Philadelphia Flyers Daily Clips – November 2, 2014

FLYERS Headlines

1. Philadelphia Inquirer - Flyers can't muster any offense in loss to Panthers 2. 5 reasons why Flyers fall under .500 3. Philadelphia Inquirer - Inside the Flyers: Raffl's growth has been a boost 4. Philadelphia Daily News - Father-son trips not easy for Schultz 5. CSNPhilly.com - Instant Replay: Panthers 2, Flyers 1 6. CSNPhilly.com - Flyers' power-play struggles continue vs. Panthers 7. CSNPhilly.com - Flyers lose to Panthers, fall flat in Florida 8. CSNPhilly.com - Hextall: Shayne Gostisbehere knows what's next 9. Delaware County Times - It’s not very sunny in Florida as Flyers fall again 10. Bucks County Courier-Time - Flyers lose, come up empty on Florida trip 11. Bucks County Courier-Times - FLYERS NOTES: Gostisbehere impressed in brief stint 12. Camden Courier-Post - Flyers: Mason loses again 13. Camden Courier-Post - Flyers notes: Hextall sees team about where it should be 14. NJ.com - Flyers shoot blanks in 2-1 loss to Florida Panthers/ Rapid reaction 15. NJ.com - Steve Mason sums up Flyers' bad night: 'The best that we played when was I was on the bench' 16. HockeyBuzz.com - Meltzer's Musings: Dark Skies in Sunshine State, Phantoms, Growing Pains 17. PhiladelphiaFlyers.com - OTF: Ghost to Lehigh Valley 18. TSN.ca - Luongo solid in net as Panthers edge Flyers

NHL Headlines

1. TSN.ca - Reimer shines as Maple Leafs beat Blackhawks 2. TSN.ca - Fraser scores twice for Bruins in win over Senators 3. TSN.ca - Canucks edge Oilers for fourth straight win, Hall leaves with injury 4. NHL.com - Kings' Nolan suspended two games for boarding 5. NHL.com - Penguins' Fleury continues to roll, blanks Sabres 6. NHL.com - Hurricanes blank Coyotes for first win of season

FLYERS Articles

1. Philadelphia Inquirer - Flyers can't muster any offense in loss to Panthers

Sam Carchidi

SUNRISE, Fla. - After sitting out four games, No. 1 goalie Steve Mason was sharp in his return Saturday night. The Flyers weren't. Roberto Luongo made 36 saves and led Florida to a 2-1 win over the Flyers at the BB&T Center. Vinny Lecavalier, who missed the previous seven games with an ankle injury, scored with 7.4 seconds left, denying Luongo his 68th career shutout. "You try to find positives in kind of a negative situation," said Mason, now 0-4-1. "I was happy, for the most part, with the way my game went, but when the other goalie at the other end pretty much plays a perfect game, it's tough to come out on the winning side." Mason was screened on both Florida goals. "Your job as a goalie is to try to fight through the bodies that are in front of you," said Mason, whose team went 0-2 on a trip in which the players were accompanied by 15 of their fathers or other relatives. Midway through the third period, the Flyers did nothing on a 32-second five-on-three power play or on the ensuing five-on-four. That left them 0 for 6 on the power play - and 1 for 19 in their last six games. "Quite a few unforced errors by us," coach Craig Berube said. Mason kept the Flyers within striking distance with 6 minutes, 33 seconds remaining, stopping Shawn Thornton on a breakaway. But Florida made it 2-0, as defenseman Aaron Ekblad, the No. 1 overall pick in June, scored his first NHL goal, converting a power-play chance with 4:22 to go. With the Flyers on a power play and about 13:20 left, Luongo made perhaps his biggest save, stopping Matt Read's deflection. Trailing 1-0, the Flyers had a power play for 72 more seconds to start the third period.

But instead of seizing the momentum, they allowed a shorthanded breakaway (Mason stopped Derek MacKenzie) and a rebound (Tomas Kopecky) - and didn't muster any more shots on that power play. Injuries and illnesses caused the Panthers to have five regular forwards missing from their lineup. No matter. The Flyers fell into a 1-0 hole for the ninth time in 11 games. "We didn't come out aggressive enough in the first period," Berube said. "Didn't get on them. Didn't put pressure on them. Didn't skate. Didn't shoot pucks." After Mark Streit lost the puck, Willie Mitchell scored on a point shot that appeared to deflect off defenseman Nick Grossmann, giving Florida the early advantage. The Panthers outplayed the Flyers in the first period, outshooting them , 12-9, and winning 59 percent of the faceoffs. Florida entered the game having allowed just 17 goals this season. No NHL team had allowed fewer. Mason (28 saves), who had not played since Oct. 21 because Ray Emery was excelling in the nets, took a 3.83 goals-against average and .878 save percentage into the game. "Wins aren't coming now on a personal front, but you just keep working and stay positive," Mason said. His poor numbers are misleading, because the team has not played well in front of him, and he has not allowed many bad goals. That trend continued Saturday. Gostisbehere demoted. Shayne Gostisbehere's game is still growing on the ice. Off the ice, he is mature beyond his years. "I met with him a few hours ago and told him of our plan," Flyers GM Ron Hextall said after announcing Saturday that the 21-year-old defenseman was being sent back to the AHL Phantoms. "He really knows where he is at. He might be the first kid I ever dealt with who knows exactly where he is at as a player, and where he needs to be to get better. I am almost taken aback by his understanding." Gostisbehere had some good and bad moments in his two games with the club.

Hextall conceded it would have been nice "for sentimental reasons" if Gostisbehere had played Saturday in Florida. He grew up in Margate, Fla., about 15 minutes from the Panthers' rink, where he played in tournaments as a youngster. "But our responsibility is to put the best team on the ice that has a chance to win," Hextall said. 2. Philadelphia Inquirer – 5 reasons why Flyers fall under .500

Sam Carchidi

SUNRISE, Fla. — Five reasons why the Flyers are under .500 after dropping a 2-1 decision in Florida on Saturday night: 1. The power play was awful: 0 for 6, including a squandered five-on-three opportunity for 32 seconds in the third period. 2. Florida goalie Roberto Luongo (36 saves) was very good, especially when the Flyers (4-5-2) finally woke up in the third period and fired 18 shots. 3. Another slow start. The Flyers allowed the first goal for the ninth time in 11 games. They seem to almost always be chasing the game because they are playing from behind. 4. Until they pulled goalie Steve Mason with 3:48 left, the Flyers played with very little urgency. They swarmed the net in the final few minutes. That hellbent style was missing for most of the first two periods — against a patchwork Florida team that, because of injuries and illnesses, was missing five regular forwards. The Panthers called up two AHL players and had their seventh defenseman, Colby Robak, move to left wing. 5. Little production from any of the lines that were not centered by Claude Giroux. Giroux’s line, with Jake Voracek and Michael Raffl, combined for 13 shots and was a constant scoring threat. Breakaways. Vinny Lecavalier, who had missed the previous seven games because of an ankle injury, scored with 7.4 seconds left and had five shots….Defenseman Mark Streit led the Flyers in time on ice (28:37) and had a team-high six shots…Struggling winger R.J. Umberger, who played on the second line with Lecavalier and Wayne Simmonds, played just 9:41….Voracek has points in 10 of 11 games.

3. Philadelphia Inquirer - Inside the Flyers: Raffl's growth has been a boost

Sam Carchidi

SUNRISE, Fla. - The Flyers' 4-4-2 October record wasn't spectacular by any means, but, considering their difficult schedule and their multitude of injuries, it was a respectable start. Respectable and, in some ways, encouraging. Encouraging because they beat quality teams like the Penguins and defending Stanley Cup champion Kings - even though their top three defensemen were unable to play because of injuries and ailments. Encouraging because they were competitive in almost every game, despite the fact that their No. 1 goalie, Steve Mason, failed to register an October win. Encouraging because right winger Jake Voracek is blossoming into a star, because the team has gotten more than anyone could have expected from defenseman Nick Schultz, goalie Ray Emery, and left winger Michael Raffl. Raffl's surprising start has been perhaps the team's best story line. No one could have envisioned his clicking so quickly on the team's top line, alongside Voracek and center Claude Giroux. Paul Holmgren made a lot of dubious signings during his tenure as general manager, but Raffl's wasn't one of them. He signed the Austrian to a free-agent contract in the spring of 2013. Entering Saturday, Raffl had six goals - tied with Wayne Simmonds for tops on the team - in the Flyers' first 10 games. As a rookie last year, he had nine goals the entire season. "If you asked me if I thought he'd have six goals at this point, I would have said no," general manager Ron Hextall said as he watched practice Friday. "But I will say that when we talked about things over the summer, probably the best player last year with [Giroux] and Jake was Michael. The one missing ingredient was the finish. He had a lot of chances, but just didn't finish. But if you watched the line and the way they executed and their chemistry, he was our best" left winger. Raffl spent a lot of time as a fourth-liner as a rookie, but he was on the top line for a little over a month. During that time, Hextall thought Raffl showed more than Scott Hartnell did on that unit.

"I felt that way, and the coaches all felt that way," Hextall said. "He's got a little more speed to get on the forecheck. You need a big, strong, fast guy to get on the forecheck and dig out pucks and do a lot of the dirty work. Michael's been that guy." Sensing Raffl's ability, Hartnell and his hefty contract were dealt to Columbus. It's only a small sample, but the easygoing Raffl has not only solved what could have been a top-line weakness at left wing, but he has helped make the line one of the NHL's best in the season's first three-plus weeks. Raffl, who replaced Brayden Schenn on the top line in the fourth game; Giroux; and Voracek combined for a staggering 35 points in the first 10 games. "To be honest, I don't think he changed much from last year," said Voracek, who went into the weekend tied for the NHL scoring lead with 15 points. "I think it's more experience than anything else. He knows where to be in certain moments." "He's going to the front of the net more - and that's where you score goals," coach Craig Berube said. Raffl, a sturdy 6-foot, 200-pounder, said he feels more comfortable than last year, feels more in sync with his linemates, and knows what to expect from opponents. "I've played against all those players in the league now, so I know who's good and who to be careful with when you play against them," he said. Raffl gained about eight pounds in the offseason in an attempt to win more board battles. He struggled somewhat in the preseason, but has since adjusted nicely to his bulked-up frame. "He was strong last year, and there's no question he's even stronger now," Hextall said. "When he gets on the puck, it's really hard to take it away from him," Voracek said. "He's winning battles. . . . Like sometimes I can even get myself a little behind the 'D' if I know he's in a battle. That trust with your linemates makes it easier." In Raffl they trust. Inside the Flyers: High Flyers The Flyers' Michael Raffl, Claude Giroux, and Jake Voracek were tied as the NHL's second-most productive line entering Saturday. Team Player G A Pts Stars Jamie Benn 5 6 11

Jason Spezza 2 10 12 Tyler Seguin 7 8 15 Total 14 24 38 Flyers Raffl 6 1 7 Giroux 2 11 13 Voracek 3 12 15 Total 11 24 35 Kings Tanner Pearson 7 2 9 Jeff Carter 5 7 12 Tyler Toffoli 6 8 14 Total 18 17 35

4. Philadelphia Daily News - Father-son trips not easy for Schultz

Frank Seravalli

TAMPA, Fla. - Jake Voracek's father, Miloslav, flew nearly 5,000 miles from Kladno, Czech Republic to join the team. Regis Gostisbehere, father of Flyers rookie Shayne, only had to drive up a few hours up Alligator Alley from Margate, Fla. Jeff Schenn made the now-familiar trek from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as one of 17 fathers lucky enough to have at least two sons skating in the NHL this season. (He wore Brayden's jersey to the game on Thursday night against the Lightning.)

The Flyers' annual father-son road trip is an opportunity for players to say thank you for all of the long hours driving to and from practice as kids, while also offering an up-close-and-personal look at the glamorous, but also pressure-packed, world of an NHL road swing. On their two-game trip, which concludes tonight at BB&T Center in South Florida, no area of the operation is off-limits for the Flyers' dads. They were permitted to sit in on team meetings. They watched the morning skate. They were even able to visit the locker room before and after games - the same as when they used to tie and untie their son's skates. With all the other fathers milling about the dressing room, defenseman Nick Schultz had a smile on his face - even though this particular trip is tougher than any other. His father, Robert, is never far from his mind. This week, especially, he is everywhere. Robert Schultz passed away in 2008 at the age of 60 after a complication from pneumonia. "It's been about 6 years now. I'm not sure it gets any easier," Schultz said. "It's great to see all the dads. They have a blast, a lot of laughs. But it does make it a little harder. It sucks that I couldn't have my dad here to get a couple more trips out of him." This week, the memories of his only father-son trip are fresh in his mind. His father joined him in 2006, while he played for the Minnesota Wild, on a three-game tour through California. It was the first year the Wild had done such a trip, which most teams now do. In California, Robert Schultz made his son laugh by packing all of his toiletries in a plastic bag. That was him, though. Schultz said his dad was "always there for him" and his two older brothers. He coached all three boys. Terrence, the oldest, was a goaltender. Kris, the middle child, once racked up 389 penalty minutes in the Central Hockey League minor pro circuit. Nick ended up becoming Minnesota's all-time leader in games played (743). When he wasn't at the rink with his boys, Robert Schultz was a grain farmer. He worked the land his father passed down to him and made extra money in the harsh winters as a mechanic. "When you're from Saskatchewan, that's pretty much what you do," Schultz said. His mom, Carol, served multiple terms as the mayor of their 800-person town, Strasbourg. She still lives there, active as ever in the community, involved in "a little bit of everything," Nick says.

Robert Schultz remains a fixture at the local rink, even years after his death. In 2009, the Schultzes took the money from his memorial fund and donated a new Zamboni to Strasbourg's rink. The Zamboni is adorned with his initials: "RGS." When he wasn't coaching, Robert Schultz was always driving the Zamboni. He was a true hockey dad, in the stands for Nick's first NHL goal. "It doesn't matter how old they are, they still want that support from family," Robert Schultz told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on that trip in 2006. "As far as we're concerned, they never really have a bad game. And if they do, we don't tell them. "For me, it's just reinforcing that they do something they love to do, and it's still a game. Even though it's professional hockey, there's still some fun in it like there was when they were 12 or 13 years old." Schultz was not the only Flyer without his father this week. Zac Rinaldo brought his uncle, Terry, and injured defenseman Braydon Coburn asked his father-in-law, Gradon Skjerven. The Flyers had given Schultz an open invitation to bring one of his older brothers, but the brothers had other obligations. The two older Schultzes live on the same block in Medicine Hat, Alberta and are planning an excursion to Philadelphia later this month. Both Kris and Terrence have already accompanied Nick on father-son trips since their dad died - but they know he could never be replaced. "This week would be a lot harder for me if I didn't get an opportunity to take one with him," Schultz said. "We had a great time, something I'll always remember. It's really a nice little way to pay back. It's easy for your dad to come and stay with you in Philly - but to see what road life is like, being in the nice hotels and seeing behind the scenes, that's what makes it fun." Slap shots Steve Mason (0-3-1) will be looking for his first win of the season tonight in Florida. It's his first start since Oct. 21 . . . Vinny Lecavalier (left foot) will return to the lineup for the first time since Oct. 11 . . . Defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo, signed as a free agent on Thursday, practiced with the team yesterday but is not ready to play yet . . . Rookie Shayne Gostisbehere will be sent back to AHL Lehigh Valley to make room for Colaiacovo on the roster. Brandon Manning will remain in the lineup tonight.

5. CSNPhilly.com - Instant Replay: Panthers 2, Flyers 1

Tim Panaccio

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Maybe the Flyers thought it would be an easy two points in the standings Saturday night. The Panthers had three players from their first two lines — Alexsander Barkov, Sean Bergenheim and Brandon Pirri — out with injuries and then Jonathan Huberdeau left in warmups with flu symptoms. Four regulars gone, easy win, right? The Panthers shocked the Flyers, 2-1. As good as the Flyers looked in losing 4-3 to Tampa Bay on Thursday, they were horribly inept in this game. So the two-game road trip was a shutout in points. As in zero. They even had a two-man power-play advantage for 32 seconds in the third period and could not score. That entire power play saw only two good shots and no rebounds, a recurring theme in the game. Everything about the Flyers was flat. No follow shots at the net, no traffic or net presence. They lost every footrace to pucks and far too many one-on-one battles against a hungry group of kids — two of whom were called up from the minors. Steve Mason made his first start in 11 days. He was fine, but Roberto Luongo was better. Panthers rookie defenseman Aaron Ekblad scored his first NHL goal, a power-play tally in the third. Vinny Lecavalier's rebound with 7.4 seconds left ruined Luongo's shutout. It was Lecavalier's first game back in the lineup after a seven-game absence because of a foot injury. Notable goals Panthers defenseman Willie Mitchell got the lone goal in the first period. His point shot hit Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann in the paint and changed directions on Mason. Goalie report

Mason, playing for the first time since Oct. 21 in Chicago, had a number of multi-shot scrums to handle and again didn't have the offensive or defensive support that Ray Emery has received recently. Mason had a tough breakaway stop on Derek MacKenzie to start the third period. He was much sharper than his teammates. Power play The Flyers were 0 for 6 against Florida. They are now 1 for 19 in their last six games on the man advantage. Florida was 1 for 4. Penalty kill The Panthers' best penalty killer was Luongo. Period. He finished with 36 saves, three of which came during the extended power play in the third period. First goal The Flyers gave up the first goal for the ninth time in 11 games this season. Shots Through two periods, the Flyers had 19 shots, seven of which came from Claude Giroux's line with Michael Raffl and Jakub Voracek. Where's the rest of the team? Faceoffs After 40 minutes, Florida's young hustlers had won 59 percent of the draws. That's poor focus on the Flyers' part. Fights During a very boring second period, Wayne Simmonds tried to get Shawn Thornton to go, but the officials stepped in and awarded each slashing penalties after initial pushing and shoving after the whistle. Roster Prior to the game, rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was sent back to the Phantoms (see story). Scratches Carlo Colaiacovo, Jason Akeson and Blair Jones (all healthy); Braydon Coburn (left foot), Andrew MacDonald (right knee). Up next The Flyers returned home after the game and will host the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. 6. CSNPhilly.com - Flyers' power-play struggles continue vs. Panthers

Tim Panaccio

SUNRISE, Fla. – Throughout the state of Florida, there’s an alert right now for the Flyers' power play. It went missing during this utterly disappointing two-game road trip, failing to score in eight attempts. The Flyers went 0 for 2 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in a game they lost 2-1 on Thursday night. Then they went 0 for 6 against the injury-depleted Panthers during a 2-1 loss at BB&T Center (see game story). If you’re keeping score, the power play is now 1 for 19 over the last six games. This is the same power play that was ranked third in the NHL on Oct. 19. After Saturday’s 0 for 6 performance, it dropped out of the top 10. Any one of those power plays could have and would have made a difference in getting a two-point split on the trip with a couple goals. Things are so bad right now, the Flyers couldn’t even take advantage of a 32-second, 5-on-3 power play in the third period, trailing the Panthers, 1-0. That was the game right there. “We had a couple good looks, couple one timers and they didn’t go in,” said Jakub Voracek, who picked up an assist and is tied for the league-high there with 13. Voracek's overall point total of 16 is second to Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby. During that 5-on-3, Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo made two pad stops. One on Vinny Lecavalier and the other on Mark Streit. At 5-on-4, he had a stop on Michael Raffl. “We had good chances, we were shooting pucks but their goalie did a good job of creating room to see the puck and he’s a good goalie,” said Flyers captain Claude Giroux. When a team is lacking for 5-on-5 goals and gets six power plays, it needs to score. The Flyers have 21 5-on-5 goals this season, which is less than two a game. That’s not enough. And it places more pressure on the power play to produce.

“We’re getting opportunities, we’re just not scoring,” Wayne Simmonds said. “We’ll go back, look at video, look at what we can improve and go from there.” Giroux and Streit lead the Flyers with five power-play points this season. Simmonds has the most power-play goals (three). Dissecting the 5-on-3 against Florida, which became 5-on-4, the Panthers cleared the puck down the ice six times which implies the Flyers didn’t have enough zone time or get a proper setup, especially at 5-on-4 in which there were five clears. “There’s quite a few unforced errors in my opinion,” Berube said. “Forced errors by us by trying to force something that isn’t there. Rather than be simple and shoot pucks. “We had some opportunities in the third period to score but the goalie made some really good saves. Early on, the power play was a lot like our 5-on-5 game.” In other words, pretty bad. Active scoring Lecavalier’s goal in the waning seconds of the game was his 28th career goal vs. the Panthers. He is fifth among active players in goals scored against the Panthers. Playing for the first time after missing seven games injured, he generated five shots. Shots This was the 11th time the Flyers have lost to Florida when generating 37 shots or more, and the sixth time they’ve scored just once in that situation. It last happened Nov. 25, 2013, when the Flyers lost 3-1 despite firing 39 shots on goal. Career-high Michael Raffl tied a career-high with five shots. It’s the third time in his career he’s done it -– he had five at Chicago last month and also had a five-shot game on Oct. 17, 2013 against Pittsburgh. 7. CSNPhilly.com - Flyers lose to Panthers, fall flat in Florida

Tim Panaccio

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Ever get the feeling the Flyers have played better hockey for Ray Emery than Steve Mason? Well, there may be some truth to that. For two periods Saturday, Mason's teammates were no-shows in front of him, who was just getting back into the lineup after missing four games to tweak his game and regain confidence. "The best stuff we played is when I was on the bench and we had three and half minutes in their zone," Mason said after the Flyers' 2-1 loss to the Panthers at BB&T Center (see Instant Replay). "I don't know what to tell you. It's something we have to find a way to win. We came down here and to go 0 for 2 in Florida. Tampa Bay has a great team. Even these guys. They had some guys out of the lineup. You've got to find ways to win hockey games even when things aren't going your way." They didn't try for 40 minutes. They were flat, not competitive and without any offensive ambition. They made the game seem easy for Roberto Luongo because he didn't have to deal with rebounds. They took the night off by not engaging with their usual tenacity in battles, losing footraces to pucks, not bothering to generate traffic. They had no sense of urgency until it was too late (see highlights). All the while, the Panthers had a 1-0 lead. As hard as the Flyers battled and lost in Tampa against a very good hockey team, they were backseat passengers against a Panthers squad that was minus four regulars and had two call-ups from the minors. "It discourages me the way we came out," coach Craig Berube said. "The way we came out in the game really bothers me. Just not competitive. That's the bottom line." Florida got an early goal from Willie Mitchell on a point shot that deflected off Nicklas Grossmann and made it stand. The Panthers then added a power-play goal from rookie defenseman Aaron Ekblad late to make it 2-0 before Berube pulled Mason with 3:48 left. That’s when the Flyers' urgency kicked in. “They were skating,” Wayne Simmonds said. “We didn’t find our legs for a little bit and obviously that hurts. That’s what happens.”

Luongo faced 36 shots, but had precious few rebounds to contend with. Claude Giroux’s line with Michael Raffl and Jakub Vorcek generated 13 of those shots. The Flyers even had a 5-on-3 power play in the final period for 32 seconds and only generated two shots at that point and three overall. Score there, and maybe things change. “He was outstanding,” Voracek said of Luongo. “We had good looks and didn’t score.” Simmonds agreed to a point. “Luongo did play well but there is no room for excuses,” Simmonds said. “You have to put the puck in the back of the net. We didn’t start skating until the third period. We have to get faster starts and not wait … play the game from the start.” Indeed, this was the ninth time in 11 games the Flyers allowed the first goal, an indication of their repeated slow starts. That it happened against a team missing Aleksander Barkov, Sean Bergenheim, Brandon Pirri and late scratch Jonathan Huberdeau is inexcusable. These were two points the Flyers could have secured and they threw them away. Their only savvy came in those final minutes with Mason on the bench when players charged the net and actually got rebounds, one of which Vinny Lecavalier put over Luongo’s left pad to make it 2-1 with 7.4 ticks left. Too little, too late. “The next few games at home, we need to have good starts,” defenseman Mark Streit, who seemed in disbelief at the loss, said. “A good forecheck and put some pressure on other teams. The last few games, we’ve been usually playing in our own end and have had a hard time. We've got to change that.” Incredibly, even with a depleted lineup, the Panthers did not allow an even-strength goal. They have given up just five such goals all season. “We didn’t play well,” Streit said. “The puck placement wasn’t good enough on the forecheck. Sometimes it was too easy for them on the breakout.

“We talked about it before the game. Don’t give them any life, any hope. And we didn’t execute. For us, it’s always the same thing. Skating and moving and we didn’t do enough.” 8. CSNPhilly.com - Hextall: Shayne Gostisbehere knows what's next

Tim Panaccio

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Ron Hextall met with Shayne Gostisbehere Saturday afternoon to officially tell him he was going back to the Phantoms (see story). Hextall was stunned at just how clearly "Ghost" understands where his career is right now, where it's going and what he needs to do next. “He really knows where he is at,” Hextall said before the Flyers' game against the Panthers. “He might be the first kid I ever dealt with who knows exactly where he is at as a player and where he needs to be to get better. I am almost taken aback by his understanding.” Sending the 21-year-old defenseman back to the Phantoms cleared a roster spot for Vinny Lecavalier, who returned to the lineup after missing seven games with a left foot injury (see story). Gostisbehere was a healthy scratch Thursday night in Tampa, where the Flyers lost, 4-3. Brandon Manning took his spot in the lineup and played well. That same night, the Flyers announced the signing of free agent defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo to fortify a blue line that is missing Braydon Coburn (left foot) and Andrew MacDonald (right knee). Colaiacovo won’t be ready to play until this coming week because of conditioning. At practice Friday, Gostisbehere said he knew his time was up. The Flyers kept him until Saturday because it was the club’s annual “Fathers Trip” and also as a precaution in case another defenseman came down with illness or injury before the Panthers’ game. They had seven available. Gostisbehere had no points and was minus-2 in two games with the Flyers.

“I told him, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong,’” Hextall said. “You came up and gave us some good minutes and your puck skills and skating is good. We just have to define his game a little more. He’ll work at it and get better.” All things considered, Gostisbehere said, “It was a good learning experience.” Hextall spoke to him Friday, as well. “You want a guy to come in and have an impact,” Hextall said. “It’s not fair to ask him to come out of college and come in here and have an impact. He needs to go there and just grow. “His game, and [defensive coach] Gord Murphy said this to him, his game from the blue line in, he’s got to adjust. Get to people quicker. Close his gaps. Keep himself between the man and the body. Just little things. He’s a really sharp guy, a really coachable kid. He’s gonna learn quickly. It’s extremely defined now where he knows to get better.” Manning again replaced Gostisbehere Saturday against the Panthers. Both Hextall and coach Craig Berube said as much as Gostisbehere wanted to play in front of his family as friends, as he originally thought he would last week, this is pro hockey. It’s about winning. “He’s gonna get that chance,” Berube said of Gostisbehere. “It will come. Again, we’re in the business of winning hockey games. That’s the most important thing.” 9. Delaware County Times - It’s not very sunny in Florida as Flyers fall again

The Associated Press

SUNRISE, Fla. >> Roberto Luongo played a big role in Saturday night’s perfect performance for Florida’s penalty killers. Luongo made 36 saves and rookie Aaron Ekblad scored his first NHL goal, leading the Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the Flyers. Captain Willie Mitchell also scored for Florida, which has won three of four. The Panthers killed off each of the Flyers’ six power plays.

“Louie has been outstanding for us all year and again tonight he was real key at key times, especially on penalty kill,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “He was awesome.” Luongo has stopped 107 of his last 111 shots, and the Panthers have picked up points in their last six games since a 1-0 loss to Ottawa Oct. 13. “I feel pretty good. The puck is hitting me,” Luongo said. “Guys are playing hard and putting pressure on the players, not giving them time and space, which allows me to do my job a lot easier than in normal circumstances.” Vincent Lecavalier spoiled Luongo’s bid for his second shutout of the season when he scored in traffic with 7.4 seconds left. Ekblad, the Panthers’ top pick in this year’s draft, converted a power-play slap shot from just inside the blue line, beating Flyers goalie Steve Mason on the short side at 15:38 of the third. “Extreme thrill,” the 18-year-old Ekblad said. “Obviously, feelings that I felt in junior with my first goal and feeling it again here, it’s unbelievable. It’s special.” Mason, who is 0-4-1 in his last five starts, made 28 saves. Luongo faced his stiffest challenge with Jussi Jokinen (hooking) and Mitchell (delay of game) in the box, putting the Panthers at a 5-on-3 disadvantage for just over a minute in the third period. “There is no room for excuses in this league. You just have to do whatever it takes to put the puck in back of the net and we didn’t do that tonight,” Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds said. “We’ve had opportunities, but we’re just not scoring. We just have to go back and look at the video and take it from there.” Florida gave another blue-collar effort against the Flyers, who had won four of five and collected 15 goals in that stretch. The injury-riddled Panthers were playing without several key forwards, including Brandon Pirri and Dave Bolland. “I thought the guys who came into the lineup played real well and competed,” Gallant said. “The first 30 minutes I thought was excellent and after that we ran into penalty trouble and it took some momentum away from us.” Mitchell took a feed from Jokinen behind the net and fired a one-timer from the point past Mason to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead 9:07 into the game. It was the first goal of the season for Mitchell, who signed with Florida on July 1 after spending the previous three seasons with Los Angeles. The defenseman’s shot went between Mason’s legs.

“Yes, I won’t lie. I feel really good,” Mitchell said. “For me it’s playing against the top players and trying to shut them down with a good stick, playing good defense. That’s as good a feeling as scoring a goal.” It was Mason’s first start since he lost, 4-0, to Chicago Oct. 21. “Wins are not coming right now on the personal front, but you just have to keep working and stay positive,” Mason said. “I was happy for the most part with my game tonight, but when the goalie at the other end plays pretty much a perfect game, it’s tough to come out on the winning side.” · · · NOTES: The Panthers’ victory was only their second in the last eight games against the Flyers in Sunrise ... The Flyers also suffered their second loss in Florida in the past three days, dropping a 4-3 decision to Tampa Bay Thursday ... Florida has allowed only 17 non-shootout goals this season ... The Flyers are 1 for 19 with the man advantage over their last six games ... Panthers defenseman Rocco Grimaldi made his NHL debut, logging 6:11 of ice time ... Jokinen’s assist on Mitchell’s goal was his fifth in the past four games. 10. Bucks County Courier-Time - Flyers lose, come up empty on Florida trip

Wayne Fish

SUNRISE, Fla. – Oh for Florida. It isn't often the Flyers come out of a two-game trip through Florida with nothing to show for it. But that's what happened Saturday night when Philadelphia was defeated by the Florida Panthers 2-1 at the BB&T Center. This loss came on the heels of a 4-3 setback at Tampa on Thursday night. Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo came within 7.4 seconds of his second career shutout against the Flyers. A goal by Vinny Lecavalier broke the shutout bid. Luongo wound up stopping 36 of 37 shots. It didn't help the Flyers' cause that they fired blanks on six power-play chances, including 32 seconds of a five-on-three advantage midway through the third period. Luongo had much to do with that, turning aside one good scoring chance after another. That had the half-full arena chanting "Lu! Lu!''

The loss dropped the Flyers back under .500 at 4-5-2. Steve Mason made his return to the Flyers’ net a good one, stopping 28 of 30 Florida shots but it wasn’t enough. All the momentum from wins over Pittsburgh, Detroit and Los Angeles appears to have taken a leave of absence. “You go 0 for 2 in Florida, it’s not good,’’ Mason said. “Tampa Bay’s got a great team. Even these guys had some guys out of the lineup (five to be exact). “But you have to find ways to win hockey games, even when things aren’t going exactly your way. We haven’t done that.’’ Down 2-0 late in the third, coach Craig Berube pulled Mason with 3:48 to play and the Flyers basically kept the puck in the Florida end the rest of the game. Where was that sort of desperation for the first 56 minutes? “The best that we played was when I was on the bench,’’ Mason observed with an ironic tone. “We had three and a half minutes in their zone.’’ The Flyers entered the game with an all-time mark of 28-11-2 at Florida, but looked lackluster on offense. When they did mount some serious pressure on the Panthers' net, Luongo was there to make the timely save. Slow starts are hurting the Flyers, too. They’ve been scored on first nine times in 11 games. “We didn’t come out very good in the first period,’’ Berube said. “We didn’t come out in the first period aggressive enough, for sure. Didn’t get on them, didn’t put pressure on them, didn’t skate.’’ Berube sounded puzzled by the Flyers’ lack of competitiveness until the last segment of the game. “It discourages me the way we came out,’’ the coach said. “That’s what really bothers me. “Just not competitive. That’s the bottom line. We talked about good start, being down here in Florida. . .that’s on them.’’ With that in mind, Jake Voracek, Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds responded.

“They (the Panthers) are over .500, we knew it was going to be a tough game,’’ Voracek said. “Give them credit, they played well defensively. It’s hard to come back in a game like this. We just have to be patient.’’ Giroux said: “We didn’t play the right way at the start and it cost us the game. We need to do a better job playing as a team. . .be on the same page. We need to look at some video and make sure we’re on the same page.’’ Simmonds almost always tells it like it is. He was candid with his assessment. “There’s no room for excuse in this league,’’ he said upon being asked about Luongo’s outstanding play. “We have to be better. We didn’t start skating until the third period. We have to play the game from the start.’’ The power-play drought (1 for 19) has also played a role in recent struggles. “There are quite a few errors – we’re trying to force something that’s not there,’’ Berube said of the power play, “instead of just being simple and shooting pucks.’’ A goal by Willie Mitchell at 9:07 of the first period gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead and that score stood up for two periods. Mitchell's point shot appeared to deflect off a Flyers defender (Nick Grossmann, according to replays) and that changed the direction of the puck just enough to elude Mason, making his first start since a 4-0 loss at Chicago 11 days ago. Florida No. 1 overall draft pick Aaron Ekblad recorded Florida’s other goal with 4:22 to play. Mason entered the game with a career mark of 6-1-0 and 1.55 goals-against average against the Panthers. But his record this season fell to 0-4-1. Mark Streit said the Flyers played below their potential in this game. “On our part, it just wasn’t good enough,’’ Streit said. “It’s very disappointing. We expect more out of ourselves.’’ Short shots: After four straight multiple-point games, Voracek was held to one assist. Voracek's 15 points in his first 10 games was the best 10-game start by a Flyer since Peter Forsberg registered 19 points in 2005-06.

11. Bucks County Courier-Times - FLYERS NOTES: Gostisbehere impressed in

brief stint

Wayne Fish

SUNRISE, Fla. — It would have been a feel-good story — a night of cheers and tears — if rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere had been able to play in the Flyers-Panthers game. The Flyers’ prospect is the only Florida born-and-raised native to play in the NHL, and this game would have meant a lot to a large contingent of family and friends from nearby Margate. But it was not to be. After a two-game tryout against Detroit and Los Angeles, Gostisbehere sat out Thursday’s game at Tampa and then on Saturday, with the return of Vinny Lecavalier (lower body injury), the 21-year-old was returned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. So much for sentimentality. General manager Ron Hextall was asked about that and all he could do was shrug. “For sentimental reasons, yes,’’ Hextall said before the game at BB&T Center. “But our responsibility is to put the best team on the ice that has a chance to win the hockey game.’’ Hextall said he met with Gostisbehere about mid-afternoon on Saturday and told him this was pretty much just a numbers situation. He held his own against two strong teams in the Red Wings and Kings. “He really knows where he’s at,’’ Hextall said. “He might be the first kid I’ve ever dealt with that knows exactly where he’s at as a player and exactly where he needs to be to get better.’’ Everyone down to the towel boy knows Gostisbehere is a highly skilled player who could be flashy if he wanted to. But he’s also smart enough to know some of those types of moves won’t work at the NHL level.

“I said that with him, that’s the hard part,’’ Hextall said. “You want a guy like that to come in and have an impact. And it’s not fair to have him come right out of college and come in here and have an impact.’’ Hextall said that assistant coach Gord Murphy told Gostisbehere the one thing he has to continue to work on is his performance from the defensive blue line in. “He’s just got to get to people quicker,’’ Hextall said. “He’s got to close his gaps. He’s a really sharp guy, a really coachable kid. "I told him, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong. You came up and gave us some good minutes and your puck skills, your skating and everything is good.' Now we just have to define his game a little bit more.’’ Coach Craig Berube was impressed with the small sample of Gostisbehere he got to see. “He’s done a lot of good things in different areas,’’ Berube said. “He’s got to improve on stuff. Our job is to develop this guy, put him in the best position possible to be successful.’’ Lecavalier returns Vinny Lecavalier returned to the lineup after missing seven games. The Flyers juggled their lines, moving R.J. Umberger up to skate with Lecavalier and Wayne Simmonds. The third line for this game was Sean Couturier with Matt Read and Brayden Schenn. “He (Lecavalier) is looking good, he’s skating well,’’ Berube said. 12. Camden Courier-Post - Flyers: Mason loses again

Dave Isaac

SUNRISE, Fla. – Flyers goalie Steve Mason walked out of BB&T Center in a suit with his father, Bill, to his right wearing his son’s jersey. Mason’s usual postgame call back home didn’t need a phone. His support system was walking right next to him. Another game is in the loss column for Mason, who is now 0-4-1, after the Flyers dropped a 2-1 decision to the Florida Panthers.

The Flyers couldn’t solve Mason’s counterpart, Roberto Luongo, until there was 7.4 seconds left in the game. “Yeah, the best that we played was when I was on the bench,” said Mason, who was pulled for an extra attacker with 3:48 left in the game. “We had three and a half minutes in their zone. I don’t know what to tell you. It’s something that we have to find a way to win.” Once again, the Flyers started slow. They’ve now allowed the first goal in nine of their 11 games this season. Florida opened the scoring at 9:07 of the first period when Willie Mitchell’s shot from the point deflected off Flyers D-man Nicklas Grossmann and behind Mason. “I believe it went off his stick,” said Mason, who made 28 saves, “but at the end of the day it’s the goalie’s job to stop it.” Mason’s first start in five games didn’t go well for anyone wearing orange and black. The Flyers went 0-for-6 on the power play, including 32 seconds of two-man advantage time in the third period. They’re now 1-for-19 in the last six games. Luongo seemed to have all the answers. “The 5-on-3, it’s got to be a goal,” defenseman Mark Streit said. “We knew we wanted to have a good start and not give them any life and hope and be all over them right away. We just didn’t execute. For us, it’s always the same thing. It’s about skating, moving and we just didn’t skate enough.” Fifteen of the Flyers’ 37 shots came on the man advantage, but nothing seemed to be going their way. In fact, Florida forced some turnovers when the Flyers were on the power play and had four shots shorthanded. “Well, there were quite a few unforced errors in my opinion,” coach Craig Berube said. “Forced errors by us trying to force something that’s not there instead of just being simple and shooting pucks. Early on, the power play was a lot like a 5-on-5 game.” Florida has been a stout defensive team all season. They’ve allowed a league-low five goals at even strength. There was an opportunity, though, for the Flyers to capitalize on a team that was missing five forwards from its lineup. Rocco Grimaldi was called up from the American Hockey League to make his NHL debut and Vincent Trocheck, who had 20 games prior experience, was called up as well. The Panthers even had extra defenseman Colby Robak playing up front.

“The difference between an AHL guy and an NHL guy, sometimes it’s not always the skill, it’s how hard you work,” Wayne Simmonds said. “When you got guys coming up from the AHL they’re gonna work as hard as they possibly can. They’re on a tryout, kinda. They played well. We just gotta be better.” After a couple Flyers power plays weren’t able to get it done, the Panthers scored again with 4:22 left. Mason was screened again when this year’s No. 1 overall pick, Aaron Ekblad, scored his first NHL goal through traffic. “You just try and find positives in kind of a negative situation,” Mason said. “I was happy for the most part (on how) my game went, but when the other goalie at the other end pretty much plays a perfect game, it’s tough to come out on the winning side. Wins are coming right now on the personal front, but you just keep working.” It took 40 minutes for the Flyers to finally get things going offensively. That’s when they began winning battles, getting to pucks and testing Luongo, who was perfect until Vinny Lecavalier scored in the waning seconds on a rebound. 13. Camden Courier-Post - Flyers notes: Hextall sees team about where it

should be

Dave Isaac

SUNRISE, Fla. – After a seven-game absence for a left foot injury, center Vincent Lecavalier returned to the lineup and Flyers general manager Ron Hextall was one step closer to seeing his full roster. He hasn’t seen it for a while. Last time was the season opener Oct. 8 in Boston. Through 12 games, the Flyers have lost 22 man games to injury. That’s not counting defensemen Kimmo Timonen and Chris Pronger or center Ryan White, who haven’t suited up this season at all. “It’s tough, but going into the year, you have an idea where your team is and you hope the chemistry and things play out,” Hextall said. “I’d like to be a little bit ahead of where we are.” There certainly were missed opportunities in the first part of the season when the Flyers took five games to find the win column.

“We gotta not shoot ourselves in the foot,” coach Craig Berube said. “I think we did that three games this year, we shot ourselves in the foot where there are victories in my opinion — or close to it with a point — and you’ve got to stop doing that. That’s important not to do that because at the end of the year it comes down to two points a lot of time, in and out of the playoffs or home-ice advantage.” Before the Florida roadtrip, the Flyers had won two at home and return to Philly for a four-game homestand. Things seemed to have stabilized from an injury standpoint, at least for now. So where does Hextall see them now? “In terms of our level of play we’re probably where I thought we’d be,” Hextall said. “In terms of our wins and losses, we’d probably a game or two behind.” Again, part of that has to do with the Flyers’ self-inflicted losses. In term of coaching a rotating carousel of forwards and defensemen, it’s no skin off Berube’s teeth. “I always look at it like, ‘Just coach what I got,’ ” Berube said. “I don’t like to be like, ‘Well, if I had this guy or this guy...’ That’s not my job. My job is to coach the team that I got. I really concentrate on that. I like our team.” Others are still recuperating. Andrew MacDonald is still likely three weeks away with a right knee injury. Braydon Coburn is a little closer. He’s been out since Game 1 with a left foot injury. “I’m optimistic on Coby,” Hextall said. “We’ve gotten some positive news in terms of the healing process.” Soon enough, Hextall will see yet another new player. Carlo Colaiacovo, whom the team signed late Thursday night, should be well conditioned enough to play Tuesday when the Edmonton Oilers come to town. “I think it’s a possibility, but it’s hard to say,” the GM said. “If Chief sees how Carlo feels. I know he felt good yesterday, but it was the first day. We’ll see how Monday plays out and things go with Brandon (Manning). It’s not my call.” • Gostisbehere took demotion well: Rookie Shayne Gostisbehere would have loved for a chance to play at BB&T Center Saturday, the rink 15 minutes from where he grew up, but the Flyers sent him back down to the minors to make room for Lecavalier on the roster. “He really knows where he’s at,” Hextall said. “He might be the first kid I ever dealt with who knows exactly where he’s at as a player and exactly where he needs to be to get better. I’m actually almost taken aback his understanding.”

In his first two NHL games, Gostisbehere was a minus-2 with no points and averaged 12:34 of ice time. He’ll go back to the American Hockey League’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, where he’ll play a lot more minutes and further develop. “A lot of teams, they do it,” said veteran Mark Streit, whom the Flyers asked to help mentor Gostisbehere. “I know Detroit does it. They leave the guys there for a couple years then they bring them up and they’re really good players. We’ll see what he’s gonna go through, but I think he has the right attitude.” • Empty netters: Goalie Steve Mason made his first start in five games. … Florida learned just before the game that star forward Jonathan Huberdeau was out with the flu. In all, the Panthers missed four forwards. … Saturday marked the end of the annual Fathers Trip. Many of the team’s fathers (and in some cases fathers-in-law and uncles) accompanied the players on the two-game roadtrip. 14. NJ.com - Flyers shoot blanks in 2-1 loss to Florida Panthers/ Rapid

reaction

Randy Miller

SUNRISE, Fla. — Flyers head coach Craig Berube has to be fuming after watching his team do nothing Saturday night against a perceived Eastern Conference weakling that was playing very shorthanded. Four of the Florida Panthers' top forwards missed the game with injuries and another had the flu. The Flyers still lost 2-1. Let's start with the Flyers' one big positive on a night filled with negatives: No. 1 goalie Steve Mason, back in the net after sitting out four in a row due to an early season slump, was very good in his very busy return. He stopped breakaways, point-blank shots, rebounds ... just about everything. As for the other Flyers, a bunch of them laid an egg. They were sloppy at times, lifeless at times and were on the verge of being shut out until Vincent Lecavalier scored a 6-on-5 goal from the right crease with 7.4 seconds to go to cut into a 2-0 Florida lead.

The Flyers were 0-for-6 on the power play and generated very little offense on 5-on-5 play against the Panthers, who got a 36-save performance from star goalie Roberto Luongo and a lot of great play from an underrated defense core that scored both goals. Desperate, Berube pulled Mason for an extra attacker with 3:31 to go in the third and Florida leading 2-0. Mason was screened when Florida took a 1-0 lead 9:07 into the game on a blast from the point by defenseman Willie Mitchell, then almost single-handedly kept his team within a goal until late in the game. Panthers rookie blueliner Aaron Ekblad scored a power-play goal 15:38 into the third to make it 2-0. The Flyers' loss finished off an 0-2 roadtrip that started with a 4-3 loss at Tampa Bay on Thursday night. The Flyers now are 4-5-2 heading into a four-game homestand that begins Tuesday against Edmonton. THE GOOD • Mason was sharp in his return, stopping 29 of 30 shots. • LW Michael Raffl led the Flyers with five shots on net. THE BAD • Flyers gave up opening goal for ninth time in 11 games. • The Flyers were 0-for 6 on the power play, leaving them 1-for-19 in their last six games. • The Flyers and Panthers played in front of another small crowd at BB&T Center. Coming in, Florida drew an NHL-low average of 8,807 fans (3 games). FIGHTS • None. The Flyers have just two in 11 games, one each by R.J. Umberger and Luke Shenn. Only Nashville (1) has fewer. INJURIES • Flyers: D Andrew MacDonald missed his fourth game with an undisclosed lower-body injury. He's expected to be sidelined for about three more weeks. ... D Braydon Coburn missed his 10th game with a left foot injury. He was expected to miss three more weeks due to a setback in late October, but now is ahead of schedule and may return in a week or two. ... C Ryan White is on LTIR recovering from August surgery

to repair his left pectoralis muscle. ... D Kimmo Timonen is on LTIR due to blood clots. • Panthers: C Jonathan Huberdeau (flu), C Alekander Barkov (lower body), LW Sean Bergenheim (lower body), C Dave Bolland (lower body, IR) and Brandon Pirri (concussion, IR) all missed the game. HEALTHY SCRATCHES • Flyers: C Blair Jones, RW Jason Akeson, D Carlo Colaiacovo • Panthers: None. THE WEEK AHEAD • Sunday: Day off • Monday: Flyers practice at Skate Zone • Tuesday: Edmonton Oilers at Flyers, 7 p.m. • Wednesday: Flyers practice at Skate Zone • Thursday: Florida Panthers at Flyers, 7 p.m. • Friday: Flyers practice at Skate Zone • Saturday: Colorado Avalanche at Flyers, 7 p.m. 15. NJ.com - Steve Mason sums up Flyers' bad night: 'The best that we played

when was I was on the bench'

Randy Miller

SUNRISE, Fla. — Sitting there on the Flyers bench watching his teammates finally showing real fight, Flyers goalie Steve Mason had to be wondering if he's become a jinx. His teammates had a lot of struggles playing in front of him during his slow start, then after his four-game benching to iron out issues in practice, nothing changed during his return Saturday night.

By night's end, Mason was bewildered with this 2-1 Flyers loss to an improved Florida Panthers squad that has a very stingy defense and elite goalie but played without five injured/sick forwards. "The best that we played was when I was on the bench," said Mason, now is 0-4-1 in six starts this season. "We had three and a half minutes in their zone." With the Flyers down 2-0 with 3:31 to go, Mason was pulled for an extra attacker. That's when the Flyers, sleepwalkers in the first period and not a whole lot better in the second, woke up to put all kinds of pressure on Panthers netminder Roberto Luongo. The Flyers got a shutout-breaking goal by Vincent Lecavalier with 7.4 seconds to go, but there wasn't enough time from there to get the equalizer. Mason stopped two breakaways and made a bunch of other brilliant saves, allowing just two goals in which he was screened. "He played really well," right wing Wayne Simmonds said. "He made some huge saves for us. Kept us in the game early." The Flyers had some late magic when backup goalie Ray Emery was in net this season. They didn't this time, and thus most of the Flyers seemed pretty down after a loss that sent them home 0-2 during their Tampa/South Florida roadtrip. They got to the sunshine state with a winning record, but go home 4-5-2. "We didn't play the right way at the start and it cost us the game," Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. Right wing Jakub Voracek credited the Panthers for "playing very good defensive hockey," but others were angry about coming out very flat and allowing the opening goal for the ninth time in 11 games. "They were skating," Simmonds said of Florida. "I don't think we didn't really find our legs for a little bit. Obviously that hurt. That's what happens." It happened against a team that filled its four forward lines by calling up two players from the minors and using a defenseman as a left wing. "The difference between an AHL guy and an NHL guy, sometimes it's not always the skill," Simmonds said. "It's how hard you work. When you got guys coming up from the AHL they're gonna work as hard as they possibly can. They're on a tryout, kinda. They played well."

The Flyers didn't. They were outworked for a lot of the night. "We knew we wanted to have a good start and not give them any life and hope and be all over them right away," defenseman Mark Streit said. "We just didn't execute. For us, it's always the same thing. It's about skating, moving and we just didn't skate enough. "They played well. We have to give them credit, but that doesn't mean we played a good game. We didn't play well. We didn't play good enough." 16. HockeyBuzz.com - Meltzer's Musings: Dark Skies in Sunshine State,

Phantoms, Growing Pains

Bill Meltzer

For the second straight autumn, the Flyers headed into a two-game Florida road trip playing winning hockey. For the second straight autumn, Philly exited the Sunshine State with a pair of regulation losses. Struggling in the Tampa Bay half of the trip is understandable, because the Lightning have built themselves into one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. While the Florida Panthers are a young and hard-working team that is playing strong team defense and getting excellent goaltending from veteran star Roberto Luongo, it is still a team the Flyers ought to be able to handle a lot better than they did in last night's 2-1 loss in Sunrise. The Panthers have done an excellent job of winning low-scoring games this season. In seven of the team's nine games played to date, neither the Panthers nor their opponent has scored more than two goals in regulation. Nevertheless, the club was playing severely shorthanded last night and had virtually no scoring threats available with Aleksander Barkov, Sean Bergenheim, Brandon Pirri and Jonathan Huberdeau all out of lineup. The Panthers generated strong puck support and worked very hard. In fact, for the first 30 minutes of regulation, Florida's depleted lineup won the majority of puck battles. The Flyers generated an anemic 11 shots (four by Michael Raffl) through the midway point of the game.

Philadelphia's puck pursuit -- or lack thereof -- for the first half of the game was alarming. It's one thing to play a containment game against a team like Chicago, Los Angeles or Boston, where your main concern is keeping their dangerous attackers to the perimeter. It's quite another get hemmed into your own zone by the Florida Panthers, especially when the Cats were minus most of their better forwards. Over the second half of the game, lack of attack time and shots were not a problem for the Flyers. In the third period especially, Philadelphia fired lots of rubber on Luongo's net to finish the game with 37 shots. Even so, there were few second-chance opportunities or opportunities from the slots. Florida played the containment game better than the Flyers did. The other disturbing trend in this road trip was the abject failure of the Flyers special teams. In Sunrise, they went 0-for-6 on the power play including a failed 5-on-3 in the third period. Even worse, Florida generated numerous shorthanded scoring opportunities, including a three-shot rapid fire barrage on the doorstep of the Philadelphia net. Meanwhile, the Flyers went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill and the one failed kill provided Florida with what proved to be a very valuable insurance goal in the third period. Steve Mason played a strong game in his return to the net for the Flyers. In reality, though, I don't think he was playing all that badly before this game. His issue was more a team defense problem in front of him than it was an issue of faulty mechanics. Last night, Mason authored his share of tough saves to buy the team time to get going offensively but the goal support just wasn't there. Florida's first goal, scored by defenseman Willie Mitchell at 9:07 of the first period, was shot through a three-player screen (including Philadelphia defenseman Nicklas Grossmann) in front of the net. The puck may have deflected slightly off Grossmann in front. While Mason took blame on himself after the game, saying he needed to track that shot better, there's a reason why teams preach getting traffic to the net. Jussi Jokinen and Brad Boyes received the assists on the goal. The 1-0 score held through the second period and numerous failed Philadelphia power plays until Florida went on the man advantage in the final six minutes of the third period. At the 15:38 mark, highly touted rookie defenseman Aaron Ekblad blasted home a slapshot through heavy traffic in front to extend the Florida lead to 2-0. Brian Campbell and Jimmy Hayes were credited with the assists. Philadelphia pulled Mason for an extra attacker with over three minutes left in the game. The remainder of the game was spent almost entirely in the Florida end of the ice. Luongo stonewalled the Flyers until Vincent Lecavalier scored an otherwise meaningless goal with 7.4 seconds remaining to break up the shutout bid. Jakub Voracek received the primary assist on the Lecavalier goal, registering his 16th point of the season. Voracek has at least one point in 10 of the team's 11 games

to date. Wayne Simmonds got the secondary assist. The goal was reviewed in Toronto's Situation Room before being officially allowed to stand. With Lecavalier returning to the lineup after a seven-game absence, Flyers coach Craig Berube shuffled three of his line combinations at even strength. Lecavalier centered R.J. Umberger and Simmonds. Brayden Schenn played left wing on a line with Sean Couturier and the offensively scuffling Matt Read. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare returned to the fourth line with Zac Rinaldo and Chris VandeVelde. Newly signed defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo might be ready to make his Flyers debut on Tuesday night, when the Flyers host Edmonton. Brandon Manning skated 9:21 of ice time as the Flyers' sixth defenseman last night. Manning will remain with the team as the seventh defenseman for the time being while Braydon Coburn (left foot) and Andrew MacDonald (lower body) are still on the mend. ************* QUICK HITS: NOVEMBER 2 * The Real Time Scoring in Sunrise last night was hideously inaccurate for the first two periods. Was there even a complete crew working? Through two periods, neither team was charged with a single giveaway (the Flyers ended up with three and Florida finished without an official turnover). There is no way that reflected reality. Meanwhile, the two teams were credited with only a combined seven blocked shots through two periods until Florida got credited for eight blocks in the third period. That was also inaccurate. For instance, Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann clearly blocked two shots during the Flyers first penalty kill -- including one he painfully took off his foot that got replayed twice on the Flyers' telecast -- yet he wasn't credited with any blocks for the night. The faceoff tracking was also faulty at times in the game. There were at least three faceoffs where the Flyers got possession after Claude Giroux took the draw but the Philadelphia center was charged with a loss. Officially, Giroux finished the game 11-for-24 on faceoffs. * Shayne Gostisbehere, a native of Margate, FL, remained with the team in Sunrise in order to see his family members and friends who attended the game. He will return to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this week. * The recent play of Michael Del Zotto, including last night, has been a bright spot for Berube's team. The player's once-sagging confidence seems to be restored. Last night, he logged 23:55 of generally strong ice time and played well without the puck

as well as having several shifts where he made excellent plays to lead or join the play offensively. * Flyers defenseman Luke Schenn celebrates his 25th birthday today. * Flyers Alumni with October 2 birthdays: goaltender Cal Heeter (26), Martin Grenier (34) and former captain Jason Smith (41). * Today in Flyers History: On Nov. 2, 1975, the Stanley Cup champion Flyers brutalized the woeful Kansas City Scouts (the ancestor of the current New Jersey Devils) by a 10-0 score at the Spectrum. On that night, Philadelphia netminder Wayne Stephenson stayed alert enough to record a 19-save shutout while the Flyers compiled a 51-19 shot disparity on the night. Scouts goaltender Bill McKenzie made 41 saves while getting strafed for 10 goals. The Flyers got two-goal games from Bobby Clarke, Orest Kindrachuk and Mel Bridgman while Ross Lonsberry, Dave Schultz, Terry Crisp and Gary Dornhoefer chipped in one goal apiece. In total, 12 different Flyers recorded at least one point in the game. ************** PHANTOMS DROP 4-2 DECISION ON HOME ICE The Lehigh Valley Phantoms suffered a 4-2 regulation loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack at the PPL Center on Saturday night to fall to 4-3-1 on the young season. The game was tied at 1-1 after two evenly played periods before things fell apart for Terry Murray's club in the final stanza. Phantoms forward Kevin Goumas scored on the game's first shift, getting open near the net and converting a behind-the-net centering feed from Darroll Powe at the 28-second mark. Brandon Alderson earned the second assist. Oscar Lindberg tied the game at 4:35 of the second period. The Phantoms line rush coverage broke down and Jesper Fast made an outstanding pass to Lindberg, who made no mistake in beating Rob Zepp (27 saves on 31 shots). In the third period, former Flyers and Phantoms forward Ryan Potulny put the Wolf Pack ahead to stay at the 2:03 mark. Potulny then set up a Justin Vaive goal at 13:12 as Hartford open up a 3-1 lead. The lead grew to three goals a little over a minute later on a Chris Bourque goal. Similar to the Flyers' game in Sunrise, the Phantoms scored a meaningless late goal to narrow the final margin of defeat. With 2:21 left in the game, Nick Cousins scored

his third goal and 10th point of the season. Petr Straka (returning to the lineup after a two-game absence due to a minor knee injury) and ECHL callup defenseman Brett Flemming got credit for the assists. The Phantoms played this game severely shorthanded on their blueline. Mark Alt (shoulder injury), Brandon Manning (NHL recall) and Shayne Gostisbehere (not yet with team following AHL reassignment) were all unavailable. So, too, was Steven Delisle, who was a late scratch before the game. As a result, the Phantoms had to dress just five defensemen for the game. ************** GROWING PAINS FOR FLYERS DEFENSE PROSPECTS A big part of the process of developing young defensemen is exhibiting patience and keeping in mind that it's a multi-year process that is going to inevitably have bumps in the road during each lengthy season. In the early weeks of the 2014-15 season, many of the Flyers top defense prospects were dominating in their respective leagues. Of late, there have been injuries and slumps. On the injury front, 2013 first-round pick Samuel Morin (who was in Philadelphia last week meeting with Flyers' team doctors) is still mending from a broken jaw suffered in the third period of a Rimouski Oceanic (QMJHL) game on Oct. 12. He was still on a liquid diet but said he was otherwise doing OK. Morin will still need a few weeks before he can make his return to the Rimouski lineup. Additionally, Phantoms second-year defenseman Mark Alt will miss approximately a month with a shoulder injury sustained in an AHL game last week. He had been played good hockey for Lehigh Valley prior to the injury. With the aforementioned depletion of the Phantoms' blueline corps, a very heavy burden has fallen on rookie defenseman Robert Hägg to absorb heavy ice time and play against other teams' top lines line while also playing on the power play and trying to generate offense. He has struggled of late. In his first five games of the regular season, Hägg racked up five points (one goal, four assists) and was even in the plus-minus department. Over the last three games, he is pointless and minus-five. That includes a minus-three last night against Hartford. However, the Flyers' 2013 second-round pick came close to scoring a tying goal when the score was 2-1 in the Wolf Pack's favor in the third period. Over in the Western Hockey League, Flyers 2014 first-round pick Travis Sanheim blasted out of the gates with six goals and 11 points in his first 10 games of the

season for the Calgary Hitmen. Sanheim, who was selected for Team WHL in the upcoming Subway Super Series, compiled a plus-seven rating in that span. Of late, the Hitmen have struggled as a team and Sanheim has been guilty of trying to force the play at times. In his last five games, including last night's 2-1 loss to Moose Jaw, Sanheim is minus-four with one assist. It would be nice if player development was always a steady upward arrow and there were never any stumbles or injuries. Unfortunately, that's not the reality. Always keep the long-term in mind and remember: 1) The reason these players are prospects and not already NHL regulars is that they still need to gain experience, strength and greater consistency, 2) It is important for injured players not to be rushed back to the lineup too soon, and 3) every season has its ups and downs and even the very best players have some stretches where things don't go their way. That's the nature of hockey. Shayne Gostisbehere seems to realize these things very clearly. The reason why the Flyers limited his minutes and told him to keep the game as simple as possible during his two-game first NHL recall was that he is still in a developmental cycle in adapting to the pro game without the puck. Defensively, he gives up a lot of size and he is learning how to adapt to it. Terry Murray said it best about Gostisbehere: The organization wants him to develop into the type of defenseman who can pull down 20-plus minutes of ice time per game. He's already NHL caliber in the two minutes of 20 where he is able either to carry the puck or jump into the attack. It's the other 18 minutes per game -- playing without the puck, making split-second decisions, battling in the trenches against bigger and stronger players -- that the player is working on refining. There is plenty of reason for optimism that Gostisbehere and the others will eventually reach the destination the Flyers have in mind for them -- the NHL starting lineup -- but there is a process that has to be followed first. Things won't always go easily or smoothly. In Gostisbehere's case, the player did some good things in the limited minutes he played in his two games with the big club. He also got a learning experience of just how tough it is to play defense in the NHL. Apart from his talent, Gostisbehere has both mental maturity and work ethic on his side. 17. PhiladelphiaFlyers.com - OTF: Ghost to Lehigh Valley

PhiladelphiaFlyers.com Staff

NOV. 1 5:52 p.m. GOSTISBEHERE RETURNED Flyers GM Ron Hextall announced an hour before warmups of the Flyers-Panthers game that the team has loaned defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, today. Gostisbehere was recalled on Oct. 24 after injuries to Braydon Coburn and Andrew MacDonald were announced. The 21-year-old made his NHL debut in the team's 4-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 25. In total, he appeared in two games and averaged 12:33 of ice-time with two shots on goal. 3:39 p.m. MASON IN; VINNY’S BACK Flyers head coach Craig Berube announced that Steve Mason will be between the pipes tonight as the Flyers complete their Florida swing against the Panthers. Mason will be in net for the first time since Oct. 21 against Chicago when he faced 43 shots, stopping 39 of them, to take a 4-0 loss to the Blackhawks. Berube also stated that Vincent Lecavalier will return to action tonight. He missed the last seven games due to a lower-body injury. Prior to that, Lecavalier posted a goal and two assists in the first three games of the season, two of which have come on the power-play. “He’s a very good offensive player. We all know that,” said Berube. “He’s a threat out there with the puck.” Newly acquired defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo (pronounced Koh-lee AHK uh voh) practiced with the team on Friday, but self-admittedly won’t be ready for game action tonight and will be targeting next week when the Flyers open up a four-game home stand. Defenseman Brandon Manning, who was recalled from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Wednesday, will play his second straight game after appearing in 20 shifts for just over 14 minutes of ice-time and recorded an assist in the Flyers’ 4-3 loss at Tampa Bay. The game will be broadcast on TCN tonight beginning at 7 p.m. while radio listeners can tune into 93.3 WMMR.

18. TSN.ca - Luongo solid in net as Panthers edge Flyers

The Canadian Press SUNRISE, Fla. - Roberto Luongo played a big role in Saturday night's perfect performance for Florida's penalty killers. Luongo made 36 saves and rookie Aaron Ekblad scored his first NHL goal, leading the Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Captain Willie Mitchell also scored for Florida, which has won three of four. The Panthers killed off each of Philadelphia's six power plays. "Louie has been outstanding for us all year and again tonight he was real key at key times, especially on penalty kill," coach Gerard Gallant said. "He was awesome." Luongo has stopped 107 of his last 111 shots, and the Panthers have picked up points in their last six games since a 1-0 loss to Ottawa on Oct. 13. "I?feel pretty good. The puck is hitting me," Luongo said. "Guys are playing hard and putting pressure on the players, not giving them time and space, which allows me to do my job a lot easier than in normal circumstances." Vincent Lecavalier spoiled Luongo's bid for his second shutout of the season when he scored in traffic with 7.4 seconds left. Ekblad, the Panthers' top pick in this year's draft, converted a power-play slap shot from just inside the blue line, beating Philadelphia goalie Steve Mason on the short side at 15:38 of the third. "Extreme thrill," the 18-year-old Ekblad said. "Obviously, feelings that I felt in junior with my first goal and feeling it again here, it's unbelievable. It's special." Mason, who is 0-4-1 in his last five starts, made 28 saves. Luongo faced his stiffest challenge with Jussi Jokinen (hooking) and Mitchell (delay of game) in the box, putting the Panthers at a 5-on-3 disadvantage for just over a minute in the third period.

"There is no room for excuses in this league. You just have to do whatever it takes to put the puck in back of the net and we didn't do that tonight," Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds said. "We've had opportunities, but we're just not scoring. We just have to go back and look at the video and take it from there." Florida gave another blue-collar effort against the Flyers, who had won four of five and collected 15 goals in that stretch. The injury-riddled Panthers were playing without several key forwards, including Brandon Pirri and Dave Bolland. "I?thought the guys who came into the lineup played real well and competed," Gallant said. "The first 30 minutes I thought was excellent and after that we ran into penalty trouble and it took some momentum away from us." Mitchell took a feed from Jokinen behind the net and fired a one-timer from the point past Mason to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead 9:07 into the game. It was the first goal of the season for Mitchell, who signed with Florida on July 1 after spending the previous three seasons with Los Angeles. The defenceman's shot went between Mason's legs. "Yes, I won't lie. I feel really good," Mitchell said. "For me it's playing against the top players and trying to shut them down with a good stick, playing good defence. That's as good a feeling as scoring a goal." It was Mason's first start since he lost 4-0 to Chicago on Oct. 21. "Wins are not coming right now on the personal front but you just have to keep working and stay positive," Mason said. "I was happy for the most part with my game tonight but when the goalie at the other end plays pretty much a perfect game, it's tough to come out on the winning side." NOTES: The Panthers' victory was only their second in the last eight games against Philadelphia in Sunrise. ... The Flyers also suffered their second loss in Florida in the past three days, dropping a 4-3 decision to Tampa Bay on Thursday. ... Florida has allowed only 17 non-shootout goals this season. ... Philadelphia is 1 for 19 with the man advantage over their last six games. ... Panthers D Rocco Grimaldi made his NHL debut, logging 6:11 of ice time. ... Jokinen's assist on Mitchell's goal was his fifth in the past four games. 19. NHL.com - Ekblad's first NHL goal helps Panthers edge Flyers

Alain Poupart

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Outside a happy Florida Panthers dressing room, coach Gerard Gallant joked Saturday night that Aaron Ekblad saved his spot in the NHL with his game-winning goal against the Philadelphia Flyers. "We had to make a decision; if he didn't score tonight, he was probably going to go back tomorrow," Gallant said with a smile after the Panthers' 2-1 victory at BB&T Center. "With the winning goal we're going to keep him. We decided we're going to keep him." The decision to keep Ekblad, the first overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, after his ninth game instead of returning him to his junior team seemed a foregone conclusion with the rookie defenseman's strong start. Ekblad punctuated it with his power-play goal, which gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead late in the third period. "Extreme thrill," Ekblad said of his goal. "Obviously, feelings that I felt in junior with my first goal and feeling it again here, it's unbelievable. It's special. A lot of people have really helped me get to this point, a lot of support from here, the guys on the team. Obviously you owe that win to a lot more than just that. ... It's a team effort. It's a group effort. And I'm pretty happy and satisfied with that win." The Panthers played Saturday without five of their regular forwards. Defensemen took care of the offense, with veteran Willie Mitchell opening the scoring in the first period. Florida goalie Roberto Luongo did his part, making 36 saves and coming within 7.4 seconds of his second shutout of the season. "The same as last game pretty much," Luongo said, referring to the Panthers' 2-1 victory against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday. "We battled hard. There were a lot of battles in front of the net, which is important against a team like Philly. They've got some big guys creating havoc in front there, and I thought we did a great job of boxing out, taking sticks, all that kind of stuff. And [Ekblad] scored a big power-play goal for us to give us a two-goal lead." Vincent Lecavalier, back from a seven-game absence because of an ankle injury, scored the Flyers goal. Steve Mason made 28 saves for the Flyers. He does not have a win (0-4-1) this season, although he improved on his 3.83 goals-against average. "Wins are not coming right now on the personal front, but you just have to keep working and stay positive," Mason said. "I was happy with the way my game went for the most part, but when the goalie at the other end plays pretty much a perfect game, it's tough to come out on the winning side."

Philadelphia was 0-for-6 on the power play, making the Flyers 1-for-19 over their past six games. The Flyers dropped both games on their two-game road trip in the state of Florida. They had a three-game winning streak snapped in a 4-3 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. "It just seemed like (the Panthers) were quicker," defenseman Mark Streit said. "We just didn't execute. We didn't want to give them any life or hope and get after them right away, but that just didn't happen. "Our play is just not good enough. We hung in there, we had a few chances at the end, but it's still very disappointing to lose that game tonight." The Panthers have earned at least a point in each of their past six games (4-0-2). The win Saturday gave them consecutive victories for the first time this season. Florida is 4-2-3 despite averaging 1.56 goals per game. Six of the Panthers' nine games have ended in scores of 1-0 or 2-1. "I think the guys are starting to realize we've got a pretty good team in here," Luongo said. "You could see it every game that we have that confidence, that even though we're not blowing teams out, we're finding ways to win. That's key, especially at the beginning of the season. You want to establish something right away so you can build something off of it and keep getting better every day." Because of their injury problems at forward - Dave Bolland has missed the past five games with a lower-body injury; Brandon Pirri, Sean Bergenheim and Aleksander Barkov all were injured in the victory against Arizona; and Jonathan Huberdeau was a late scratch because of illness - defenseman Colby Robak was used up front in his first appearance of the season. He played on a line with Rocco Grimaldi and Vincent Trocheck, who made their season debuts after being recalled Friday from the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League. "We're real happy," Gallant said. "We talked about it before the game -- you don't worry about who's not in your lineup, you worry about who's in the lineup. I thought the guys that came in the lineup played real well and competed. Our team played real well." Luongo improved to 4-0-1 in his past six starts, with only seven goals allowed. The streak started with a 1-0 victory against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 17. Against the Flyers, Luongo made several big saves on redirections. His best stops came against forwards Michael Raffl and Matt Read in the first period and against defenseman Luke Schnenn in the second. Luongo also made a nice blocker save on a wrist shot by Claude Giroux in the second period.

Philadelphia had a 5-on-3 advantage for 32 seconds midway through the third period, but Luongo came up big again. His best save during the Flyers' two-man advantage came on a one-timer from Lecavalier. "I feel pretty good," Luongo said. "The puck is hitting me. You just want to keep it going when these kind of things are happening. Guys are playing hard and putting pressure on the players, not giving them time and space, which allows me to do my job a lot easier than in normal circumstances. I wouldn't be playing this well if it wasn't for the guys in front of me. We've just got to keep it going." Mitchell, who signed as a free agent July 1 and was named Panthers captain before the start of the regular season, scored his first goal with Florida. He beat Mason with a shot from the left point that bounced in off the far post with a couple of players in front of the Flyers goaltender. It was Mitchell's first goal since Jan. 20, 2014, against the Boston Bruins when he was playing for the Los Angeles Kings. "Willie is a guy that can play both ways," Gallant said. "We don't give him enough credit for some of his offense. He moves the puck real well. He's a veteran guy and he shoots the puck well. The back end scored two goals for us tonight, it's real big." Ekblad made it 2-0 at 15:38 of the third with a power-play goal. Like Mitchell, he beat Mason with a shot from the point through traffic. "Yeah, it's awesome," Mitchell said. "He just gets it, I guess you could say. He's 18 years old, but he's so respectful of his peers, the game, approaches it the right away but also wants to make a difference every time he's out there. I've seen that shot in practice actually a few times working on it. He's got a quick release with his stick and got rewarded." An even bigger reward came for Ekblad after the game. NHL Articles

1. TSN.ca - Reimer shines as Maple Leafs beat Blackhawks

The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Usually able to block out crowd noise or ignore it, James Reimer heard the fans loud and clear. With 61 seconds left, they were chanting his name after he made his 43rd save of the night. Reimer stopped two more in the final minute to get to 26 in the third period alone and 45 overall as he backstopped the Toronto Maple Leafs to an impressive 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night at Air Canada Centre. "He was first star, simple as that," coach Randy Carlyle said of Reimer. "They had some point-blank chances and he stood tall to the task." This, the Leafs' third straight win, had them feeling good after two strong periods against one of the NHL's most intimidating opponents and one in which they leaned heavily on Reimer. "We know they're obviously a powerhouse team in this league," said centre Peter Holland, who scored the game-winning goal 2:21 into the third period. "You've got to give them a good game if you want to stay in it. I thought we got away from it in the third period a little bit, they started shelling our goalie, but he was there to back us up." Reimer gave up a pair of power-play goals, one in each of the first two periods to Brad Richards and Brent Seabrook. The Leafs (6-4-1) got goals from Nazem Kadri and James van Riemsdyk, and from there Reimer shut the door. Seemingly at his best under siege in the third period, Reimer made sprawling saves on the penalty kill at one point after a shot hit the cross-bar and was stellar amid a flurry of activity in the crease later. Reimer kept telling himself to relax. "It's one of those things where obviously the tendency is to get really hyped up and try and work too hard or over-work," he said. "The thing is just to stay calm and stay in peace but still keep that competitiveness up to try and fight through the traffic." After keeping things fairly even for the first two periods, the Leafs were outshot 26-7 in the third. On the edge of losing the lead, Reimer was rolling. "His composure's the biggest thing of why he's able to handle that workload and the pressure that's put on him," Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf said. "He was a difference-maker for us tonight, and I can't say enough good things about the way that he played. Right from the drop of the puck he kept us in the game. We did a lot of good things, too, but when we needed him he was there." Chicago coach Joel Quenneville thought the third period was one of his team's best of the season so far. He agreed with Phaneuf that Reimer was the difference. "Had the chances, opportunities, missed a lot of tip shots, as well," Quenneville said.

"You play like that you'll find a way to score goals." In goaltender Corey Crawford's first start since Oct. 18 after being out with an upper-body injury, the Blackhawks (6-4-1) lost for the fourth time in six games. "You don't win, obviously there's cause for concern," winger Patrick Kane said. "Try to regroup here, we've got a big one tomorrow obviously going home playing Winnipeg, a division game, hopefully our fans give us a little bit of a boost and we can regroup." While the Blackhawks return home to face the Jets, the Leafs will take a day off before travelling west for a two-game road trip against the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche. Having won three in a row, the Leafs are feeling much different than they were a week ago after a humiliating performance at home against the Boston Bruins. "We couldn't continue to go the way we were going, and our performance against Boston was one where in our minds and in their minds was unacceptable," Carlyle said. The Leafs took care of business against the lowly Buffalo Sabres and then beat the banged-up Columbus Blue Jackets. Saturday night was a major test with the Blackhawks in town, and they were up to the challenge. "For us to play that well against a team that good at the end of a back-to-back, I think it shows a lot about the character and the commitment we have in our room right now," Reimer said. In addition to Reimer's brilliance, the Leafs needed timely offence. Van Riemsdyk's goal was the 100th of his career and 100th point with the Leafs and came in his first-ever game against brother Trevor, a rookie defenceman for the Blackhawks. Holland's goal was his first of the season but fourth in four career games against Chicago. "I seem to be a bit of a Blackhawk killer," Holland said. "I don't know. Just try and elevate your game against good teams." Notes — Before the game Carlyle said Joffrey Lupul will miss three weeks with a broken bone in his right hand. Lupul's injured hand will remain in a cast for at least 10 days before he can put a glove on it again. ...Sam Carrick was summoned from the AHL's Toronto Marlies to replace Lupul in the lineup and had 4:15 of icetime. ... Blackhawks defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson took a puck to the face in the second period. Hjalmarsson, who does not wear a protective visor was cut just below his left eye and left the ice in distress. Hjalmarsson returned at the start of the third

period wearing a visor. ... "O Canada" was performed by 19-year-old Carley Allison, a survivor of trachea cancer who is currently battling double lung cancer. ... During the second period, PA announcer Andy Frost offered the team's well-wishes to Gordie Howe, who's recovering from a serious stroke. Arena video boards featured the message: "Stay Strong Mr. Hockey." 2. TSN.ca - Fraser scores twice for Bruins in win over Senators

The Canadian Press

BOSTON - A last-minute addition to Boston's lineup, Matt Fraser went from no goals this season to two on consecutive shifts in the second period. Fraser scored twice in a span of 1 minute, 28 seconds, and the Bruins held on for a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night. "You try and prepare the same way as if you were playing every night, but when it comes down to it, mentally it's almost easier when they tell you just after warmups that you're going," said Fraser, a healthy scratch in Boston's previous five games. Fraser, who didn't know he was playing until centre David Krejci was scratched with an undisclosed injury, came through with the first multipoint game of his career. Fraser broke a 1-all tie on a one-timer off a rebound with 8:46 left in the second, then scored again on his next shift. His second came on a high wrist shot over Ottawa goalie Robin Lehner's glove. "I don't know if the net looked that big or if my eyes just looked that big," Fraser said. "I was glad that both pucks went in." Carl Soderberg assisted on both of Fraser's goals and Tuukka Rask made 28 saves for the Bruins, who have won three of four. They had one of their most solid games since defenceman Zdeno Chara injured his left knee Oct. 23. Rask said the Bruins just passed the puck better than they had been. "That hasn't been our strength in the past games. It's kind of been up and down," Rask said. "We need crisp passes and tape-to-tape passes because that helps us to break out and gives us the edge. Today was a good example of that."

Brad Marchand and Dennis Seidenberg also scored for Boston, which held Ottawa to five shots in the first period. The Senators felt fortunate that one got past Rask when Mark Stone scored on a breakaway with 28 seconds left in the first period. "There were stretches of the game where I thought we played well, but we never established much of a forecheck all night. They were getting out of their zone quite easily," Stone said. Mika Zibanejad added a goal for the Senators in the third, and Lehner finished with 25 saves. The Senators never recovered after Fraser's goals in the second quickly turned a 1-all tie into a 3-1 lead for Boston. Fraser had three career goals entering the game. "He certainly didn't miss his opportunity tonight," Boston coach Claude Julien said. Marchand scored the game's first goal with 1:06 left in the first. Patrice Bergeron assisted, winning a faceoff and slipping the puck behind him to Marchand for a shot that got through Lehner's pads and trickled over the goal line. The Senators answered with a late goal of their own when Stone stole the puck from Seidenberg and beat Rask on a breakaway to tie it. "Tough break on that goal there, but we didn't let that deflate us. We battled back and played a pretty solid second and third," Rask said. Seidenberg scored 2:08 into the third to give Boston a 4-1 lead. NOTES: The Bruins held a moment of silence for former Boston Mayor Tom Menino, who died Thursday. That was followed by a brief slide show that concluded with a photo of Menino at his desk with the Stanley Cup. ... After being outshot 10-5 in the first period, Ottawa outshot Boston 10-9 in the second. ... Ottawa D Eric Gryba played in his 100th career game just down the road from where he played in college at Boston University. ... It was the third straight game in which a Boston player scored twice. 3. TSN.ca - Canucks edge Oilers for fourth straight win, Hall leaves with injury

The Canadian Press

EDMONTON - Ryan Miller is now a perfect 10 against the Edmonton Oilers.

Miller made 25 saves and Derek Dorsett had a goal and an assist as the Vancouver Canucks stretched their winning streak to four games with a 3-2 victory over the Oilers on Saturday. With the win, Miller remained flawless in his career against Edmonton, improving to 10-0-0 all-time against the Oilers. The 34-year-old goalie said he is at a loss to explain why he seems to have Edmonton's number. "It's just kind of how it has worked out," Miller said. "When I was out east you would face teams like them maybe every other year and a lot of the games they were on a long trip coming into our building. It's just one of the anomalies of the game. I prepare the same for any team. Every game has been close this season, it's just been a matter of having that last little push at the end for us." Dorsett's goal was a special one for the former New York Ranger. "Every goal is important, but it was exciting to get my first goal as a Canuck," he said. "It just so happened to be the winner and shorthanded as well, which made it that much better." Luca Sbisa and Linden Vey also scored for the Canucks, who improved to 8-3-0 on a night their top line was held off the scoresheet. "The Sedin line, they carried us a lot on the first few games of the year and I think we are starting to get some offensive play from all four lines now," Dorsett said. "We have said since training camp that we wanted to be a four-line team. If we can do that night in and night out, it will win us a lot of games." Jordan Eberle and David Perron replied for the Oilers (4-6-1), who have lost two in a row and remain winless against Western Conference opposition this season with a record of 0-6-1. Vancouver's winning goal was scored shorthanded by Dorsett after a big giveaway by Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens, who wasn't shirking blame after the game. "I made a bad play, that's about it," he said. "It's unbelievably frustrating. To make a play that cost your team the game is unbelievably frustrating. You have to try not to make those." Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins said that Scrivens has been a stalwart for the team of late and doesn't deserve to be the only one feeling bad about the loss. "It's the nature of the game, the nature of the beast, we're all going to stand here and blame it on Ben, but how many people are going to stand up and say 'Holy crap,

right after that he kept us in the game,'" he said. "He made an unbelievable save, five minutes later he makes another huge save to keep us in the game. I'm certainly not going to stand here and crucify the guy. It's easy to stand back and point fingers, but that kid kept us in that game and a lot of key points and was a huge part of us coming out of the hole when we hadn't won. He'll bounce back, he made a mistake, he's owned up to it. He kept us in the game with some massive saves. I'm very cautious to pin the whole game on him." Edmonton started the scoring 13 minutes into the first period as a reward after sustained pressure from the opening face-off as Taylor Hall fed it to Eberle, who deked Miller before tucking in his third goal of the season on the backhand. The Canucks tied the game with just 47 seconds left in the opening frame as Chris Higgins cleared a rebound out of traffic in front to a pinching Sbisa, who beat Oilers starter Ben Scrivens with a slap shot. It was Higgins' 300th career NHL point. Edmonton had a potentially disastrous play occur early in the second period as Hall crashed hard into the net, left the game with a leg injury and did not return. No update was made available after the game. Hall is the Oilers's leading scorer with 10 points. "He tried to cut to the net and (Christopher Tanev) was right there," Miller said. "He is a great skater as well so it was two guys who can really fly. I think Hall thought he could get an edge on him and come in and get a shot off, but Tanner was step to step with him and gave him a little push back. "I think he misjudged the situation. I thought it was a pretty clean play. It wasn't a hold or a hook. Unfortunately it was a tough spot." Scrivens was able to keep it a tie game four minutes into the second, making a big kick save on Jannik Hansen on a Vancouver power play. There was a vicious hit with six minutes left in the second as Oilers captain Andrew Ference sent Zack Kassian flying with a high body check that earned him a penalty. "I didn't see it live. The league might look at it," said Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins. "I don't know if they will or not, we'll have to see what happens." Vancouver made it 2-1 with three-and-a-half minutes remaining in the third as Scrivens came across to make a big stop on Dorsett, but Vey was there to send the rebound through his legs. The Oilers, however, tied it up just over a minute later as Leon Draisaitl picked off a pass and sent it to Perron, who beat Miller up high for his first goal of the season.

Edmonton came close to taking the lead on the power play four minutes into the third as Eberle had another glorious chance on the backhand, but Miller just got a piece of his stick on it to deflect it over the net. When play resumed, the Canucks went up 3-2 on a big gaffe by Scrivens, who misplayed an attempt to send the puck up ice — sending it instead to Dorsett, who put the puck between the Oiler goalie's legs for a shorthanded goal. The Canucks return home to face the Nashville Predators on Sunday. Edmonton starts a five game road trip on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Notes: It was the third game of the season between the two teams, with Vancouver emerging victorious in the two previous meetings… The Canucks were without forward Alex Burrows, who began a three-game suspension for his hit to the head on Montreal defenceman Alexei Emelin on Thursday night. With Burrows out, Jannik Hansen moved up to play on Vancouver's second line. It was Hansen's 400th career NHL game… Vancouver's Tom Sestito, a healthy scratch for the first 10 games of the season, saw his first action of the season, while defenceman Ryan Stanton, who has missed the last seven games with a lower-body injury, was a healthy scratch… Daniel and Henrik Sedin have feasted on the Oilers in their careers, coming into the game with Daniel recording 74 points in 76 games against Edmonton and Henrik 76 points in 79 games. The Sedins and linemate Radim Vrbata combined for 13 points in the two previous games against Edmonton this season, however were kept scoreless on Saturday… Oiler defenceman Nikita Nikitin remained out with back spasms, although backup goalie Viktor Fasth returned from injury and was on the Oilers bench. 4. NHL.com - Kings' Nolan suspended two games for boarding

NHL.com Staff

NEW YORK – Los Angeles Kings forward Jordan Nolan has been suspended for two games, without pay, for boarding Detroit Red Wings forward Darren Helm during NHL Game No. 149 in Detroit on Friday, October 31, the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety announced today. The incident occurred at 3:53 of the third period. Nolan was assessed a minor penalty for boarding.

Nolan is considered a repeat offender under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, will forfeit $17,073.18. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. 5. NHL.com - Penguins' Fleury continues to roll, blanks Sabres

Wes Crosby PITTSBURGH -- Marc-Andre Fleury made 18 saves Saturday for his third shutout in four games in the Pittsburgh Penguins' 5-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Consol Energy Center. Fleury has stopped 95 of 98 shots over this stretch. Pittsburgh controlled the game throughout, allowing few scoring chances to get through to Fleury, who faced six shots in the third period. "It think it was the easiest shot-wise [of the three shutouts], physically," Fleury said. "Mentally, it's a little tougher because you're not doing anything. You're just standing there, so it's a little tougher to always stay alert, but I thought our guys played so well. They didn't give much." The Penguins have won their past four games by a combined margin of 19-3. Buffalo has been shut out in five of its first 12 games. "I just know that I've got to find a way to get this one out of my mind here in the next 15-20 minutes," Sabres defenseman Mike Weber said. "Whether it's been on the road or at home, we somehow have to find an identity to get nasty, get angry. There's not enough anger, there's not enough intensity throughout the game. "We're not a team that should be pumping the puck in and swinging by guys. We're not a team that gets the puck dumped in on us and it should be easy on their forwards to pick it up and wheel and make plays. Every man has to pick it up." Chris Kunitz scored his second goal of the game to extend Pittsburgh's lead to four 2:33 into the third while on the power play. It was Kunitz's seventh goal of the season, tying him with Sidney Crosby (three assists) for the Penguins lead. Crosby leads the NHL with 18 points, three more than Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin, Philadelphia Flyers forward Jakub Voracek and teammate Evgeni Malkin. "I thought we did a pretty good job of holding onto the puck when we had it," Crosby said. "But we just had some trouble early on getting pucks through, they got sticks

on them and blocked some shots. So, I think eventually we were able to get more through and get some power plays and capitalize on those." Malkin scored a power-play goal with 6:49 remaining. He has at least one point in each of Pittsburgh's 10 games after missing training camp because of an undisclosed injury. The Penguins' NHL-leading power play scored on three of five opportunities. Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth said he doesn't think he has every faced a power play comparable to Pittsburgh's. "They have a lot of great tools," Enroth said. "The power-play goals they scored were pretty good goals and hopefully we can take a page from their book and see how a great team plays on the power play." The puck barely exited the Buffalo zone throughout the first period, with the Penguins entering the intermission holding a 1-0 lead and 12-3 shot advantage. Kunitz opened the scoring with his sixth goal of the season 4:26 into the first. Crosby drove through defensemen Tyler Myers and Josh Gorges before sliding a shot on goal. Patric Hornqvist whacked at the rebound off of Enroth's pads and the puck jumped to Kunitz, who wristed it into the net. Buffalo recorded the game's first shot 57 seconds into the game, but went 13:06 without another. Pittsburgh added two second-period goals to take a 3-0 lead into the third period, despite the Sabres playing a more fluid style that led to nine shots. Blake Comeau extended the Penguins' lead to 2-0 with his third goal of the season 11:54 into the second. Malkin stopped by the right boards inside the blue line and slid a pass to Comeau, who was darting through the middle. Comeau sent a shot past defenseman Andre Benoit, who went to his knees and turned sideways, and Enroth's outstretched glove. Malkin earned another assist when he helped set up Hornqvist's power-play goal with 3:51 remaining in the second. Malkin found Kunitz to start a tic-tac-toe series of passes before the puck came to Hornqvist, who one-timed a shot past Enroth. The goal came after the Sabres were called for too many men on the ice, which nullified a hooking call on Crosby. Buffalo, which has scored one power-play goal this season, failed to score on four opportunities. "It's the same recipe and the same results," Sabres coach Ted Nolan said. "It's 1-0, we had a little bit of pressure in the second period, then we have a turnover and it's

[2-0], then we take a penalty and then the game's over. The confidence factor right now, if we get down by two goals, it doesn't seem like we have the will to battle back." The Penguins have killed 26 consecutive penalties. Penguins coach Mike Johnston credited Fleury with part of that success. "You have a feeling that your goaltender is in the zone, so we went back to him tonight," Johnston said. "We weren't really sure what we were going to do this week for the rotation of the goaltenders. … But he was good in Nashville [last Saturday] and he continued right through this week off the road trip, so you can't say enough about having a goaltender that will play like that. "Especially on the power-play pressure. They had a few good shots on the point that he had to find on the power play and I thought he did a really good job around the crease." 6. NHL.com - Hurricanes blank Coyotes for first win of season

Kurt Dusterberg

RALEIGH, N.C. -- In the moments after the Carolina Hurricanes' 3-0 victory against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday, there were a couple meaningful exchanges. Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward strode into the coaches' room, puck in hand, after his 22nd career shutout. He didn't dare keep it, knowing that the victory was the first for Bill Peters as an NHL coach. "I kind of apologized that it took so long to get it," Ward said after his first shutout since March 27, 2012. Peters had something for Ward as well. The veteran goaltender was the first recipient of a fireman's hat, emblazoned with the Hurricanes' logo. It will go to a standout player after each win. Ward greeted the media at his locker with a grin on his face, likely equal parts amusement and relief. "Really, you could have given it to anyone out there tonight," Ward said. "But it's an honor to wear it with pride."

After an 0-6-2 start to the season, the Hurricanes finally had something to hang their hat on. Elias Lindholm scored twice in the first period, giving Carolina a lead for just the second time this season. Jiri Tlusty had his sixth goal of the season in the second period, and Ward recaptured his touch in goal, making a half-dozen big stops among his 25 saves. Ward, who started the season 0-3-1 with a 3.95 goals-against average, turned in a performance that called to mind his best games in the NHL. After his early-season struggles, the shutout felt extra special. "Sure, you play this game trying not to get scored on," Ward said. "To be able to get a shutout is a huge bonus and it definitely feels good. But any goaltender will tell you that you can't do it without teammates. Fortunately, I was seeing the puck really well, but that was because of the way the players were playing in front of me." Lindholm opened the scoring with his first of the season at 3:57 of the first period. After providing a screen for Brett Bellemore's shot, Lindholm pounced on a loose rebound with goaltender Mike Smith sprawled on the ice. The Coyotes had 3:47 of consecutive power-play time after minor penalties to Justin Faulk and Tlusty. Arizona's power-play unit moved the puck well looking for back-door chances, but managed three shots. Lindholm pushed Carolina's lead to 2-0 at 17:22. Once again, the second-year Swede corralled a long rebound before ripping a shot through a crowded goalmouth and past Smith. "Ninety percent of the goals (come from) being around the crease, so if you want to score goals, you better be around the crease," Lindholm said. "Obviously, it's nice to have the lead and not hunting." Tlusty's goal at 15:21 of the second period gave Carolina a 3-0 lead. Smith's clearing attempt was held in at the left point by Faulk, who sent a low shot toward the net. The puck squirted free to Tlusty at the right post for an easy tap-in. Faulk earned his second assist of the game. Ward sprinkled in big stops throughout the game, fending off Shane Doan and Martin Erat in the first period before coming across the crease to stop Antoine Vermette on a 2-on-1 in the second. Ward preserved the shutout in the final minute with a low glove save off the stick of defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. "It was a good start and we stayed with it," said captain Eric Staal, whose deflection earned an assist on Tlusty's goal. "And when we did give up something, Ward was real solid."

Peters' first coaching win may have been a long time coming, but he wasn't ready to take much credit. Keeping with his style, he remained low-key about his role. Asked what it meant to have Ward deliver the game puck, he deflected a chance to bask in his first win. "I'm happy for the guys," he said. "They've worked hard. You've seen how they've worked." And as for the fireman's hat, he continued to show some perspective on the relative importance of hockey. "To me, those guys are heroes," he said. "Everybody's running from a fire and those guys are going the other way. They save lives. They're people you need. I have a lot of respect for them. I have some friends that are firemen." Arizona (3-6-1) has lost the first three games of a four-game road trip that ends Sunday against the Washington Capitals. Despite testing Ward with quality shots, the Coyotes 25-shot performance was not enough. "We got behind early," coach Dave Tippett said. "We made a couple mistakes and got behind, so we chased the game. That's happened too many times to us this year. We were taking chances, but we couldn't capitalize on them. We couldn't get ourselves back in the game."