5 THINGS: Flyers @ Golden Knights
Opening a four-game road trip, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (9-13-5) are in Nevada on Friday to take on Bruce Cassidy's Vegas Golden Knights (19-8-1) at T-Mobile Arena
GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP+. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of two meetings this season between the inter-conference clubs, and the lone game in Vegas. The teams will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on March 14.
The Flyers went 2-3-0 on their recent five-game homestand. On Thursday, the Flyers sustained a 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals. Kevin Hayes notched a first-period power play goal (9th) or the lone Flyers' tally. The final two Washington goals were empty-net tallies by Alex Ovechkin, which turned a 2-1 game into a three-goal final margin of defeat for the Flyers.
Coming off a four-game road trip that saw the Golden Knights go 3-1-0, Vegas returned home to start a three-game homestand. On Wednesday night, the visiting New York Rangers dealt a 5-1 setback to Cassidy's club. The game entered the third period knotted at 1-1 before the Rangers exploded for four unanswered goals (including a pair of power play tallies) in the first 11:34 of the final stanza. Jonathan Marchessault ((PPG, 11th) scored a second period goal for Vegas.
Here are five things to watch in Friday's game:
1. York (re)joins the NHL roster.
Twenty-one year old defenseman Cam York has dressed in 33 games in the National Hockey League in his still-young career including 30 games last season (3g, 7a, 10 points, -14). He is no longer considered an NHL rookie.
Entering training camp, most pundits believed that York, if not an absolute lock to make the Flyers' opening not roster, at least had the inside track. Unfortunately, his camp performance was dissatisfactory to the Flyers' coaching staff. York was sent to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms, while Egor Zamula opened the 2022-23 season in the NHL.
York survived an injury scare early in the season to dress in all 20 games the Phantoms have played to date. The offensive-minded defenseman is second on the team with 13 points (3g, 10a, -1) and the consistency of his overall game has shown some progress.
On Thursday, the Flyers sent Zamula (11 NHL games this season, two AHL games) to the Phantoms in order to get more playing time. Correspondingly the Flyers recalled York to the NHL roster. Presumably, York was called up to the Flyers to play rather than to participate in practices but frequently be scratched in games. Zamula often did this from early November through an NHL recall following a two-game stint with Lehigh Valley.
With York back on the NHL roster, apart from the question of which veteran player will exit the lineup if York dresses for the game in Vegas,it remains to be determined which side of the ice and which partner with whom York will play. Last season, the Flyers experimented with York on his off (right) side including a stint on the top pairing with Ivan Provorov. However, York never quite got comfortable on the right side although it remained an option in a pinch. Provorov exclusively plays on the left side.
Travis Sanheim has some past experience playing right defense but he's recently started to find a groove at his more accustomed left defense spot. Meanwhile, Tony DeAngelo (who recently has been playing right defense on the third pairing after playing the first two month on the top 5-on-5 pairing with Provorov) is a natural right defenseman but his rover-style game may not mesh ideally with York. Right-handed defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen has recently been paired with Provorov. York could also play with one of Nick Seeler or veteran Justin Braun.
The Flyers have an 11:30 a.m. PT (2:30 p.m. ET) optional morning skate at T-Mobile Arena. Tortorella will address the media at 11:15 a.m. PT.
2. Power play: Going for a four-game streak.
The Flyers opened the 2022-23 regular season by scoring a power play goal in each of the first four games of the season. That is a season high streak. Since that time, the Flyers have often struggled on the man advantage. During the team's 10-game winless skid, the power play was particularly a weak area.
Recently, however, the Flyers' power play has started to show much-needed signs of improvement. The team is 4-for-9 over the last three games, with at least one PPG scored in each game including a 2-for-3 against Colorado that featured goals by both the first and second units. Even when they haven't scored, the Flyers' power play in the most recent stretch has shown better entries, puck movement and traffic.
In Vegas, the Flyers will look to secure their second four-game PPG streak of the season. Considering that the Golden Knights are a team plus-10 (62 GF/ 52 GA) at 5-on-5 and the Flyers are minus-seven at 5-on-5 (44 GF/ 51 GA), the power play is probably going to have to come through at some point if Philly is to a fighting chance at an upset win.
The Golden Knights, to date, rank 25th on the penalty kill at 73.3 percent. The Flyers have pulled out of the bottom spot in the NHL's power play rankings but are still only 29th in the 32-team league at 16.7 percent. Although the Golden Knights' PK on the whole has been unimpressive, they rank second in the NHL with four shorthanded goals scored to date: three by Reilly Smith and one by Chandler Stephenson.
3. Penalty kill: Stop playing with fire.
In similar fashion to the power play, the Flyers' most recent stretch of games have demonstrated both structural and executional improvements on the penalty kill. However, Philly has simply been taking too many needless minor penalties of late and they've been burned by too often leaving themselves shorthanded.
Last game, against Washington, the Flyers found themselves shorthanded four times in the first 22-plus minutes of the game. They killed the first three but yielded a goal on the fourth after a penalty killer (Lukas Sedlak) broke his stick and it turned into a virtual two-man advantage for the Capitals. One game earlier, the Flyers took five penalties against Colorado; the NHL's top-ranked power play club entering the night. Philly killed each of the last four penalties after giving up a goal on the first.
Nine minors in two games is unacceptable even for a stellar penalty killing team. For a Flyers team that ranks 23rd in the NHL on the PK at 74.7 percent and only averages 2.4 goals scored per game across all manpower situations, it's a very low-percentage formula to be the fourth most-penalized team in the NHL. The Flyers' improved physicality this season has been a benefit, but the too-frequent lack of discipline and the sheer number of needless restraining and slashing types of penalties have really hurt them in a number of winnable games that got away.
The Golden Knights enter this game ranked 16th in the NHL in power play percentage at 22.5 percent. They are, however, only 25th at home (7-for-37, 18.9 percent) compared to 10th on the road (11-for-43, 25.6 percent).
4. Flyers line play
The Flyers did not practice on Thursday, as it was a travel day to fly to Las Vegas. Tortorella is vehemently not a fan of morning skates on game days. He said earlier this week that the only morning skate this season that has been mandatory was before the regular season opener on Oct. 13. That was done in order for the players to work out some jittery energy.
The team has had quite a few fully-attended or nearly full morning skates on game days but Tortorella said that it is by the players' own choice and there is no consequence for electing not to skate and no extra credit in his mind for participating. In fact, according to Tortorella, he has tried to talk some of his heavy usage players such as Noah Cates out of taking the ice for morning skates but he realizes it's a matter of routine for many players.
Tortorella will confirm a starting goaltender on Friday. Carter Hart (8-8-4, 2.79 GAA, .911 save percentage) has started 20 of the season's first 27 games. Felix Sandström (1-5-1, 3.40 GAA, .889 SV%) has made seven starts and one relief appearance. He last played on Nov. 26 on the road against the New York Islanders.
The Flyers do not play another back-to-back set of games until Dec. 22 and 23. Sandström will need work before that. If Hart gets the start in Vegas, it would not be a surprise if Sandström is tabbed for Sunday's game in Arizona.
In terms of position players, apart from the question of whether York plays in Arizona and which veteran defenseman would be scratched on his behalf, it remains to be seen how the forward lines will be arranged. It is likely that Max Willman will be scratched barring an injury or illness to another forward. In terms of forward line combinations, Tortorella often changes certain starting combos on nearly a game-by-game basis and also frequently moves personnel around in-game, too.
Based primarily on last game's starting lines -- and subject to change -- the Flyers could go into Friday's game with these lines at the beginning of the game:
13 Kevin Hayes - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
21 Scott Laughton - 23 Lukas Sedlak - 86 Joel Farabee
25 James van Riemsdyk- 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
6 Travis Sanheim - 24 Nick Seeler or 61 Justin Braun
45 Cam York - 77 Tony DeAngelo
79 Carter Hart
32 Felix Sandström
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Vegas Golden Knights
Cassidy's club has a 3-2-0 record over its last five games and a 5-4-1 record over its last 10 games. Vegas is 7-6-0 on home ice this season but has been an outstanding road team (12-2-1) so far.
Jack Eichel leads the Golden Knights in scoring with 29 points (13g, 16a) in 26 games played. He's followed by Stephenson (6g, 16a, 22 points), defenseman Shea Theodore (4g, 18a, 22 points), Jonathan Marchessault (11g, 10a, 21 points), two-way veteran Mark Stone (9g, 12a, 21 points), Reilly Smith (12g, 6a, 18 points), and former 40-goal scorer William Karlsson (6g, 12a, 18 points).
In net, 25-year-old Logan Thompson (13-6-0, 2.68 GAA, .918 save percentage, two shutouts) has appeared in 19 games to date. Adin Hill (6-2-1, 2.55 GAA, .908 SV%) has played in nine games. Veteran Robin Lehner (offseason hip surgery) is expected to miss the entire season.
The Golden Knights, like most NHL teams, are currently dealing with some significant absences from the lineup. Leading scorer Eichel has been dealing with a lower-body injury and has missed the last two games. Top-pairing defenseman Alex Pietrangelo has taken a personal leave from the team (five games missed to date) to deal with a serious illness in his family. Brett Howden is on IR with a lower-body injury.
Potential starting lineup based on last game (subject to change):
43 Paul Cotter - 20 Chandler Stephenson - 61 Mark Stone
81 Jonathan Marchessault - 71 William Karlsson - 19 Reilly Smith
46 Jonas Rondbjerg - 15 Jake Leschysyn - 8 Phil Kessel
28 William Carrier -10 Nicolas Roy - 55 Keegan Kolesar
3 Brayden McNabb - 27 Shea Theodore
23 Alec Martinez - 3 Zach Whitecloud
14 Nicolas Hague - 42 Daniil Miromanov
36 Logan Thompson
33 Adin HIll
