UPDATE 3:30 PM EDT
The Flyers have placed goalie Felix Sandström on waivers for purposes of AHL assignment.
There are two lineup changes on Sunday. Samuel Ersson is in net. Bobby Brink returns to the lineup and, for the eighth time this season, John Tortorella is scratching Morgan Frost.
Preview: Flyers vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
The Philadelphia Flyers (9-7-1) will host Pascal Vincent's Columbus Blue Jackets (4-10-4) on Sunday evening. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 5:30 p.m. ET.
Both teams are playing the second game of a back-to-back. The Flyers, who have won four games in a row, are coming off a
4-3 overtime home win on Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Blue Jackets, winless in eight games in a row an 1-7-2 in their last 10 matches, are coming off a 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
With Carter Hart and Elvis Merzlikins having started in goal for their respective teams on Saturday, look for Samuel Ersson to start Sunday's game for the Flyers and Spencer Martin in net for Columbus.
For an in-depth preview of Sunday's game, see today's
Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
Sunday's game will mark the Philadelphia return of Ivan Provorov (1g, 10a, minus-five) for the first time since the off-season three-team trade that sent him to Columbus. Provorov shares the team scoring lead along with fellow defenseman Zach Werenski (also 1g. 10a, minus-five).
Neither team will hold a morning skate on Sunday. Projected lineups below are based directly off Saturday's lines. It is possible that Bobby Brink (healthy scratch the last three games) and/or Marc Staal (cleared to play after missing a month with an upper-body injury) could enter the Philadelphia lineup. If so, lines below will be updated.
FLYERS
71 Tyson Foerster - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 89 Cam Atkinson
86 Joel Farabee - 25 Ryan Poehling - 21 Scott Laughton
44 Nic Deslauriers - 27 Noah Cates - 19 Garnet Hathaway
8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
5 Egor Zamula - 37 Louie Belpedio
33 Samuel Ersson
[79 Carter Hart]
BLUE JACKETS
10 Dmitri Voronkov – 11 Adam Fantilli – 86 Kirill Marchenko
13 Johnny Gaudreau – 29 Patrik Laine – 24 Mathieu Olivier
4 Cole Sillinger – 38 Boone Jenner – 59 Yegor Chinakhov
42 Alexandre Texier – 7 Sean Kuraly – 17 Justin Danforth
9 Ivan Provorov – 78 Damon Severson
44 Zach Werenski – 8 Erik Gudbranson
22 Jake Bean – 55 David Jiricek
30 Spencer Martin
[90 Elvis Merzlikins]
**********
Phantom Batter Belleville, 8-1
One night after skating to a 4-2 road win over the Laval Titan, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms earned an 8-1 blowout win over the host Belleville Senators on Saturday night. Fifteen different players in the Lehigh Valley lineup recorded at least one point. The Phantoms scored once in the first period, four times in the middle stanza, and three more times in the third.
Phantoms rookie winger Samu Tuomaala got the ball rolling at 19:02 of the first period, as he set up an open Tanner Laczynski for a goal. Ten seconds into the second period, Tuomaala deflected a Ronnie Attard shot into the net to double the lead.
From there, apart from an Angus Crookshank goal into the top center portion of the net and right back out -- originally ruled no-goal as play continued, the call was reserved on replay at the next stoppage -- it was all Phantoms, all night.
JR Avon stole the puck behind the Sens net and set up a play that resulted in a Cooper Marody goal into an open net. After the Crookshank goal temporarily cut the gap to 3-1, Emil Andrae scored a power play goal on a wicked rising wrist shot that went bar-down for a 4-1 Phantoms edge at 15:36 of the second period. Nearly two minutes later, Laczynski knifed his way to the net and scored as he was being knocked down to open a 5-1 lead.
The Phantoms kept their foot on the gas pedal in the third period as a demoralized Belleville team left relief goaltender Kevin Mandolese (who played the final 20 minutes) to fend for himself. Avon earned his second assist of the game as he started a power play puck-rotation sequence that ended with a laser of a one-timer goal from the left dot by Attard. At 15:05, Wade Allison took a pass from Garrett Wilson and, one-on-one with the goalie, made a nifty backhand-to-forehand move that he deposited in the net. Finally, with the Phantoms fourth line on the ice, Attard was given free reign to pinch down on the play and score from the slot.
The 8-1 final margin of victory is the largest in Phantoms history since the franchise relocated to Allentown.
Goaltender Parker Gahahan was tested several times by Belleville and did a good job in making sure the Sens made no headway in slicing into the deficit. Gahagan finished with 32 saves on 33 shots with 12 coming in the second period and several of those before the scoring piled up for Lehigh Valley.
The Phantoms went 2-for-3 on the power play at 3-for-3 on the power play. The officiating crew was the same one that the Phantoms bench exploded at late in the third period and especially after the final buzzer in Saturday's win in Laval. The work of referees Alexandra Clarke (in particular) and Stephen Hiff remained spotty on Saturday but the emotions didn't run nearly as high as the previous evening.
The Phantoms will take a well-deserved total off-day on Sunday. On Tuesday, the three game Canada road trip will conclude with the toughest on-paper matchup as the Phantoms (7-6-2) take on the Toronto Marlies (8-3-2).
Saturday's starting lineup in Belleville was as follows:
28 Olle Lycksell - 9 Tanner Laczynski - 27 Samu Tuomaala
17 Garrett Wilson - 22 Rhett Gardner - 19 Wade Allison
16 JR Avon - 13 Brendan Furry - 20 Cooper Marody
10 Evan Polei - 15 Jordy Bellerive - 14 Zayde Wisdom
6 Emil Andrae - 2 Helge Grans
98 Victor Mete - 12 Ronnie Attard
37 Adam Ginning - 3 Adam Karashik
31 Parker Gahagen
[40 Cal Petersen]
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