Game 61 Preview: Flyers @ Capitals
The Philadelphia Flyers (31-22-7) are in DC on Friday to take on the Washington Capitals (27-22-9). Game time at Capital One Arena is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The Flyers enter Friday's game coming off a 6-2 home win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. The Flyers are 6-3-1 over their last 10 games and bring a 16-9-5 road record for the season into Friday's tilt. The Capitals are coming off a rough performance in an 8-3 road loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. Washington is 5-3-2 over its last 10 games and 15-9-5 on home ice this season.
Samuel Ersson is the expected started in goal for the Flyers on Friday. Felix Sandström, recalled from Lehigh Valley on Thursday morning, is the more likely started on Saturday evening at home against the Ottawa Senators.
On Thursday, the Flyers also recalled physical and offensive-minded defenseman Ronnie Attard from the Phantoms. Head coach John Tortorella was non-committal as to whether he'd use a 12F/6D lineup in Washington or go back to an 11F/7D rotation with Attard's recall. Defense pairs shuffled around during reps at practice.
Forward reps were fairly consistent. Sean Couturier remained on the fourth line. Veteran winger Cam Atkinson was the apparent odd-man out in either an 11-forward or 12-forward rotation, which Tortorella indirectly confirmed by saying Atkinson will have to "wait his turn" to rejoin the starting lineup. Atkinson did not take part in line rushes. He was a stand-in penalty killer during special teams work.
On the injury front, team leading scorer Travis Konecny (officially day-to-day with an upper body injury sustained in practice last Friday) remained off the ice during Thursday's practice. Defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body) and Jamie Drysdale (upper body) are both on IR.
The Flyers have yielded a goal in 4-on-4 play in two of the last three games, as well as a 5-on-6 goal with an empty net at the other end. On Thursday, there was a 4-on-4 segment during practice to work on man-to-man assignments.
For the Capitals, Tom Wilson did not practice on Thursday as he took the day off from practice in order to attend to a personal matter. He is expected to play on Friday. T.J. Oshie (upper body) remained unavailable to practice. Martin Fehervary (lower body) and Nic Dowd (upper body) are both doubtful to be available to play on Friday, although they practiced in no-contact sweaters.
There will not be a morning skate on Friday. Starting lineups below will be updated shortly before game time.
For an in-depth preview, looking at matchups, team trends and keys the game, see Five Things on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com:
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FLYERS
86 Joel Farabee - 21 Scott Laughton - 71 Tyson Foerster
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 10 Bobby Brink
27 Noah Cates - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway
[44 Nicolas Deslauriers] - 14 Sean Couturier - 62 Olle Lycksell
8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
5 Egor Zamula - 18 Marc Staal
[23 Ronnie Attard]
33 Samuel Ersson
[32 Felix Sandström]
PP1: Zamula, Foerster, Frost, Farabee, Tippett
PP2: York, Laughton, Couturier, Brink, Lycksell
Scratches: 89 Cam Atkinson (healthy), one of 23 Ronnie Attard (healthy) or 44 Nicolas Deslauriers (healthy), 11 Travis Konecny (upper body).
CAPITALS
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Preview: Phantoms Start a 3-in-3
While the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) prohibits NHL teams from playing on three straight nights, there's no such rule in the American Hockey League. Every team in the AHL periodically plays Friday-Saturday-Sunday gauntlets over the course of the regular season.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (22-20-5) face a crucial stretch this weekend of three games within three nights. Ian Laperriere's club inched toward a playoff spot with a 6-5 overtime road win against the Charlotte Checkers last Saturday afternoon but shot themselves in the foot repeatedly in a rematch the next afternoon to suffer a 6-3 loss. As a result, Lehigh Valley finished the weekend two points further off the pace behind Charlotte. Subsequently, the Checkers gained two more points while the Phantoms were idle.
As a result, the seventh-place Phantoms cannot focus on catching Charlotte, at least for the time being. In order to qualify for the playoffs over their remaining 23 games, the Phantoms must pass the sixth-place Springfield Thunderbirds (24-22-5) in the Atlantic Division standings. The Phantoms hold two games in hand but a 16-13 regulation win deficit in case a tiebreaker comes into play. At present, Lehigh Valley must beat out Springfield on points.
With the recent NHL recalls of Olle Lycksell and Ronnie Attard, the Phantoms are without their leading points-per-game forward (Lycksell with 32 points in 34 games) and their top goal-scoring defenseman (Attard with 10 tallies among his 25 points in 46 games). In net, Cal Petersen (5-8-2, 3.26 GAA, .890 SV%) has rejoined the Phantoms after clearing waivers and being assigned to Lehigh Valley by the Flyers.
Rookie forward Samu Tuomaala, an AHL All-Star Game selection has hit a bit of a wall since the All-Star break. His play has dropped off in February since the break. Overall, the Finn is still having a strong offensive campaign (13g, 24a, 37 points in 49 games) while continuing to build on his 200-foot game. Rookie defenseman Emil Andrae leads the Phantoms blueliners offensively with 27 points (4g, 23a) in just 40 games played. Andrae has been good at triggering the breakout and generally solid and creative in playing a point on the power play but the rest of his game is still a work in progress before he's deemed ready for an NHL return after starting the season with the Flyers.
Veteran forward Cooper Marody (43 points including 30 assists) has been a boon to the power play and an offensively creative force in 4-on-4 or 3-on-3 situations. On the downside, he has struggled in the off-puck details of his overall game at 5-on-5.
This weekend's schedule: On Friday evening at 7:05 p.m., the Phantoms will visit the Utica Comets (21-22-7). On Saturday evening at 7:05 p.m., the Phantoms will host the Bridgeport Islanders (16-29-6). On Sunday afternoon, the AHL-leading Hershey Bears (41-9-3) will make the trip to the PPL Center to visit their traditional arch-rivals.
Realistically, the Phantoms need to take care of business against both the Comets and Islanders. Hershey has a Saturday-Sunday back-to-back (they'll host Utica in Saturday) but is not playing a 3-in-3 this weekend. Even under ideal conditions, the Bears are a huge challenge. Give them less travel and a Friday off-night, and it's an even taller order.
As such, a five-point weekend by the Phantoms would be a big boost in their push for the final playoff spot in the Atlantic. A four-point weekend would be acceptable. Three means treading water with three more games off the remaining schedule. Two or less would be a failure.
Springfield is also playing a 3-in-3 this weekend. It starts with a very tough game -- on the road against the Providence Bruins (33-15-5) -- and then gets more manageable. The Thunderbirds host the Laval Rocket (23-22-7) on Saturday and Bridgeport on Sunday.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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