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Flyers Gameday: 12/31/23 @ CGY; Phantoms; WJC |
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Game 36 Preview: Flyers @ Flames
Playing their third game in four nights, the Philadelphia Flyers (19-11-5) are in Alberta on New Year's Eve to take on the Calgary Flames (14-16-5). Game time at the Scotiabank Saddledome is 8:00 p.m. ET.
The Flyers, who have posted points in 12 of their last 13 games (8-1-4), will have to manage Sunday's game intelligently against a much more rested Flames club. While Philly has crossed three times and crossed over the Canadian border twice in the last five days, the Flames have been at home and only played once (Dec. 27) since the Christmas break. Calgary is 4-4-2 over its last 10 games.
Philadelphia enters this game coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday. A shorthanded goal by Travis Konecny (17th) stood as the lone Flyers' goal. Carter Hart stopped 27 of 29 shots in an ultimately losing cause. The Flyers took a 1-0 lead into the third period but were unable to nail down a win.
The Flyers will not hold a morning skate on Sunday. The projected lineup will be updated below shortly prior to game time. For an in-depth look at team trends, matchups and storylines for this game, see the "Five Things" preview on the Flyers' official website.
POTENTIAL LINEUPS (will be updated)
FLYERS
74 Owen Tippett- 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 25 Ryan Poehling - 10 Bobby Brink
71 Tyson Foerster - 48 Morgan Frost - 89 Cam Atkinson
44 Nic Deslauriers - 21 Scott Laughton - 19 Garnet Hathaway
8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
5 Egor Zamula - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
33 Samuel Ersson
Scratches: 18 Marc Staal, 49 Rhett Gardner
FLAMES
*****
Phantoms blanked by Bears, Take on Charlotte
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (13-12-5) suffered a 4-0 home shutout loss at the hands of the Atlantic Division leading Hershey Bears (27-6-0) at the PPL Center in Allentown on Saturday. On Sunday, the Phantoms will close out the 2023 calendar year with a home game against the Charlotte Checkers (15-11-3).
On Saturday against Hershey, the game was scoreless after one period. The Bears took a 1-0 lead to the second intermission a Lucas Johansen goal (2nd) assisted by former Phamtom Logan Day. In the third period, ex-Phantom Matthew Strome broke the game open with two goals (1st and 2nd of the season in 20 games). Riley Sutter, son of former Flyers captain Ron Sutter assisted on the latter goal. Defenseman Jake Massie (1st) rounded out the scoring.
Clay Stevenson notched a 37-save shutout for Hershey. Cal Petersen saw just 17 shots for the Phantoms, stopping 13. The Phantoms' starting lineup was as follows:
28 Olle Lycksell - 9 Tanner Laczynski - 19 Wade Allison
17 Garrett Wilson - 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 20 Cooper Marody
16 J.R. Avon - 24 Adam Brooks - 27 Samu Tuomaala
13 Brendan Furry - 56 Jacob Gaucher - 15 Jordy Bellerive
6 Emil Andrae - 7 Louie Belpedio
98 Victor Mete - 12 Ronnie Attard
37 Adam Ginning - 5 Ethan Samson
40 Cal Petersen
[32 Felix Sandström]
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2023-24 World Junior Championship Update
On the final day of group play (the round-robin preliminary phase) at the 2023-24 World Junior Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, Team USA hammered previously unbeaten Slovakia in a 10-2 blowout. Defense was optional as the two sides combined for 84 shots on goal (44 for the Americans, 40 for the Slovaks).
Cutter Gauthier collected three points (his first goal of the tourney and his sixth and seventh assists) for Team USA, won 13 of 17 faceoffs, and racked up nine shots on goal across 20 shifts (16:26 TOI). Flyers prospect Alex Ciernik, who returned from a suspected concussion for the tournament and has one points (0g, 1a) over three games, did not press for Sunday's game.
At 1:30 p.m. ET, Team Canada (Oliver Bonk) wraps up group play with a match against Germany.
There are no games on the docket for New Year's Day. On Tuesday, medal round play will begin. Depending on how the final day of preliminary round play turns out, Group B leading Team USA will play either Latvia or Germany in the medal round quarterfinal. Canada, in second place in Group A, will take on either Czechia or Switzerland. Slovakia, in second place in Group B, is presently slated to play Finland in the quarterfinal but mathematically could oppose Germany if the Germans pull off a huge upset and beat Canada in regulation.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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