Flyers
As the playoffs start to draw closer for the minor leagues, both the Flyers AHL and ECHL affiliates took hits with unsuccessful weekends. Meanwhile, some of the junior prospects continue to show promise.
Flyers defenseman Brandon Manning was suspended for two games for a hit to the head on Pittsburgh forward Jake Guentzel in Saturday night’s Stadium Series loss.
The Flyers are not trending upward like they were at this time last season. They are also running out of time, with 21 games to go, the trade deadline just two days away and the Eastern Conference being as competitive as ever with five teams within four points of each other and three points of a playoff spot. The Flyers are not one of those teams. At this point, it seems inevitable that the Flyers will not make the playoffs. And that may be for the better.
In the inaugural season for the Philadelphia Flyers, the roster was full of NHL veterans selected from the 1967 NHL expansion draft. One of those would be the first Flyer to reach the 20-goal plateau wearing the Orange and Black, Leon Rochefort.
With the Flyers taking things outside on Saturday night, another announcement involving the Flyers AHL affiliate came on Saturday evening as well. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms will face the Hershey Bears in the 2018 AHL Outdoor Classic on Jan. 20, 2018 to be held at Hersheypark Stadium.
The Phantoms managed to rally back twice to force overtime, but the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins got the better of Lehigh Valley in the end with a 4-3 overtime win on Saturday night at PPL Center.
Even though it seemed like the Flyers had the game for the taking at times if they could manage an equalizer, it just was one of those games, like Wednesday’s, that just wasn’t meant to be. Here are 10 Postgame Points from Flyers-Penguins.
The team learned Saturday that those offensive struggles don’t just apply to indoor rinks, as they fell to Pittsburgh, 3-2, under the bright Heinz Field lights for the NHL Stadium Series.
After much anticipation, the Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins will take their long-standing rivalry outside, under the lights of the NHL Stadium Series.
Ahead of Saturday night’s festivities in Pittsburgh, here’s a look back at the two previous outdoor games for the Flyers and things to focus on in Saturday night’s game.
