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WATCH LIVE: Flyers host Sabres on NBCSN

By Sean LeahyFeb 26, 2019, 6:00 PM EDT

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with Monday’s matchup between the Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

This game figures to be crucial as both teams chase the Hurricanes and Penguins, who are tied with 72 points for the final Eastern Conference wild card spot. Though the Sabres (10th in East) sit one point ahead of the Flyers (11th), their recent play has them going in opposite directions.

Philadelphia is 13-3-1 in its last 17 games and are coming off dramatic 4-3 overtime win vs. the Penguins in Saturday’s Stadium Series game. Meanwhile, the Buffalo is 1-4-1 in its last 6 games, including Monday night’s 5-3 defeat at Toronto. The Sabres have not won two in a row in over two months.

After snapping a four-game losing streak on Saturday against Washington, and then taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission yesterday against Toronto, it appeared that the Sabres were building some momentum. However, Buffalo allowed four goals in the second period, saw Carter Hutton get pulled, and ultimately lost 5-3.

The Flyers have had a couple days off since their improbable comeback victory in the Stadium Series game at Lincoln Financial Field. Trailing 3-1 with just over three minutes to play, Philly rallied to tie the game before Claude Giroux – in his 800th career game – scored the OT winner.

Just when it appeared that Carter Hart was finally providing some stability in net, he was pulled in back-to-back starts last week before getting ruled out for at least 10 days with a lower-body injury in advance of the Stadium Series game. In stepped Brian Elliott, who made 40 saves to defeat the Penguins in his first start since November 15 (he did appear twice in relief of Hart earlier in the week). Elliott will start again in this game.

Since winning their 10th straight game on Nov. 27 to claim 1st place in the entire NHL, Buffalo has been a very below-average team. They have a 12-19-6 record over that span and have dropped from first in the NHL in 17th.

[WATCH LIVE – COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

What: Buffalo Sabres at Philadelphia Flyers
Where: Wells Fargo Center
When: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 6 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live stream: You can watch the Sabres-Flyers stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

SABRES
Jeff Skinner – Jack Eichel – Evan Rodrigues
Conor Sheary – Casey Mittelstadt – Sam Reinhart
Scott Wilson – Vladimir Sobotka – Jason Pominville
Zemgus Girgensons – Johan Larsson – Kyle Okposo

Jake McCabe – Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin – Zach Bogosian
Marco Scandella – Brandon Montour

Starting goalie: Carter Hutton

FLYERS
Claude Giroux – Nolan Patrick – Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom – Sean Couturier – Jakub Voracek
James van Riemsdyk – Scott Laughton – Michael Raffl
Corban Knight – Ryan Hartman

Ivan Provorov – Travis Sanheim
Shayne Gostisbehere – Radko Gudas
Robert Hagg – Andrew MacDonald

Phil Myers

Starting goalie: Brian Elliott

Gord Miller (play-by-play) and Brian Boucher (‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst) will have the call from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa.

Flyers’ Hart kept injury a secret, expected to miss 7-10 days

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By Sean LeahyFeb 23, 2019, 7:05 PM EDT

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PHILADELPHIA — Carter Hart’s injury happened before the Philadelphia Flyers’ 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. The problem was he didn’t tell anyone about it until after Friday’s practice at Lincoln Financial Field ahead of the Stadium Series game (8 p.m. ET; NBC) against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

So when Flyers head coach Scott Gordon addressed the media Friday and announced that Brian Elliott would start the game, he had no idea Hart, whom many expected would be starting, was injured. Hart participated fully in the team’s practice and then spoke with reporters afterward and expressed his disappointment with the decision while not giving off any inkling something was up.

Gordon said that Hart’s injury was discovered Friday night by team doctors, one day after the he allowed three goals on nine shots.

“Carter, to his credit, was trying to fight through it [vs. Montreal], and it was a little more severe than he thought,” Gordon said.

The Flyers announced on Saturday morning that Hart would be out a “minimum of 10 days” with a lower-body injury. Gordon said hours before the Stadium Series game it would be more like 7-10 days. Either way, Hart will miss a handful of games and their two losses this week to Montreal and Tampa Bay — which Hart was pulled from both — effectively ended their already-slim chances at grabbing an Eastern Conference playoff spot.

After the injury was been discovered, Gordon looked back at the Canadiens game and could see something was up with Hart.

“I couldn’t tell if he was favoring,” Gordon said. “I don’t necessarily look at just the goals if I’m gonna pull the goaltender. It’s more about how he’s handling the rebounds and I felt like pucks were coming off him funny. Like the third goal, usually he puts that to the corner or he’s tied that up and it popped out in front and Robert Hagg cleared it to the corner. I don’t know if that had any impact. I don’t know. I haven’t spoken with him on the specific shots. It was a shot where he reached up and he got a piece of it but he didn’t handle it. There was a couple rebounds that I thought were kind of awkward. Whether that has to do with it or not, maybe it was on his mind. I don’t know.”

With Hart sidelined, that leaves the Flyers with Elliott and Cam Talbot as their options in net. With a back-to-back next Thursday and Friday against Columbus and New Jersey, that will likely see Talbot make an historic debut. Whenever Talbot gets into a game for the Flyers the franchise will set an NHL record by using its eighth goaltender this season.

MORE 2019 STADIUM SERIES:
• Penguins ready to enjoy Stadium Series, but focus is on two points
• Why Scott Gordon chose Elliott over Hart for Stadium Series start
• 2019 Stadium Series by the numbers
• Simmonds’ mind on helping Flyers, not NHL trade deadline
• Scott Hartnell Q&A

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.

Flyers’ Gudas suspended two games for high-sticking

By Adam GretzFeb 20, 2019, 4:15 PM EDT

23 Comments

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced on Wednesday afternoon that Philadelphia Flyers defender Radko Gudas has been suspended two games for a high-sticking incident that took place on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Gudas was assessed a two-minute minor for high-sticking Nikita Kucherov, the NHL’s leading-scorer, in the third period of the Lightning’s 5-2 win when he brought his stick down over Kucherov’s head with a two-handed swing.

Here is a look at the play, as well as the NHL’s explanation for the suspension.

The DoPS said that while it agreed with Gudas’ assessment that it was not an overly violent swing, it was still an act that warranted a penalty during the play and some sort of supplemental discipline, whether it be a warning, fine or suspension. They go on to say that this incident rose to the level of a suspension because of Gudas’ past history that includes a 10-game suspension for a stick-swinging incident against the Winnipeg Jets back in 2017.

Overall this is the fourth time in his career that Gudas has been suspended with all of them now adding up to 21 games.

He will miss the Flyers’ next two games against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night and the Stadium Series game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.

The DoPS also fined Flyers defenseman Robert Hagg $3,091.40, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for interference against Lightning forward Cedric Paquette.

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

WATCH LIVE: Flyers take on Rangers on NBCSN

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By Sean LeahyJan 29, 2019, 6:30 PM EDT

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with Tuesday’s matchup between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

Prior to the All-Star Break, the Rangers were playing some of their best hockey of the season, winning four of five games, including victories over the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins. New York last played on Jan. 19, beating Boston 3-2 at TD Garden. They enter this game on a three-game winning streak and look to make it four straight wins, which would tie their longest winning streak of the season.

Head coach David Quinn stressed the importance of starting this game fast and “making sure we have a good effort” because the Flyers will have a game under their belt having played on Monday night. This game starts a furious stretch of games for the Rangers, who will play exactly every other night through Feb. 12 – 8 games over a 15-day stretch.

Last night, the Flyers beat the Jets 3-1 for their season-high fourth straight win. Rookie netminder Carter Hart made 31 saves; he’s started every game during the team’s current win streak. Of the team’s record-tying seven goalies used this season, Hart leads in goals against average (2.52) and save percentage (.922).

James van Riemsdyk scored a goal – his seventh in the past six games. Up until this current run, van Riemsdyk had struggled, with just six goals over his first 27 games of the year.

Shayne Gostisbehere (lower body) left warmups early last night and was a late scratch. He will miss tonight’s game, but the team is hopeful he’ll be able to play Thursday against Boston.

[WATCH LIVE – COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6:30 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

What: Philadelphia Flyers at New York Rangers
Where: Madison Square Garden
When: Tuesday, Jan. 29, 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live stream: You can watch the Flyers-Rangers stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

FLYERS
James van Riemsdyk – Claude Giroux – Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom – Sean Couturier – Jakub Voracek
Scott Laughton – Nolan Patrick – Wayne Simmonds
Phil Varone – Mikhail Vorobyov – Michael Raffl

Ivan Provorov – Travis Sanheim
Andrew MacDonald – Radko Gudas
Robert Hagg – Christian Folin

Starting goalie: Anthony Stolarz

RANGERS
Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Brett Howden
Jimmy Vesey – Kevin Hayes – Vladislav Namestnikov
Filip Chytil – Ryan Strome – Jesper Fast
Cody McLeod – Boo Nieves – Brendan Smith

Marc Staal – Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei – Adam McQuaid
Neal Pionk – Kevin Shattenkirk

Starting goalie: Alexandar Georgiev

Gord Miller (play-by-play) and McGuire will call the action from New York. Pre-game coverage starts at 6:30 p.m. ET with NHL Live, hosted by Kathryn Tappen with Jeremy Roenick and Anson Carter.

WATCH LIVE: Flyers host Jets on NBCSN

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By Sean LeahyJan 28, 2019, 6:00 PM EDT

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with Monday’s matchup between the Winnipeg Jets and Philadelphia Flyers. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

While the Tampa Bay Lightning lead the NHL with 76 points, the Western Conference has a tighter race at the top, especially in the Central Division, where Winnipeg currently owns the top spot and has four games in hand on the second-place Nashville Predators.

The Jets are currently on pace for 109 points and 52 wins. Last season, the team set franchise records in both wins (52) and points (114), but they still didn’t win the division (Nashville did w/ NHL-best 117 pts).

All-Stars Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele are top two on the team in points at 61 and 59, respectively. Kyle Connor is next with 38. Wheeler, tied for ninth in the NHL in points, is second in the league in assists (52) and although his streak of 20-goal seasons may end at five given he has only nine goals, he’s on pace for 104 points, which would be a career high and break Marian Hossa’s franchise record of 100.

In addition to the All-Star break, both teams are coming off their bye weeks, each having last played on Saturday, Jan. 19.

One of the bottom-dwellers of the Eastern Conference, the Flyers sit 14 points back of a playoff spot and are on track to continue their trend of missing the postseason the year after making it. From 1995-2012, the Flyers made the playoffs 16 times in a 17-season span. Since then, Philly has made just three postseasons in the last six years and each in alternating years.

Wayne Simmonds, a popular name in trade talks ahead of the Feb. 25 deadline, has played in all 48 games this season and put up 15 goals but just 23 points. He’s on track for his sixth straight season with 24-plus goals but only 39 points, which would be his fewest in a full season since 2011.

The Flyers are 7-8-2 since interim coach Scott Gordon took over for Dave Hakstol. The coaching change was one of several moves in what has been a tumultuous season for the team that has also included letting go of GM Ron Hextall and replacing him with Chuck Fletcher.

[WATCH LIVE – COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

What: Winnipeg Jets at Philadelphia Flyers
Where: Wells Fargo Center
When: Monday, Jan. 28, 6 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live stream: You can watch the Jets-Flyers stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

JETS
Kyle Connor – Mark Scheifele – Blake Wheeler
Patrik Laine – Bryan Little – Jack Roslovic
Mathieu Perreault – Adam Lowry – Brandon Tanev
Brendan Lemieux – Andrew Copp – Mason Appleton

Josh Morrissey – Jacob Trouba
Dmitry Kulikov – Tyler Myers
Joe Morrow – Sami Niku

Starting goalie: Connor Hellebuyck

Ivan Provorov – Travis Sanheim
Shayne Gostisbehere – Andrew MacDonald
Robert Hagg – Radko Gudas

Starting goalie: Carter Hart

Kenny Albert and Brian Boucher will have the call from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa. Pre-game coverage starts at 6 p.m. ET with NHL Live, hosted by Paul Burmeister alongside Jeremy Roenick and Anson Carter.