The Flyers are wrapping up a three-game road trip across western Canada. The team earned a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday, led by two goals from Cam Atkinson. On Thursday, the Flyers took a 2-1 lead to the first intermission against the Vancouver Canucks and found ways to maintain it the rest of the way. Martin Jones played brilliantly against the Canucks just as Carter Hart did against the Oilers. Hart will get the start against the Flames.
Calgary is back home now after a five-game eastern road trip that saw the team go undefeated. The Flames capped it off with a 4-0 shutout victory in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
For an in-depth, five-point preview of this game, see Saturday's
"Five Things" on the Flyers' official website.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 19 Derick Brassard - 89 Cam Atkinson
23 Oskar Lindblom - 21 Scott Laughton - 25 James van Riemsdyk
38 Patrick Brown or 62 Nic Aube-Kubel - 44 Nate Thompson - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 70 Rasmus Ristolainen
3 Keith Yandle - 24 Nick Seeler
79 Carter Hart
[35 Martin Jones]
FLAMES
13 Johnny Gaudreau - 28 Elias Lindholm - 19 Matthew Tkachuk
20 Blake Coleman - 11 Mikael Backlund - 18 Tyler Pitlick
88 Andrew Mangiapane - 29 Dillon Dube - 24 Brett Ritchie
17 Milan Lucic - 23 Sean Monahan - 22 Trevor Lewis
4 Rasmus Andersson - 8 Chris Tanev
58 Oliver Kylington - 26 Michael Stone
6 Juuso Välimäki - 44 Erik Gudbranson
25 Jacob Markström
[80 Daniel Vladar]
**********
Phantoms Return Home Still Winless
An elusive first win on the 2021-22 regular season seemed within their grasp on Friday night in Utica but a disastrous third period doomed Ian Laperriere's Lehigh Valley Phantoms (0-5-1) to yet another loss. The Utica Comets, who rode five unanswered goals -- one in the final 25 seconds of the middle frame plus four in the third -- to a 5-2 win. The Comets (4-0-0) remain undefeated on the season.
Things have been so bad with the Phantoms -- unable to score at five-on-five on the power play, prone to generating few shots or scoring chances, prone to the "big breakdown" that leads to backbreaking goals for the opposition -- that progress has to be measured right now in baby steps. The first period on Friday was one such modest step.
The Phantoms were able to play with improved pace and generate some forechecking pressure in the opening period in Utica. They put puck at -- and on -- the net from various angles and had players going to the net. It only added up to a scoreless period for both teams but Lehigh Valley was the better team over the opening 20 minutes including a 10-6 shot on goal edge.
The second period started out rather low-event for both teams. Two failed early power plays for the Phantoms (who are now 2-for-30 on the man advantage so far this season) produced negative momentum from an offensive standpoint for several minutes beyond that. However, Lehigh Valley's play picked up as the frame went along. Goalie Nico Daws had to come up with a few tough saves to keep the game deadlocked at 0-0.
Finally, the Phantoms seemingly broke through with two goals over just a couple shifts. At 14:13, German Rubtsov scored his first goal of the season. At 15:43, the Phantoms had a 2-on-1 rush and Rubtsov set up former Cleveland winger Hayden Hodgson for his first tally of the season.
Lehigh Valley seemed poised to ride the wave to the second intermission. When Samuel Ersson was tested, he came up with the saves. The overall puck possession edge remained in the Phantoms favor. But then Lehigh Valley coughed up a goal to Utica's Nate Schnarr with 25 seconds left in the second period.
Even so, Lehigh Valley carried a 2-1 scoreboard lead and 20-14 shot on goal edge into the third period. They seemed well-positioned to win the game. Instead the bit of adversity that arose late in the second period snowballed rapidly downhill on the Phantoms once the third period got underway.
New Jersey Devils sniper prospect Alexander Holtz tied the game at 2-2 just 68 seconds into the third period. The Phantoms, seemingly shell-shocked, couldn't stop the bleeding. At 3:43, Nikita Okhotiuk put Utica ahead, 3-2.
The Phantoms finally got play moving north again but couldn't find a way to tie the game. At 12:56, Holtz struck again to make it 4-2. Fabian Zetterlund opened a 5-2 cushion with an empty net goal at 17:44.
Chasing the game, the Phantoms racked up a lot of late shots (including a couple by Morgan Frost and one which created a scramble near the net with the puck uncovered but blown down by an out-of-position referee who lost sight of it). A late power play only resulted in more frustration and an 0-for-3 night.
The Phantoms still have yet to score more than two goals in any game this season: four games with one goal and two goals in the games this week on Wednesday and Friday.
Third-year pro Isaac Ratcliffe was scratched on Friday. Laperriere stated that it was a coach's decision (i.e., healthy scratch). Likewise, 18-year-old rookie Samu Tuomaala was scratched for the fourth time in six games.
Nineteen-year-old Tyson Foerster, who had such a promising rookie year in a weaker AHL last season and an excellent Rookie Camp with the Flyers, seems lost right now apart from an opening night power play goal. He finished Friday's game with two shots on goal, a missed net on a wide-open look and a minus-four on the night.
Frost, who was benched by Laperriere for the final 10 minutes of the second game of the season (including a late-game 6-on-3 in a one-goal game), has really been scuffling to create plays offensively. His confidence seems to be at a very low ebb right now.
Likewise, highly touted rookie defenseman Cam York has had his share of early growing pains this season. Right now, Laperriere and assistants Jason Smith and Riley Armstrong seem to have more faith in veteran Adam Clendening than in York. On Friday, York was minus-one and did not record a shot on goal.
The Phantoms will try again on Saturday for their first win of the season. They will host the Syracuse Crunch (3-2-1) at the PPL Center. In terms of the standings, the Phantoms have already dug themselves a hole. They are at least four points behind all of the other teams in the Atlantic Division and eight points behind Springfield, Wilkes-Barre Scranton (who have beaten the Phantoms three times this month) and Hartford.
Felix Sandström is the likely starter in net against Syracuse. There could be other changes from the personnel and combinations that started Friday's game:
20 Max Willman - 9 Cal O'Reilly - 71 Tyson Foerster
49 Garrett Wilson - 23 Morgan Frost - 26 Gerry Mayhew
15 Maksim Sushko - 17 German Rubtsov - 42 Hayden Hodgson
24 Brennan Saulnier - 25 Connor Bunnaman - 18 Jackson Cates
4 Egor Zamula - 5 Adam Clendening
44 Cam York - 22 Logan Day
6 Linus Högberg - 29 Wyatte Wylie
30 Samuel Ersson
[32 Felix Sandstrom]
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»