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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (10-6-3) are home on Saturday to take on Sheldon Keefe’s New Jersey Devils (13-6-1). The Flyers enter this game coming off a 3-2 overtime home win against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday evening. The Devils wrap up a five-game road trip. New Jersey lost, 1-0, to the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Saturday’s match is the Flyers’ second in a grueling stretch of six games in 10 nights. It’s the last home game in November. Philly is 7-3-2 at home to date and 3-3-1 away from Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Devils, whom the Flyers face next weekend in Newark, are 7-0-1 but hockey .500 (6-6-0) away from Prudential Center.
Rodrigo Abols (1st goal of the season) and Tyson Foerster (5th) netted goals on Thursday. Later, Travis Sanheim (2nd) tallied the game-winner in overtime. Additionally, Dan Vladar played brilliantly in goal over the game’s final 43 minutes. He yielded one preventable one, and one he had little chance to stop. Thereafter, the Czech netminder slammed the door the rest of the night.
The Flyers made an in-game lineup change on Thursday. At the start of the second period, Tocchet and assistant coach Todd Reirden switched up the second and third defense pairing. Emil Andrae moved up a pairing to play alongside Jamie Drysdale. Nick Seeler rotated onto the third period alongside Noah Juulsen.
Foerster, recently recovered from a foot injury, took a maintenance day off from practice on Friday. So did Owen Tippett. Both players are expected to be OK to play on Saturday. Meanwhile, Tocchet has a decision to make about whether to re-insert rookie Nikita Grebenkin (12 games played) in the lineup or once again dress veteran Nicolas Deslauriers (9 GP).
Conversely, the Devils are missing a key player from their lineup. Jack Hughes (broken finger) underwent surgery on Nov. 15 to repair a hand injury suffered off the ice. He’s slated to miss eight weeks from the time of surgery. However, the Devils still remain a very speedy and dangerous team. Up front, Dawson Mercer paces the team with nine goals. Jesper Bratt has 18 points including 13 assists. Luke Huges paces the D corps offensively with 11 points (1g, 10a). Dougie Hamilton has scored four goals to date (he struck twice last season against Philly).
Meanwhile, both teams have had a clear difference in their goalie performance. Vladar has mostly played very well. Samuel Ersson has struggled, especially since his return from a lower-body (suspected groin) injury. Ersson has been excellent in shootouts but off the mark in regulation.
It’s been the somewhat same thing for the Devils. Jack Allen has been outstanding in his 11 starts. Jacob Markstrom, however, has had some rough outings among his nine games (eight starts).
Where to watch
Time and broadcast: 7:00 p.m. ET on NBCSP
Listen online: FlyersRadio 24/7
Four keys to the game for Philadelphia: click here
In-game watch party (Maher Media): click here
Projected Flyers Lineup
Trevor Zegras- Christian Dvorak – Owen Tippett
Tyson Foerster – Noah Cates – Travis Konecny
Matvei Michkov – Sean Couturier – Bobby Brink
Nicolas Deslauriers – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway
Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler – Egor Zamula
Dan Vladar
[Samuel Ersson]
Projected Scratches: Nikita Grebenkin (healthy), Noah Juulsen (healthy).
Rick Tocchet media availability (Nov. 21)
Phantoms Report: Lehigh Valley falls to Providence
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (10-5-2) fell one goal short in a road comeback bid against the first place Providence Bruins (13-2-0) at Amica Mutual Pavilion on Friday evening. Simon Zajicek (30 saves on 32 shots) backstopped the P-Bruins to the 3-2 win. The Phantoms made a heavy push (16 shots) in the third period but Zajicek slammed the door after Lehigh Valley narrowed the gap to a one-goal deficit.
In a losing cause, Karsen Dorwart (PPG, 4th goal of the season) and Anthony Richard (5th) scored for the Phantoms. Alexis Gendron assisted on Dorwart’s goal to extend his point streak to six straight games. Meanwhile, Aleksei Kolosov stopped 20 of 23 shots.
Zajicek stoned Alex Bump on two separate breakaways. Bump, however, had the primary assist on Dorwart’s goal. Additionally, with the Phantoms in hot pursuit, the netminder made back-to-back outstanding saves to deny Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Ethan Samson from prime scoring range.
Jake Schmaltz (PPG, 2nd) and former Flyers forward Patrick Brown (PPG, 7th) scored for Providence in the first period. Jacob Perreault (1st) added what proved to be a vital insurance goal early in the third period. Later, Grundstrom and Lane Pederson helped set up Richard to get the Phantoms back within 3-2 at 17:48. The final desperation push with Kolosov pulled for a 6-on-5 attack was not enough to draw even.
The Phantoms return to action on Saturday, visiting the Hartford Wolf Pack (5-7-4).Meanwhile, veteran Phantoms captain Garrett Wilson dressed in his 900th career American Hockey League game on Friday. It was his 302nd game with the Phantoms.
Bernie Parent Celebration of Life
The Flyers hosted a very poignant and well-presented celebration of life for the legendary Bernie Parent at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Among the speakers were Gini Parent (Bernie’s wife), Kim Parent (Bernie’s daughter), Dan Hilferty, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, and Broad Street Bullies era Flyers teammates Bobby Clarke and Joe Watson. Bill Clement narrated a video presentation.
In case you were unable to attend Friday’s event or watch the live coverage, it’s available below
The Flyers’ final public event to pay tribute to the franchise icon will be during Saturday’s game against the Devils. A host of Flyers Alumni from Bernie’s playing era — Bill Barber, Reggie Leach, Orest Kindrachuk, Jimmy Watson, Don Saleski, Bob Kelly, Tom Bladon, Bobby Taylor — will also be hand as they were on Friday.
I had the privilege of being tabbed by the Flyers to author two separate tribute articles about Bernie: one focused on his playing career and the other on him as a human being. There was no shortage of wonderful material to draw upon. I just hope I did a measure of justice to a genuine legend.
Flyers Daily: Sean Couturier, HFiC
Flyers captain Sean Couturier joined host Jason Myrtetus for Friday’s edition of the Flyers Daily podcast. Couturier discussed Thursday’s comeback win over the Blues and his observations on the team’s forecheck and overall resiliency. Jason, who dropped the ceremonial opening faceoff before Thursday’s Hockey Fights Cancer game, tries to put his emotions into words. He also previews Saturday’s game against New Jersey.
Flyers Farm Report: Friday Peak Performers
Friday’s Peak Performers roundup is brought to you by Summit Public Adjuster (summitpublicadjusters.com). Dealing with damage to your house? Don’t panic. Call my friend Brendan Gillespie (A/K/A “Chef” from O&B Puckcast) at 215-919-1434. The Summit team works for home owners, not for the insurance company.
The Michigan State Spartans suffered a rare loss on Friday night, falling to Wisconsin, 5-4, at home. However, Flyers 2025 first-round draft pick Porter Martone, cranked out a dominant game (two goals, one assist, five shots on net, +2). Meanwhile, Flyers second-rounder Shane Vansagi (one assist, three shots on four shot attempts, multiple hits, -1) was also very noticeable for the Spartans.
Other Friday standouts:
- OHL: No, it wasn’t a second quarter football score. It was an Ontario Hockey League game. On Friday night, the Guelph Storm sustained a 10-7 home loss to the Owen Sound Attack. Flyers 2024 first-round pick Jett Luchanko was right in the thick of all the craziness. He racked up five assists to take second-star honors. He won 18 of 34 faceoffs. However, the playmaking center (who is heavily judged by his willingness to shoot the puck, or lack thereof) finished without a shot on goal. He was a minus-three for the game, but that’s deceptive. Guelph racked up five power play goals, on which Luchanko had four primary assists. Power plays, of course, don’t count in plus-minus stats. Moreover, Luchanko was on the ice for a meaningless late empty-net goal by Owen Sound. That did count on the plus-minus because it was at 6-on-5 manpower.
- NCAA: Any Boston University hockey game is one of interest to Flyers fans. BU has three Flyers prospects — 2025 second-round picks Carter Amico and Jack Murtagh plus senior forward Owen McLaughlin — on the roster. Neither Murtagh nor Amico got on the score sheet in Friday’s 3-2 loss. However, McLaughlin (12 points in 13 games) helped set up a Nick Roukounakis goal to put the Terriers ahead, 2-1, heading to the first intermission.
- OHL: Jack Nesbitt did not record a point in the Windsor Spitfires’ 4-1 win over the Saginaw Spirit on Friday. He had two shots on goal and went 12-for-25 on faceoffs. Overall, Nesbitt has 18 points (7g, 11a) in 27 games played.
Nice work on the two articles on Bernie Parent.
Let’s Go Flyers