Game 40 Preview: Flyers vs. Maple Leafs
John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (15-17-7) will host Sheldon Keefe's Toronto Maple Leafs (23-9-7) at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday evening. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.
This is the third and final meeting of the season series between the teams, and the lone game in Philadelphia. The Leafs won the two games at Scotiabank Arena by scores of 5-2 on Nov. 2 and 4-3 on Dec. 22.
The Flyers bring a four-game winning streak into this match. They are coming off a 6-2 home win against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday. A five-goal outburst by the Flyers in the second period led the way. Travis Konecny (PPG 20th goal of the season), Joel Farabee (8th), Ivan Provorov (2nd), Kevin Hayes (PPG, 10th) and James van Riemsdyk (6th) scored one goal apiece for the Flyers. Morgan Frost notched a single-game career best four assists while Konecny and Hayes had two assists apiece to earn three points apiece in the game. Carter Hart stopped 21 of 23 shots the earn the win in his first game back after missing four games with a concussion.
Hart is slated to get the start against the Maple Leafs, per Tortorella. The Flyers are starting a stretch of three games in four nights.
Toronto, meanwhile, is in the final game of a 3-in-4 (4-in-6) gauntlet. On Saturday, coming off home losses to St. Louis (6-5 via shootout) and Seattle (5-1), the Maple Leafs overcame a rough first period to go on and defeat the visiting Detroit Red Wings, 4-1. Mitchell Marner had a goal and an assist to reach the 500-point milestone in his NHL career. Ilya Samsonov earned the win on goal for the Maple Leafs.
For an in-depth preview of Sunday's game, see today's
Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
Projected lineups (subject to change)
FLYERS
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]
MAPLE LEAFS
58 Michael Bunting - 34 Auston Matthews - 88 William Nylander
19 Calle Järnkrok - 91 John Tavares - 16 Mitchell Marner
15 Alexander Kerfoot - 64 David Kampf - 47 Pierre Engvall
12 Zach Aston-Reese - 29 Pontus Holmberg - 20 Dryden Hunt
44 Morgan Rielly - 78 TJ Brodie
55 Mark Giordano - 3 Justin Holl
38 Rasmus Sandin - 37 Timothy Liljegren
30 Matt Murray
35 Ilya Samsonov
**********
Phantoms Drop Shootout Decision to Marlies
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms claimed three out of four possible points on the road this weekend in back-to-back games against the Rochester Americans and Toronto Marlies; two of the top three teams in the North Division.
Coming off a 3-2 win in Rochester on Friday evening after trailing 1-0 heading into the third period, the Phantoms faced a late-afternoon (4:00 p.m. ET) tilt on Saturday against the North Division leading Marlies. The game was a see-saw, exciting contest that was tied at the end of the first period (2-2), second period (4-4), third period and back-and-forth sudden death overtime (4-4). Finally, the Marlies won the game, 5-4 (2-1), via shootout.
Felix Sandström got the start in both games. On Saturday, Sandström was beaten to the short side on one goal and was later victimized on a couple of backdoor plays, on the way to stopping 24 of 28 shots in regulation and overtime. In the shootout, Sandström stopped just one of three shots. Marlies counterpart Eric Källgren stopped 21 of 25 shots in regulation and overtime including back-to-back saves on the Phantoms' Olle Lycksell in sudden death. In the shootout, Källgren was beaten in the first round by Jordy Bellerive but went on to deny Tyson Foerster and Lycksell in the next two rounds.
The Phantoms got out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Lycksell (1g, 2a on the afternoon; 6th goal of the season) and rookie defenseman Adam Ginning (2nd). Back-to-back goals by Joey Anderson (6th and 7th of the season, PPG and 5-on-5) forged a 2-2 deadlock.
The second period saw the Marlies twice forge one goal leads only for the Phantoms' Artem Anisimov (11th and 12th) to respond quickly and re-tie the game. At 4:48, Anderson fed Nick Abruzzese (9th) for a back door goal on the power play. Anisimov scored a bank shot goal
exactly one minute later at the 5:48 mark. Adam Gaudette (14th) notched the Marlies' third power play goal of the game at 11:21. Less than a minute later, at 12:17, Anisimov potted the fat rebound of a Foerster shot off an initial setup by Lycksell.
The Phantoms were outshot in the third period, 7-4, but Sandström stepped up to help get the game to OT. In sudden death, the clubs traded off four legitimate scoring chances apiece, but Källgren and Sandström found the answers. In OT, Gaudette and Anderson converted their first-round and second-round opportunities, while Bellerive's first round goal was followed up by Källgren stoning Foerster (who had three bonafide scoring chances through 65 minutes of hockey). Sandström denied Mikhail Abramov in the third round, but Lycksell was unable to force a fourth-round on his skills competition opportunity.
After Bobby Brink made a successful AHL debut on Friday by scoring his first professional goal, the Phantoms rested the player on Saturday. Keep in mind that he underwent offseason hip surgery. The off-day was preplanned rather than tossing him immediately into an evening/afternoon back-to-back.
The Phantoms' starting lineup on Sunday was as follows:
28 Olle Lycksell - 51 Artem Anisimov- 71 Tyson Foerster
17 Garrett Wilson - 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 25 Cooper Marody
24 Adam Brooks - 9 Cal O'Reilly - 42 Hayden Hodgson
20 Max Willman - 18 Jackson Cates - 15 Jordie Bellerive
4 Egor Zamula - 47 Louie Belpedio
44 Kevin Connauton - 29 Wyatte Wylie
37 Adam Ginning - 6 Linus Högberg
32 Felix Sandstrom
[35 Pat Nagle]
Scratches included Ronnie Attard, Brink, Isaac Ratcliffe, Zayde Wisdom and Ryan Fitzgerald.
The Phantoms (15-13-4) will return to action on Wednesday on the road against the Bridgeport Islanders (14-13-7). The Islanders have been in a freefall of late and will look to snap a 10-game winless streak (0-7-3) at the expense of Ian Laperriere's club. Thereafter, the Phantoms have back-to-back home games on Friday against Bridgeport and Saturday against the Syracuse Crunch (currently 13-12-5).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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