The Flyers’ season is in full force, with four games on the slate this week beginning Monday in Montreal in the first of a back-to-back set with the Canadiens and Sabres.
Before the puck drops to start the Flyers' week, it’s time for our weekly check-in on the Flyers’ prospects playing in the AHL, overseas and at the junior and college levels.
In this edition, we feature a goalie general manager Ron Hextall is high on, another making his pro debut and head overseas to check in on a red-hot Swedish winger.
Carter Hart, G, 6-1/181, Everett (WHL)
The highlight of the week for Hart came Thursday, when the Flyers’ 2016 second-round pick was named to Team WHL for the 2016 CIBC Canada Russia Series, which begins Nov. 7 in Prince George, British Columbia. Hart will share the net with Kamloops netminder Connor Ingram, a 2016 third-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It was an up-and-down week for Hart with the Silvertips, however, the week ended with his best performance of the season in a 3-1 win over Victoria on Saturday night. The 18-year-old stopped 37 of 38 shots, making 20 saves in the third period as the Royals went full throttle in an attempt to come back. (Victoria outshot Everett, 38-13, for the game.) Hart was solid Tuesday, turning aside 21 of 23 shots in a 2-1 loss to Spokane, but was pulled after yielding two goals on five shots in the Silvertips’ 4-3 overtime loss to Kelowna on Wednesday night. It’s been a strong start of the season, though, as he’s 6-2-1 with a 2.08 goals-against average, a .919 save percentage and one shutout.
Alex Lyon, G, 6-1/201, Lehigh Valley (AHL)
The Yale product had a rough professional debut Saturday night, a 5-4 overtime loss to Hartford, but to be fair, it wasn’t a great night for the Phantoms’ defense, either. Lyon surrendered five goals on 34 shots against, but did show glimpses of promise. He faced 18 shots in the second period and stopped 16 of them. He held the fort down in the third period, allowing the Phantoms to tie the game and force overtime. As the AHL schedule ramps up, it’ll be interesting to see how Lehigh Valley head coach Scott Gordon splits time between Lyon and Anthony Stolarz. After the game, Lyon said, via Highland Park Hockey’s Tony Androckitis, about the AHL, “It’s a little bit different (than college). The mood in here after is different. In college, you only get 30 games. Every time you lose a game, you want to sit in for the next 48 hours. Obviously feel it out, get a little bit better.”
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Travis Sanheim, D, 6-4/202, Lehigh Valley (AHL)
Sanheim, another first-year pro, picked up his second assist of the season Friday night in Lehigh Valley’s 5-2 loss to the Sound Tigers, picking up a secondary helper on veteran Colin McDonald’s second-period marker. On Saturday, however, Sanheim had a bumpy performance against the Wolf Pack. With his partner, Robert Hagg, the pair combined for six penalty minutes and quite a few turnovers. Sanheim was whistled for two stick infractions, and two failed clears on one sequence led to Hagg getting caught for a cross check. Rough night.
Oskar Lindblom, LW/RW, 6-1/192, Brynäs IF (SHL)
If it appears we’re highlighting Lindblom a lot this season, it’s because we are. The 20-year-old continued his scorching start to his campaign last week with a goal and an assist. After 11 games, Lindblom is third on Brynäs IF with 10 points. Last week, Lindblom potted his fifth goal of the season in a 4-2 loss to Karlskrona on Thursday, and then added his fifth assist of the year in a season-high 17:13 during his team’s 5-3 defeat at the hands of Malmö on Saturday. Another productive week for the 2014 fifth-round pick.
Tanner Laczynski, C, 6-0/174, Ohio State (NCAA)
It’s been a pretty impressive start to Laczynski's freshman campaign with the Buckeyes. Laczynski had himself a four-point weekend against Bowling Green, racking up a goal and an assist in each of Friday and Saturday’s games, respectively. He has six points in five games with Ohio State. Laczynski is another curious story. He was eligible for the 2015 draft, but went undrafted. This past June, the Flyers plucked him in the sixth round. He impressed during the World Junior evaluation camp for Team USA in August, and is a candidate to make the team for the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship. It’ll be fun to track his development at OSU, too.
Quick hits
• It was a tough week for goalie Felix Sandstrom, who surrendered four goals in his only game last week for Brynäs IF, a 4-2 loss to Karlskrona.
• Mark Friedman picked up two assists in Bowling Green’s 5-4 loss to No. 19 Ohio State on Friday night.
• Djurgårdens IF defenseman David Bernhardt enjoyed his best week of his young SHL career, scoring his first career goal Friday in a 5-4 loss to Linkoping and picking up an assist Wednesday against in a 3-2 shootout loss to Färjestad.
• German Rubtsov had two goals and two assists in three of the Russian Knights’ games last week. He did not play last Monday. He was 42.1 percent in the faceoff circle.
• David Kase was pointless in two games last week. He had registered seven points in his previous eight games entering the week.
• Connor Bunnaman added a goal and two assists in three games last week for Kitchener. Bunnaman now has seven goals and 11 points in 10 games this season.
• It was a big week for Sarnia’s Anthony Salinitri, who had a hat trick and an assist Thursday against Peterborough and an assist the next night against Oshawa.
