Every Monday, starting today, GNGHockey will have a weekly recap dedicated to showing what happened in the previous week for the Philadelphia Flyers, Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and Hershey Bears. For more inside info on these teams, you can select their category by hovering over “The Inside Edge”.
Philadelphia Flyers (3-2-0, 6 points, 5th in Metropolitan)
Tuesday, October 10, 2017 – @ Nashville Predators (6-5 loss)
This game was, for the Flyers, one of disaster, triumph and then disaster again. After going down 3-0, the Flyers stormed ahead with five goals of their own to take a two-goal lead into the third period, only to lose via two late goals.
In the first period, Craig Smith scored the first goal of the night on a power play. His shot beat Brian Elliott’s blocker, and while it was a great shot, it’s one that Elliott would probably like to have back.
In the second, the Predators started piling on the Flyers with two goals in quick succession; Scott Hartnell and Nick Bonino scored within the first five minutes of the period to put the Predators up 3-0. Then, it was the Flyers’ turn to pile on the goals. Andrew MacDonald blasted a shot by Rinne from the low-point, and then Nolan Patrick scored his first NHL goal just 16 seconds later to make it 3-2. Five minutes later, Valtteri Filppula scored to tie the game.
In the third period, Travis Konecny scored his first goal of the year on a breakaway to put the Flyers in the lead, 4-3. Under two minutes later, Filppula scored again to put the Flyers up 5-3. The Predators would then get a tally 50 seconds later from Filip Forsberg to put them within one. Then, after some penalty trouble put the Flyers on a 5-on-3 disadvantage with just minutes to go, the Predators tied the game, thanks to Scott Hartnell. Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol challenged the goal for offside and lost, meaning that a two-minute delay of game minor was to be assessed to the Flyers. Back to a 5-on-3 advantage, Forsberg scored to put the Predators in the lead with 36 seconds remaining. Nashville won the game, 6-5.
Both Jake Voracek and Valtteri Filppula had two assists. Elliott saved 25 of 31 shots for a .806 save percentage.
Saturday, October 14, 2017 – VS Washington Capitals (8-2 win)
An odd game, this was. After being tied throughout the first period, the Flyers score four unanswered goals at one point to beat the Capitals, 8-2, in Philadelphia’s home opener.
In the first period, Sean Couturier scored his first of the night after receiving a pass on the rush from Jake Voracek. Two minutes later, Jakub Vrana scored off of a pass received smoothly from Evgeny Kuznetsov to tie the game at one. With just over one minute left in the period, Scott Laughton showed off his best Mike Richards imitation with a shorthanded goal, beating an out-of-position Phillip Gubauer to put the Flyers back in the lead, 2-1.
In the second period, Wayne Simmonds scored on a power play to extend the lead to 3-1 early in the period. Althought Simmonds scored, Voracek’s assist was the focal point of the play, as he made Madison Bowey truly look like an AHL defenseman. The Flyers’ top line went back to work midway through, with a goal by Claude Giroux starting from a turnaround pass from Sean Couturier. The Capitals would get one last goal in the game, as Nicklas Backstrom found himself on a partial breakaway and scored to make is 4-2. From that point on, the entire game was controlled by the Flyers. Valtteri Filppula scored his third goal in two games late in the second to make it 5-2, but much like Wayne Simmonds’ goal, it was the assist that was the focal point of the goal. This time, it was Jordan Weal’s assist; with the puck next to the goal line, Weal slid it from his forehand to his backhand before tapping it to Filppula in the slot.
In the third, the Flyers scored three more goals, with Laughton, Couturier and Giroux all scoring their second goal of the evening.
Giroux ended the game with four points (two goals, two assists). Voracek, Couturier and Shayne Gostisbehere recorded 3 points each.
Notes
Sam Morin was sent down to the Phantoms the day following the game in Nashville. At this point, the Flyers’ roster is set.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-1-0-1, 7 points, 3rd in Atlantic)
Friday, October 13, 2017 – @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (5-0 win)
This game wasn’t really much of a contest, as the Penguins scored early in the first period and never quite looked back.
In the first period, Mike Vecchione didn’t pick up Tom Sestito crashing to the net, and with three Phantoms players already in the crease, Tom DiPauli was able to send the puck across the crease to Sestito for the goal to put the Penguins up 1-0. Three minutes later, on the power play, Daniel Sprong’s slap shot from the point zoomed past Alex Lyon to make it 2-0.
In the second period, an innocent shot from Frank Carrado at the point eluded Lyon and put the Penguins up 3-0. After a shot from Jean-Sebastien Dea got by Lyon, Scott Gordon decided he had seen enough from the netminder and put the recently-acquired Dustin Tokarski in net. Tokarski, who played for 25 minutes, played better than Lyon in his limited time, saving eight shots and only letting in a deflected goal by Dominik Simon. The Penguins won, 5-0.
Lyon gave up four goals on 15 shots and was pulled after the fourth goal of the night. The Phantoms went 0-for-7 on the power play.
Saturday, October 14, 2017 – VS Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (3-2 win)
The Phantoms and Penguins played each other the next night in Allentown.
Late in the first period, Matt Read, set up in front of the net, scored his first goal with the Phantoms since 2011 to put Lehigh Valley up, 1-0, off of a pass from Chris Conner.
In the second period, Mike Vecchione controlled the puck on a 2-on-1 with Nicholas Aube-Kubel. With Lukas Bengtsson taking away the option to pass, Vecchione’s focus moved from passing to shooting. His shot beat Tristan Jarry’s blocker side to push the Phantoms’ lead to 2-0.
In the third, a scramble in front of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton net led to the puck finding Greg Carey standing in the high slot, who slotted it home to make it 3-0. With a three-goal lead, the Phantoms started to absorb some pressure from the Penguins. Daniel Sprong’s shot from the point on the power play snuck by Alex Lyon’s pad to make it 3-1. Danick Martel had a chance to make it a three-goal lead on a penalty shot, but his effort was denied by Jarry. With just over three minutes left in the game, Garrett Wilson scored his first goal of the season to put the Penguins down by just one. The Phantoms would hold onto the game and win, 3-2.
Alex Lyon rebounded in this game, saving 27 of 29 shots he faced. T.J. Brennan suffered a game misconduct and a five-minute major for cross-checking midway though the second period.
Sunday, October 15, 2017 – @ Hershey Bears (4-3 SO win)
In the first game of the season between the Phantoms and Bears, the score was 7-2 in favor of the Phantoms. On Sunday, there was to be a much tighter result.
It took until the second period for the game to get its first goal, with Chris Bourque scoring through the five-hole of Alex Lyon via a slap shot. The Bears would hold onto the 1-0 lead until five minutes into the third period. That’s when things started to sway in favor of the Phantoms; Philippe Myers scored his first professional goal to tie the game, Nicholas Aube-Kubel scored 49 seconds later to take the lead and Danick Martel scored his fifth goal of the season less than three minutes after Aube-Kubel’s goal to make it 3-1. Then, 20 seconds after Martel’s goal, the Bears’ Jonas Siegenthaler scored his first professional goal in North America to make it 3-2. With time winding down, Colby Williams’ shot from the point got by Lyon to tie the game at three. Overtime came and went without any scoring, so the shootout had to decide this game. Chris Conner scored in the third round to win this wild contest for the Phantoms.
Danick Martel finished the night with two points (one goal and an assist on Aube-Kubel’s goal).
Notes
Sam Morin, who was sent down from the Flyers after their 6-5 loss in Nashville on Tuesday, got his first action of the season on Friday… Alex Lyon, who had a rough start to the weekend on Friday, saved 61 of 65 shots he faced on Saturday and Sunday, combined… Danick Martel leads the league in goals with five.
Hershey Bears (0-2-0-1, 1 point, 7th in Atlantic)
Saturday, October 14, 2017 – VS Belleville Bulls (5-2 Loss)
Hershey opened up their home schedule with a game against the newly-moved Belleville Bulls, and although it started out well, the end result was not what the Bears were hoping for.
In the first period, it only took four minutes in the first period to put the Bears up 1-0, as Chandler Stephenson, slotted in the high slot, shot home a rebound on the power play. With just over a minute left in the period, Ethan Werek tied the game after a weird bounce found the puck standing still on the low circle for Werek to pick up.
In the second period, Werek would again score, this time on the power play, as he crashed the net during a shot from Nick Paul at the point to tip the puck in. Seconds later, Chris Bourque would tie the game at two on a snap shot off a faceoff win by Travis Boyd. The excitement for the Bears over the now-tied game was short-lived; 20 seconds after Bourque’s goal, Gabriel Gagne would take advantage of Parker Milner’s poor rebound control on Andreas Englund’s shot and put the puck home to re-take the lead, 3-2. The Bulls added two goals in the third period via Jack Rodewald and Chris DiDomenico to win by a score of 5-2.
Milner ended the game 30 saves on 34 shots. The only players on the team to finish with a positive plus/minus were Travis Boyd (who recorded two assists) and Chris Bourque.
Sunday, October 15, 2017 – VS Lehigh Valley Phantoms (4-3 SO loss)
In the first game of the season between the Phantoms and Bears, the score was 7-2 in favor of the Phantoms. On Sunday, there was to be a much tighter result.
It took until the second period for the game to get its first goal, with Chris Bourque scoring through the five-hole of Alex Lyon via a slap shot. Zack Fisch, the radio announcer for the Bears, exclaimed that this was a “vintage” Chris Bourque moment. The Bears would hold onto the 1-0 lead until five minutes into the third period. That’s when things started to sway in favor of the Phantoms; Philippe Myers scored his first professional goal to tie the game, Nicholas Aube-Kubel scored 49 seconds later to take the lead and Danick Martel scored his fifth goal of the season less than three minutes after Aube-Kubel’s goal to make it 3-1. Then, 20 seconds after Martel’s goal, Jonas Siegenthaler scored his first professional goal in North America to make it 3-2. With time winding down, Colby Williams’ shot from the point got by Lyon to tie the game at three. Overtime came and went without any scoring, so the shootout had to decide this game. Chris Conner scored in the third round to win this wild contest for the Phantoms.
Bourque was, again, the most effective player on the ice for the Bears. After his second period goal, he would assist on the second and third goals scored by the Bears. Travis Boyd also recorded two assists. Milner saved 26 of 29 shots he faced.
Notes
On Saturday, Madison Bowey was called up to the Capitals in response to Matt Niskanen being put on the LTIR… Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek both remain out with lower-body injuries, leaving the South Carolina Stingrays pair of Parker Milner and Adam Carlson as the netminding tandem for the Bears.
Upcoming games
Philadelphia Flyers – Tuesday, 10/17 VS Florida Panthers; Thursday, 10/19 VS Nashville Predators; Saturday, 10/21 VS Edmonton Oilers
Lehigh Valley Phantoms – Friday, 10/20 VS Bridgeport Sound Tigers; Saturday, 10/21 @ Binghamton Devils
Hershey Bears – Friday, 10/20 @ Milwaukee Admirals; Saturday, 10/21 @ Grand Rapids Griffins; Sunday, 10/22 @ Rockford IceHogs
Originally published on GNGHockey.com