Game 44 Preview: Flyers vs. Kings
Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (13-22-8) are home on Saturday afternoon to take on Todd McLellan's Los Angeles Kings (22-16-6). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 1:00 p.m. ET (NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic).
Back on New Year's Day in LA, the Kings halted a Flyers' seven-game point streak (5-0-2) and dealt Philly their first regulation loss of their current (0-10-3) freefall to the bottom of the Metro Division standings.
The Flyers had a large number of injured players doing rehab skates before practice on Friday, including Sean Couturier, Joel Farabee, Derick Brassard and 2020 first-round pick Tyson Foerster. Brassard, who participated with the full team in practice albeit in a no-contact jersey, is the closest to playing. However, he is not yet ready to return to the Flyers' lineup.
Isaac Ratcliffe, whom the Flyers selected with the 35th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, will make his NHL debut on Saturday afternoon.
The Flyers have had three nights off since a 4-3 road loss to the Islanders. The Kings are playing the fourth game of a five-game road trip. On Thursday evening, LA earned a 3-2 road victory over the New York Islanders. Quinton Byfield, the second overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft, tallied his first career NHL goal. Adrian Kempe's empty-net goal ended up being the game-winner after Casey Cizikas scored for the Islanders in the final 20 seconds.
For an in-depth look at Saturday's matchup, see
Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
Flyers
23 Oskar Lindblom - 28 Claude Giroux - 89 Cam Atkinson
25 James van Riemsdyk - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
20 Gerry Mayhew - 48 Morgan Frost - 71 Max Willman
76 Isaac Ratcliffe - 82 Connor Bunnaman - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 70 Rasmus Ristolainen
3 Keith Yandle - 45 Cam York
79 Carter Hart
35 Martin Jones
Kings
19 Alex Iafallo - 11 Anze Kopitar - 9 Adrian Kempe
12 Trevor Moore -24 Phillip Danault - 33 Viktor Arvidsson
22 Andreas Athanasiou - 55 Quinton Byfield - 23 Dustin Brown
48 Brendan Lemieux - 46 Blake Lizotte - 34 Arthur Kaliyev
44 Mikey Anderson - 8 Drew Doughty
6 Olli Määttä - 3 Matt Roy
33 Tobias Björnfot - 50 Sean Durzi
32 Jonathan Quick
40 Cal Petersen
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Preview: Phantoms @ Thunderbirds
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (12-14-8) are back in action on Saturday evening, visiting to Hartford Wolf Pack (20-11-5). Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live on AHLTV (subscription required).
On Friday, the Phantoms had an opportunity to reach hockey .500 for the first time this season. The team started the season with just three wins in the first 19 games but then hit a groove despite a wave of injuries, NHL recalls, and COVID-related game postponements. Friday's game in Springfield was a debacle, however.
The Phantoms found themselves trailing 2-0 with the game's first 2:30. By the time the first period was done, Felix Sandström had been strafed for five goals on 15 shots and the Phantoms (five shots) were in a 5-0 crater on the scoreboard. Nathan Walker notched a natural hat trick as the Thunderbirds' lead ballooned.
Lehigh Valley's play improved over the remainder of the game, as there was nowhere to go but up. The Phantoms outshot (14-5) and outchanced the Thunderbirds in the second period but could not solve Joel Hofer (28 saves on 30 shots).
In the third period, Garrett Wilson (9th goal of the season) scored on the first shift to cut the deficit to 5-1. Linus Sandin and Adam Clendening assisted on the power play tally. Two shifts later, Springfield's Will Batten restored the five-goal margin. Nick Lappin scored his second of the season for the Phantoms midway through the third period. There was no further scoring in the 6-2 final.
Sandström finished the game with 20 saves on 26 shots. Pat Nagle will be in net in Hartford on Saturday.
The Phantoms lineup remains short on bodies, even with Sandin and Jackson Cates having come back to Lehigh Valley after recalls to the Flyers. The team had only 11 available natural forwards on Friday. Among others both defenseman Egor Zamula (non-Covid illness) and center German Rubtsov (injury) missed the game.
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