NHL going back to old pucks; Travis Sanheim starts game on Flyers’ top defensive pairing
Concerns raised by microchipped pucks caused a change in what was used in NHL games Tuesday, including the matchup between the Flyers and Sabres.
Six days into the season, the National Hockey League announced that effective with Tuesday night’s games, the league will be using game pucks without the embedded tracking technology.
The decision was made after concerns were raised about the microchipped puck’s performance during the first few days of the 2021 season. A review by the league determined that the first supply of pucks did not receive the same precise finishing treatments during the offseason manufacturing process as last year’s playoff pucks.
“I thought a couple of times it didn’t slide as well on the ice,” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said before his team blanked visiting host Buffalo, 3-0, on Tuesday. “We didn’t know if that was the puck or the ice surface” causing the problem. ... ”I’m sure they will figure it out here; it’s early in the season. They’ll do the right thing.”
The NHL said it expects a new supply of “tracking pucks” to soon be available and, after undergoing appropriate testing, will be in use for all games. In the interim, the league will use the official game pucks from the 2019-20 season.
The tracking pucks provide additional data for fans, broadcasters, and bettors.
Tweaks to defense
Travis Sanheim started the game on the top defensive pairing, playing the right side and having Ivan Provorov as his partner. The two left-handers were together Monday for the third period of the Flyers’ 6-1 loss to Buffalo.
For most of the first three games, Provorov was with veteran Justin Braun, a righty, and Sanheim was with Phil Myers.
Braun was on the third pairing with Robert Hagg in Tuesday’s opening period, and the second pairing had the right-handed Myers with Erik Gustafsson, a left-handed shooter who said he feels more comfortable playing on the right side. He was on the left at the start of Tuesday’s game.
Myers left the game after the first period with an undisclosed injury.
Aube-Kubel fined
The NHL fined Flyers right winger Nic Aube-Kubel $4,633.62 -- the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement for his salary -- for roughing Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin late in Monday’s game. He was given a double minor for high-sticking.
Breakaways
The Flyers outhit the Sabres, 37-18. ... A year ago, the Flyers were 11-7-2 following a regulation loss. ... The Flyers completed the first of eight sets of games on back-to-back nights Tuesday. They were 6-5-2 last year in the second game of back-to-backs. ... Entering the game, the Flyer had allowed the league’s fifth-most shots per game (34.7). Last year, they allowed the fewest shots in the NHL: 28.7 per game .... Buffalo goalie Carter Hutton, the former Flyers farmhand who played Monday because Linus Ullmark missed the game because of personal reasons, got the start again on Tuesday before leaving with an injury.