The Flyers had their four-game home win streak snapped in another shutout loss. Philadelphia is now 1-8-1 in the second leg of back to backs. However, that’s not the most significant news coming from the Flyers Thursday night. Let’s wrap:
Flyers Trade Frost and Farabee to Flames
About mid-way through the game, news broke that the Flyers would be acquiring Andrei Kuzmenko from the Calgary Flames. Shortly thereafter, more details began to trickle out regarding the trade. You can see the move in it’s entirety above.
My take on the trade? I think all parties involved will benefit. Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost will get a needed change of scenery on a club that needs their skill-sets in Calgary. Andrei Kuzmenko will look to reestablish his 2023 form with the Flyers, when he scored 39 goals for the Vancouver Canucks. Another Russian born player in fold should also ease Matvei Michkov’s transition as well. In addition, Jakob Pelletier comes to Philadelphia and the 23-year-old does possess some tantalizing skills. He’ll work to carve out a niche with the Flyers in their top nine forward group.
This all said, I do believe there is something to be said about the Flyers trading Farabee when his value is at his lowest. The 24-year-old is just one year removed from a 50-point, 20 goal season with Philly. Granted, he’s produced more like a fourth line player offensively this season, but nevertheless, there appears to be more room for growth there.
Could the cleared cap space for the Flyers be precursor to something larger? Perhaps getting that elusive number one centermen? We’ll have to wait and see, but the trade does feel like just the first shoe to drop.
Pregame: Adam Ginning Recalled From Leigh Valley
Thursday afternoon, the Flyers announced they recalled defensemen Adam Ginning from the Phantoms. The 25-year-old skated on a pair with Rasmus Ristolaninen, logging 12:48 TOI on 18 shifts in the loss. With Egor Zamula still out with injury, Ginning is likely to stay with the Flyers for their trip to Colorado on Sunday.
Answering the Bell
Early in the first period, Scott Laughton and Maxim Tsyplakov dropped the gloves in a quick, albeit spirited fight. Of course, Laughton was avenging his teammate Ryan Poehling with the fight. Poehling is still out with his concussion, while Tsyplakov’s three game suspension just recently ended.
“Yeah, probably should have happened in the Islanders game there,” Laughton said. “It didn’t, so it happened. Move on.”
It was admirable that Laughton decided to step in for Poehling, but unfortunately for Philadelphia, this was the highlight of the night. Isles’ netminder Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves for his third shutout of the season and New York leapfrogged Philadelphia in the standings, as a result.
“It’s not good enough this time of year and we need to find some traction here before it goes too far the other way,” Laughton said. “We talk about how big of a week it was, all these divisional games and we lay an egg.”
The Flyers are now 6-9-1 against Metropolitan division foes this season.
They Said It
John Tortorella on Benching Matvei Michkov: “We’re trying to teach him how things are done here, understanding the conduct of a pro. I’m not going to give you specifics, but it’s for the right reasons because we care about him. We’re going to do it the right way with this kid because we think he’s that special.”
Travis Konecny on the Flyers Scoring Struggles: “We’re getting some good looks. Obviously, we have to get some more traffic to the net. We’re pushing hard.”
Scott Laughton on the Goalie Interference Call: “I think he’s out of the crease. He is in the crease, who knows. It’s different every game so you can’t even judge it because it will be called something different the next game.”
Did You Know?
Per NHL stats, the last time the Flyers were shut out in a back-to-back series was the 2014-2015 season. The games? January 14th, 2015 at Washington (1-0 L) and January 15th vs. Vancouver (4-0 L).
On Deck
The Flyers will head out west to take on the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. Puck drop is set for 3:00 p.m. EST and will be broadcast locally on NBCSP plus.
