Quick Hits: Nov. 18, 2022
1) The Philadelphia Flyers fell to the Boston Bruins, 4-1, at TD Garden on Thursday evening. The Flyers are now winless in their last five games (0-4-1) while Boston remained unbeaten on home ice (10-0-0) and extended their overall winning streak to five games.
There was no faulting the effort level. Philly battled gamely but the team was ultimately overmatched. When a big play was needed, Boston made it. When a defensive stop or big save loomed large after a turnover, the Bruins made it. Moreover, the Flyers' penalty killing problems that sprung up this past weekend hurt them again in this game. Philly has given up 7 opposing power play goals on their last 11 penalty killing opportunities.
A fairly evenly played first period was scoreless. Tomas Nosek (2nd goal of the season) put Boston ahead, 1-0, at 11:58 of the second period; the game's only goal through 40 minutes.
In the third period, Boston pulled away. A Jake DeBrusk power play goal at 7:32 made it 2-0 Boston. An Owen Tippett power play tally very briefly narrowed the deficit to 2-1 but the Flyers gave up a backbreaking goal to David Krejci (3rd) just 16 seconds later Krejci added a power play goal at 16:21 to extend the Bruins lead to three goals.
Carter Hart made 28 saves on 32 shots. Linus Ullmark earned the win with 23 stops on 24 shots. Ullmark was solid but so was Hart. Reverse the goalies and the outcome would still have been the same. The goals that Hart allowed would have been the case with any goalie.
To make matters worse, the Flyers lost leading scorer Travis Konecny to an apparent right hand injury late in the second period. He did not return to the game.
Earlier in the day, the Flyers activated veteran checking forward Patrick Brown (preseason back surgery) from the injured reserve list. He entered the lineup and Kieffer Bellows was scratched.
The Flyers went 1-for-4 on the power play, The Bruins were 2-for-4.
For a period-by-period synopsis, analysis, key stats and highlights, see the
Postgame 5 on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
2) The Flyers remained in Boston overnight following Thursday's game. The team will practice at TD Garden before departing for Montreal. The Flyers will take on the Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. ET.
After Saturday's game, the Flyers will have a very busy week overlapping American Thanksgiving. Sunday is an off-day ahead of a home game against the Calgary Flames on Monday and then a three in-four against the Capitals (road, 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday), the Penguins (home, Black Friday at 5:30 p.m. ET), and New York Islanders (road, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET). The Islanders game is the front end of a home-and-home set that will continue on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center.
3) As of this writing, there is no update on the status of Travis Konecny. It appeared that his thumb and hand got hyperextended backwards as he skated past David Pastrnak in the latter stages of the second period in Boston. Even considered separately from the assorted injuries that have depleted the top end of the Flyers' lineup, losing Konecny for any prolonged period of time is the last thing the goal-starved Flyers needed.
4) Phantoms update: The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (5-5-1) face a three-in-three road gauntlet this weekend. On both Friday and Saturday evenings, Ian Laperriere's team are in Rhode Island to take on the Providence Bruins in a pair of 7:05 p.m. ET games. Providence enters this weekend in first place in the Atlantic Division with a 10-1-2 record. On Sunday afternoon, the Phantoms are in Massachusetts to play the Springfield Thunderbirds (6-5-3).
Samuel Ersson, who has started each of the Phantoms last four games and backstopped the team to its current three-game winning streak figures to start at least two of the three games this weekend. To date, Ersson is 3-4-1 with a 2.63 goals against average and .916 save percentage.
Veteran goalie Troy Grosenick is still sidelined with an undisclosed injury. If Ersson is given a respite in one of the three games, veteran minor league netminder Pat Nagle would get the nod (most likely on Saturday). The Phantoms recalled Nagle from the ECHL's Reading Royals on Sunday and returned 21-year-old rookie Nolan Maier to the Royals. Maier impressed as a tryout player in training camp and during the AHL preseason. He is off to a promising start with Reading, but it would be a tough ask to have him start against Providence right now.
The Phantoms figure to have veteran NHLer Artem Anisimov in the lineup this weekend as the 34-year-old center begins an AHL tryout deal in an effort to prove he can stay healthy and play to a sufficient pace to work his back into the NHL.
Additionally, Tanner Laczynski has returned to Lehigh in order to get some much-needed playing team. Laczynski saw rather limited ice time in 12 games with the Flyers before being reassigned to Reading. He may start on a line with top forward prospect Tyson Foerster although that plan is said to not be set in stone.
The Phantoms still have some banged-up forwards despite being off since last weekend. They may not have Olle Lycksell, who was injured last Friday and missed the next game. For the season. the crafty Swedish forward has six points in eight games (2g, 4a). Additionally, power forward Hayden Hodgson has been out since Nov. 5. On a positive note, Cooper Marody returned from injury last weekend and made an immediate impact with three points (1g, 2a) in the weekend back-to-back.
5) Today in Flyers History; Gamble Blanks the Kings
Acquired by the Philadelphia Flyers as part of the blockbuster three-team trade that sent Bernie Parent to the Toronto Maple Leafs and brought prospect Rick MacLeish to the Flyers from the Boston Bruins, the late Bruce Gamble was a serviceable if unspectacular veteran goaltending complement to Doug Favell.
On November 18, 1971, Gamble recorded the first of the two shutouts he notched as a Flyer. Gamble stopped all 32 shots he faced in a 2-0 win over the LA Kings at the Spectrum. Simon Nolet and Jean-Guy Gendron supplied the goal support after a scoreless first period.
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