Game 13 Preview: Flyers @ Dallas Stars
Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (7-3-2) are in Big D on Saturday night to take on Rick Bowness's Dallas Stars (4-6-2). Game time at the American Airlines Center is 8:00 p.m. ET (NBCSP+, 93.3 WMMR).
This is the Flyers' third game in three different cities across four nights. The Stars are a far more rested team, having been home in Dallas since Monday and playing for just the second time in the last nights.
However, it's been an eventful week for the Stars, too. The team has won just one of its last seven games (1-4-2) and is coming off a disappointing performance in a 4-2 home loss to the Nashville Predators on Wednesday. After the game, the players held a closed-door team meeting. The following day, the Stars waived veteran NHL forward Blake Comeau as well as Tanner Kero. After both players cleared waivers on Friday, the team recalled 2016 first-round pick Riley Tufte and 22-year-old forward Jacob Peterson from the AHL's Texas Stars.
The Flyers enter this game coming off an emotional 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh on Friday night. Stellar goaltending from Carter Hart and third period goals by Joel Farabee (4th of the season) and Zack MacEwen (1st) enabled the Flyers to steal a game where they were outplayed for two periods. For a synopsis, highlights and analysis of Friday's game, see
Postgame 5: Hart-Stopper of a Win on the Flyers official website.
Martin Jones will get the start for the Flyers in Dallas. Philly expects to finally have defenseman Ryan Ellis back in the lineup. There is a chance, albeit a lesser one, that Kevin Hayes could be activated from LTIR and play in this game.
For an in-depth game preview -- a discussion of Ellis and Hayes along with the decision to waive Nicolas Aube-Kubel, a look at the Flyers' power play struggles, the reasons why Dallas has yet to win a game in regulation this season and has just one victory in its last seven games, the dividend that moving Farabee to Scott Laughton's paid on Friday, comparative team stands, recent trends and more -- see the
Five Things preview on the Flyers' official site.
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Preview: Phantoms vs. Springfield
Ian Laperriere's Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-7-2) have their work cut out for them on Saturday evening as they return from a four-game road trip (2-2-0) to host the Atlantic Division leading Springfield Thunderbirds (8-2-2) at the PPL Center. Game time is 7:05 p.m. ET. The game will streamed on AHLTV.
Saturday's game will be the fifth in eight nights for Lehigh Valley -- two games in Charlotte, one in Hershey, one in Providence and now home in Allentown -- and the team's third game in four nights. The Thunderbirds, who are also playing their third game in four nights, still sit in first place in the Atlantic but have lost two of their last three games.
On Friday in Providence, the Phantoms seemed heavy-legged for most of the first period, getting outshot 16-3 at one juncture (17-6 by intermission), outscored 2-0 and unable to generate a single shot on goal from below/between the dots in the offensive zone.
Lehigh Valley improved in the second period and carried the majority of the play but were only able to trade off two goals apiece to go to the third period trailing by a 4-2 score. A shorthanded goal coughed up to Zach Senyshyn less than 90 seconds after Garrett Wilson (2nd goal of the season) got Lehigh Valley on the board was a bad omen. Senyshyn then scored again before Gerry Mayhew (6th goal of the season) tallied an even strength goal assisted by Wilson and Morgan Frost (9th assist of the season) to narrow the gap back to 5-3 heading into the third period.
Lehigh Valley had a slow start to the third period, with Jack Studnicka scoring on the second shift of the period and putting the Phantoms down by three goals again before the third period was a minute old. The Bruins had each of the first six shots and seven of the first nine in the final period, before the Phantoms got their legs going again.
Brennan Saulnier, whose early second period fight with Ian McKinnon seemed to give the Phantoms a desperately needed spark of emotion and enthusiasm after a dreadful first period, scored a goal (1st) assisted by Matthew Strome with 7:17 left in regulation. Getting a goal from the fourth line helped a little but not enough. With 1:41 left in the game, Senyshyn completed a hat trick with an empty net goal.
With the Phantoms in the midst of a heavy-travel, high volume segment of the schedule, Felix Sandström was given a night of res. Rookie Samuel Ersson has been dealing with a lower-body injury, so Laperriere turned to Kirill Ustimenko to make the start. Unfortunately, Ustimenko struggled in 40 minutes of action, making 21 saves on 25 shots but struggling with his angles, tracking and coming up with clean saves. As a result, Sandström ended up having to play after all, and he was peppered with 14 shots in the third period. He stopped all but the one that went for Studnicka's goal.
The Phantoms power play has been a major team weakness all season, and Friday was no exception. The team went 0-for-5 on Friday and enter Saturday's game against Springfield with a desultory 6-for-56 (10.7 percent) conversion rate to rank 30th in the 31-team league.
On the brighter side, Morgan Frost's assist on the Mayhew goal gave him at least one point in five of the last six games. In that span, he has posted eight points (1g, 7a). A change of wingers to being flanked by Mayhew and Wilson has resulted in the Phantoms finally having one line producing some points. However, Frost's overall game has remained inconsistent over the six-game stretch. There were a couple very good games mixed in, but also a couple supbar ones.
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