Game 46 Preview: Flyers vs. Red Wings

Interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (15-22-8) are home on Wednesday evening to host Jeff Blashill's Detroit Red Wings (20-21-6). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. (NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic).

This is the first of three meetings this season between the teams and the lone game in Philadelphia. The teams will rematch in Detroit this Saturday (Feb. 12) in a matinee game. The season series will conclude back in Detroit on March 22.

The Flyers have won five straight games against Detroit and are 9-0-2 in the last 11 games with the Red Wings dating back to Nov. 6, 2016. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the teams have not played against one another since the Flyers skated to a 3-0 shutout road win in Detroit on Feb. 3, 2020.

The Flyers snapped a 13-game winless streak shortly before the All-Star break, defeating the LA Kings and Winnipeg Jets in the final two games. The Red Wings defeated the visiting Anaheim Ducks, 2-1, in the penultimate game before the All-Star Break but were beaten, 5-3, by the Kings in the final game.

The Flyers will have two lineup changes on Wednesday from the last game before the All-Star break. Derick Brassard will return to the lineup from two stints on injured reserve. Nick Seeler will re-enter the lineup on the third defense pair. Morgan Frost and Cam York, sent to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms last week, remain with the farn tearm. Isaac Ratcliffe, who was also sent to Phantoms over the weekend, retured to the NHL team on Tuesday.

For the Red Wings, Filip Zadina skated on the same line as NHL All-Star Game selection Dylan Larkin and 19-year-old standout Lucas Raymond (11g, 35 points). Additionally, Michael Rasmussen and Adam Erne practiced on a line with Vladislav Namestnikov on Tuesday.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Flyers

23 Oskar Lindblom - 28 Claude Giroux - 89 Cam Atkinson
25 James van Riemsdyk - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
20 Gerry Mayhew - 19 Derick Brassard - 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 - 24 Nick Seeler

79 Carter Hart
[35 Martin Jones]

Red Wings -- forthcoming

***********

Belleville Blanks Phantoms, 1-0

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms' six-game homestand got off to an inauspicious start on Tuesday night with a 5-0 shutout loss to the Belleville Senators at the PPL Center.

The game was scoreless for 28 plus minutes before the Senators parlayed a rebound goal by Zac Leslie and an Andrew Agozzino tally into a 2-0 lead. In the third period, Maxence Guenette found the net on a screened point shot that deflected off Cam York. Roby Jarventie then made it 4-0 on a goal scored on a delayed Phantoms penalty.

Unfortunately, for the second time this season, Phantoms rookie goalie Samuel Ersson (21 saves on 25 shots got reinjured in his first game back after a lengthy injury absence for a recurring lower-body issue. Ersson had to leave the game in the third period and was replaced by Felix Sandström (four saves on five shots).

The Senators played a rather tight-checking game against the Phantoms and Lehigh Valley struggled to create much offense, either at 5-on-5 or the power play until the game was out of reach late in the third period. Neither Frost nor York stood out in a positive way in this game (for the second straight game) although both picked up their play in the third period after being very quiet through 40 minutes. Actually, German Rubtsov, coming off an injury and then being a healthy scratch, was one of the better Phantoms in Tuesday's game.

As a team, the Phantoms mustered only 21 total shots on Filip Gustavsson. Of those, only a few were of the dangerous variety. Most of the better looks for the Phantoms either got blocked or missed the net.

Additionally, two of the three Phantoms' power play chances never got of the ground in terms of offensive zone possession time, much less scoring chances. A Belleville shorthanded scoring chance was more dangerous than anything Lehigh Valley generated. A late third-period Phantoms power play saw some nice puck movement between Frost and York and a look for Egor Zamula but Zamula fumbled the puck away. A last ditch shot attempt for Zamula went wide of the net just before the final buzzer.

Join the Discussion: » 316 Comments » Post New Comment

» Lightning Strike Takes Down Jets

» Practice Day, Ersson, Jay Greenberg, A Personal Note

» Flyers Gameday: Game 12 vs. BOS

» Wrap: Brink Lifts Flyers over Blues, 2-1

» Game 11 Preview: Flyers vs. STL