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Flyers Gameday: 3/11/23 vs. PIT; Phantoms Update |
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Game 66 Preview: Flyers @ Penguins
John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (24-30-11) are in western Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon to take on Mike Sullivan's Pittsburgh Penguins (32-20-10) at PPG Paints Arena. Game time is 3:30 p.m. ET.
This is the second of three meetings of the season between the longtime arch-rivals and the first of two in Pittsburgh. On Nov. 25 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Penguins prevailed by a 4-1 score. The season series will conclude in Pittsburgh on April 2.
The Flyers are 0-2-0 on their current three-game road trip, 1-3-1 over their last five games and 2-7-1 over the last 10. They enter this game coming off a 1-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh on Thursday.
The Penguins are playing the third game of a five-game homestand, and the front end of a back-to-back set that will continue on late Sunday afternoon against the New York Rangers. It's also the middle game of a 3-in-4. The Penguins are 3-1-1 in their last five games and 5-4-1 in the last 10. On Thursday, the host Penguins dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the New York Islanders.
Neither team will hold a morning skate today and neither practiced on Friday, as teams leaguewide are taking every available opportunity for rest except when there are multiple days between games. On Friday, the Penguins recalled forward Alex Nylander from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on an emergency basis. Tyson Foerster and Elliot Desnoyers remain with the Flyers on emergency recalls due to Wade Allison and Brendan Lemieux being out with respective day-to-day injuries incurred in Tuesday's game against Tampa Bay.
Lineups below are subject to change. They are based on Thursday's games:
Flyers
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
21 Scott Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 52 Tyson Foerster
25 James van Riemsdyk - 73 Elliot Desnoyers - 13 Kevin Hayes
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 58 Tanner Laczynski - 20 Kieffer Bellows
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
Penguins
For an in-depth game day preview with statistical trends, situational matchups and more, see today's Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
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Phantoms Open 3-in-3 with a Win in Wilkes-Barre
Winners of three straight games, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms began a weekend gauntlet of three games in three days with a 4-1 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre on Friday evening.
Samuel Ersson held the Baby Pens to a Sam Houde power play goal while stopping 25 of 26 shots to earn the win in goal. Veteran ex-Phantoms goalie Dustin Tokarski denied 22 of 24 shots in a losing effort. The final two Phantoms goals were empty netters.
Cooper Marody led the way offensively for Ian Laperriere's club, notching his seventh and eighth goals of the season after assisting on a tally by All-Star defenseman Ronnie Attard (9th) back in the first period. The second of Marody's two goals was an empty-net tally. Max Willman (9th) also collected an ENG.
The Phantoms accomplished the victory despite the absences of their two leading scorers, Elliot Desnoyers and Tyson Foerster, who are both on emergency NHL recall to the Flyers. For Foerster, Friday's game was the first one he's missed for Lehigh Valley this season.
With the win, the Phantoms improved their record on the season to 29-22-6 while the Pens dropped to 23-25-9 (last place in the Atlantic Division). The Phantoms remain in fifth place in the Atlantic, two points behind the Springfield Thunderbirds and four points ahead of the Bridgeport Islanders.
The Phantoms will play their next two games at home. This evening, they'll host the Belleville Senators (25-27-6) at the PPL Center in a 7:05 p.m. game. Tomorrow afternoon, the Utica Comets (28-20-8) come to Allentown for a 4:05 p.m. tilt.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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