5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Sabres
John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (25-31-11) are home on Friday evening to take on Don Granato's Buffalo Sabres (33-28-6) at the Wells Fargo Center
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 second of three meetings this season between the teams, and the first of two in Philadelphia. In Buffalo on Jan. 9, the Flyers skated to a 4-0 shutout win
In a dominating opening stanza, tallies by Zack MacEwen, Joel Farabee and Noah Cates built a 3-0 lead for the Flyers. Travis Konecny earned two assists in the period, and Farabee chipped in an assist as well as his goal. Early in the third period, the Flyers made it 4-0. Wade Allison (5th) scored on a set play off an offensive zone faceoff. Samuel Ersson, faced and stopped 28 shots on goal. He was especially strong in the second period. Veteran Craig Anderson, with 34 saves on 38 shots, took the loss for Buffalo.
The Flyers, who are 2-9-1 over their last 12 games, enter this game having lost four games in a row in regulation. On Tuesday, the Flyers opened the current seven-game homestand with a 5-3 loss
Buffalo figures to be a desperate hockey club. The Sabres, who were the highest scoring team in the NHL at the time of their previous game against the Flyers, have since fallen out of playoff position in the Eastern Conference. If they miss, it will be the 12th straight season the Sabres have failed to qualify for the postseason.
Buffalo is 3-5-2 over the last 10 games. After suffering a humiliating 10-4 home loss to the Dallas Stars last Thursday, the Sabres lost in overtime to the New York Rangers (2-1), stepped up to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs (4-3) and then lost via shootout (5-4) to the Washington Capitals. Tonight's game is the third and final match of the Sabres' current three-game road trip.
Here are five things to watch in tonight's game.
1. Hayes and Farabee
As a team, the Flyers have averaged a mere 1.81 goals per game (least in the NHL) since the All-Star break. It's not just one player or one line. It's not just the injury absence of Travis Konecny. It's a team-wide issue. Scott Laughton leads the club with seven points (3g, 4a).
In the 16 games since the NHL All-Star break, Kevin Hayes has posted four points (2g, 2a), while Joel Farabee has posted just two points (0g. 2a) since the break. Farabee has recently been generating more scoring chances but remains goalless in the last 27 games. Farabee's last goal came in the Jan. 9 game in Buffalo.
No Flyer has been involved in more scoring chances than Owen Tippett in the 16 games since the All-Star break. At 5-on-5, Tippett has individually had 53 scoring chances (Morgan Frost is second with 30) with 20 of the high-danger variety. On the power play, Tippett has had seven scoring chances (tied with Frost and Noah Cates for the most on the team) with four high-danger chances (one fewer than James van Riemsdyk, one more than Frost).
However, for all of the good work, Tippett has had relatively little to show for it. He's posted six points (4g. 2a, tied with Frost for second on the team since the break) and is shooting 6.6 percent.
At Thursday's practice at the FTC in Voorhees, Tortorella skated Farabee and Tippett on a line centered by Hayes.
2.Allison may return
Over the course of his professional career to date -- and before that, during his college career at Western Michigan -- Wade Allison has missed extensive periods of time with injury. That includes the 2022-23 campaign in which he's been unavailable for a total of 22 games due to three separate injuries.
After Thursday's practice in Voorhees, Tortorella said repeatedly that Allison's main issue is that "he's always hurt." The coach said that during the stretches when Allison has been available, the player has shown improvements in various aspects of his game. However, Allison inevitably has had to start over again after missing time.
"I'm aggravated that he's always hurt. But I think he has done the things we've asked of him. I've been up and down his back all year long, but he has done the things we have asked of him," Tortorella said.
Overall, the 25-year-old winger has produced eight goals and five assists in 45 games this season. Dressing in 13 of the 16 games since All-Star break, Allison has two points (1g, 1a).
Tortorella said on Thursday that he has insisted Allison play a north-south game more consistently (earlier this season, Tortorella threated that Allison was going to "east-west himself out of the lineup") and improve in areas related to his day-to-day preparations. The coach said the player has responded.
"I wanted him [to be] more businesslike, how he approaches himself at the rink, understanding what it is to be a pro in this league.I think he has done that. I've seen his game improve," Tortorella said.
For his part, Allison said he feels healthy enough to play again. He believes he's improved steadily when in the lineup and understands the keys to staying on Tortorella's good side.
"Show up every day and do the best I can. And do it again the next day," Allison said.
3. Hart feeling better
Carter Hart (17-21-10, 2.96 GAA, .906 save percentage) was unavailable for Tuesday's game against Vegas. He was under the weather with the flu. Felix Sandström (1-10-1, 3.37 GAA, .887 save percentage) subbed as the starting goalie, stopping 28 of 32 shots on goal.
Hart returned to practice on Thursday.
"These last 15 games here, I think it's really important that we just dial it in. Grind for this last month here. I know sometimes it might not be easy. Practice, off the ice, whatever it might be, to better ourselves for next season," Hart said.
Hart said that he expects Buffalo to be fired up for the game.
"Now, I've got to go out and shut down a team that's fighting for a chance," he said. "We know they've got some young talent, young skill. They're a fast team. We'll be ready for them."
With the Flyers starting a set of back-to-back game nights against the Sabres on Friday and the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, the Flyers are likely to split the goaltending chores of the weekend.
4. Flyers line play
With Wade Allison seemingly poised to return to the lineup on Friday, the Flyers will have the choice of either returning Tyson Foerster to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms from his emergency recall to the Flyers or using a regular recall to keep Foerster on the NHL roster. Tortorella indicated on Thursday that the likely plan is to use a standard (non-emergency) recall on Foerster. This would leave the Flyers with three remaining standard recalls for the remainder of the season.
Below is the Flyers' practice line combos from Thursday. Additionally, Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny continued to ramp up their respective rehab skating regimens in a bid to get into the game lineup before the end of the season.
86 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 74 Owen Tippett
21 Scott Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 52 Tyson Foerster
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 22 Brendan Lemieux
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 58 Tanner Laczynski - 57 Wade Allison
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
79 Carter Hart
32 Felix Sandström
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Buffalo Sabres
On Wednesday in DC, the Sabres led 3-1 heading into the third period but were unable to close out the Washington Capitals. Ultimately, Buffalo went down to a 5-4 (2-0) shootout loss.
Ilya Lyubushkin (2nd goal of the season), J.J. Peterka (9th), Tyson Jost (7th), and
Zemgus Girgensons (9th) scored in regulation for the Sabres. Peyton Krebs collected a pair of assists and earned third-star honors for the game. Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 35 of 39 shots in regulation and overtime before yielding goals to Evgeny Kuznetov and T.J. Oshie in the shootout.
The Sabres held a practice of their own at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees on Thursday. Below is Wednesday's starting lineup.
53 Jeff Skinner - 72 Tage Thompson - 89 Alex Tuch
77 JJ Peterka - 24 Dylan Cozens - 22 Jack Quinn
12 Jordan Greenway - 17 Tyson Jost - 37 Casey Mittelstadt
28 Zemgus Girgensons - 19 Peyton Krebs - 21 Kyle Okposo
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 78 Jacob Bryson
25 Owen Power - 10 Henri Jokiharju
61 Riley Stillman - 46 Ilya Lyubushkin
1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
41 Craig Anderson
