Game 29 Preview: Flyers vs. Senators
Interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (11-12-5) are home on Saturday to host D.J. Smith's Ottawa Senators (9-17-1). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET (NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic).
The Flyers are 3-0-1 in their last four games but are coming off a disappointing 3-2 (1-0) shootout loss in Montreal on Thursday.
On Saturday morning, the Flyers announced that goaltender Carter Hart is unavailable for this game due to a yet-to-be-determined illness. Yeo said after the morning skate that they are not yet sure if it is Covid or something unrelated. The coach did not say so but it seems likely that Hart is showing at least mild Covid-like symptoms but has not tested positive as of now.
However, rookie forward Max Willman and a member of the team staff both tested positive for COVID last night and have been placed in COVID protocol. Morgan Frost, who is believed to be asymptomatic, remains in protocol.
Martin Jones will get the start in goal for the Flyers against the Senators. A backup will be recalled on an emergency basis.
Joel Farabee will be back in the Flyers lineup for this game. He missed seven games due to a shoulder sprain.
The Senators, who have won five of their last seven games and gave Tampa Bay a tough game in a 2-1 decision the Bolts won on Thursday, have been playing much better hockey of late despite their poor overall record. The team's top line in particular has been on fire as of late.
An in-depth, five-facet game preview is available in today's
Five Things on the Flyers official website. Projected lineups, subject to change, are as follows:
FLYERS
86 Joel Farabee - 14 Sean Couturier- 11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom- 28 Claude Giroux-89 Cam Atkinson
21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes- 25 James van Riemsdyk
59 Jackson Cates - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun
7 Travis Sanheim - 70 Rasmus Ristolainen
3 Keith Yandle - 8 Kevin Connauton
35 Martin Jones
[32 Felix Sandström]
SENATORS
7 Brady Tkachuk - 9 Josh Norris - 16 Drake Batherson
10 Alex Formenton - 18 Tim Stützle - 28 Connor Brown
13 Zach Sanford - 71 Chris Tierny - 63 Tyler Ennis
21 Nick Paul - 27 Dylan Gambrell - 16 Austin Watson
72 Thomas Chabot - 2 Artem Zub
5 Nick Holden -98 Victor Mete
29 Dylan Heatherington - 24 Jacob Bernard-Docker
31 Anton Forsberg
[32 Filip Gustavsson]
**********
Phantoms Update: Dec. 18, 2021
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (6-11-5) earned their third straight victory as they downed the Atlantic Division leading Hartford Wolf Pack (12-5-3) on the road, 3-1, on Friday night. It is the second time within the last week that Ian Laperriere's club has prevailed over fellow former Flyers assistant coach Kris Knoblauch's Hartford team.
Fifty-nine seconds after Anthony Greco scored a power play goal to give the Wolf Pack a 1-0 lead early in the second period, the Phantoms benefited from some self-made puck luck and Hayden Hodson (4th goal of the season) knotted the score at 1-1. Cal O'Reilly and Isaac Ratcliffe were credited with assists. With 2:04 left in the middle period, Connor Bunnaman (2nd) gave the Phantoms a lead they'd hold the rest of the way.
It took 20 saves from veteran minor league goalie Pat Nagle through the first 40 minutes to nurse the game into the third period with the Phantoms leading, 2-1. In the third period, the Phantoms staged a textbook closeup, outshooting Hartford by a 12-4 margin as Lehigh Valley won the vast majority of the puck battles and never permitted the Wolf Pack to generate any meaningful momentum.
At the 18:00 mark, with Hartford goalie Adam Huska (29 saves on 31 shots) pulled for a 6-on-5 attack, Maksim Sushko won a puck battle and backhanded it from near the defensive blueline all the way into the vacant cage at the other end of the ice. Sushko's empty-netter (3rd goal of the season) iced the victory for the Phantoms.
Friday's victory, however, was a potentially costly one for the Phantoms and the Flyers organization. In his third game back from a high-ankle sprain that kept him out the entire season until last weekend, second-year pro Wade Allison suffered an upper-body injury that forced him to leave the game with 12:39 left in the third period. Allison delivered a body check along the boards near the player benches. He was in a lot of pain immediately, apparently favoring either his right forearm or right wrist.
With 8:52 remaining, Allison was denied by Huska on a breakaway opportunity. It had been a relatively quiet game for Allison up to that point after he made an instant impact in his first two games back last Saturday and Sunday (including a shootout goal against Huska) with his physicality, energy and shot-first mentality.
Alliison left the game very shortly thereafter. He did not return.
Also of note: After being out of action for approximately seven weeks due to a lower-body issue believed to be a groin pull, rookie Phantoms goalie Samuel Ersson dressed as Nagle's backup on Friday. Felix Sandström has missed the last week due to a sinus infection.
The Phantoms return to action on Saturday, hosting the Rochester Americans (13-8-0) at the PPL Center in Allentown. Game time is 7:05 p.m. ET.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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