Will the Flyers, last in the NHL in goals allowed, give goalie Felix Sandstrom a look?
The 24-year-old goalie prospect has had consecutive strong starts for the AHL's Phantoms.
Phantoms goalie Felix Sandstrom is making a case to get a start or two for the Flyers as they finish their disappointing season.
Sandstrom, 24, had his second straight strong outing Wednesday as Lehigh Valley dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He stopped 32 of 34 shots.
In his previous AHL game, the 6-foot-2, 191-pound Sandstrom made 37 saves — many of them acrobatic — in a 3-2 win over Binghamton.
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The Sweden native was the Flyers’ third-round selection (70th overall) in the 2015 draft. He was the third goalie taken that year, behind Washington’s Ilya Samsonov (Round 1, 22nd overall) and New Jersey’s Mackenzie Blackwood (Round 2, 42nd overall).
Sandstrom and Samuel Ersson are the Flyers’ two best goalie prospects. Ersson, 21, a fifth-round selection in 2018, had a 2.96 GAA and .911 save percentage in the Swedish Hockey League this season. The 6-2, 176-pounder’s save percentage was tied for ninth in the league.
Kirill Ustimenko, 22, another promising goalie prospect, missed the season after having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip. He was a third-round selection in 2017.
After Thursday’s game in New Jersey, the Flyers have six games remaining: two each against the Devils, Penguins, and Capitals.
Seems like a good time to let Sandstrom get his feet wet in the NHL, especially with the news Thursday that Carter Hart’s season is over because of a knee sprain.
The Flyers have surrendered 3.53 goals per game, putting them last in the 31-team league. They finished tied for seventh (2.77 goals allowed per game) last season.
Flyers using Lyon in N.J.
The Flyers (22-20-7) will play the Devils at the Prudential Center on Thursday. They will try to rebound from Tuesday’s 6-4 loss to New Jersey, and Alex Lyon (4.23 GAA, .865 save percentage) will get the call for the Flyers.
New Jersey (15-27-7) ended a 10-game losing streak Tuesday.
Jake Voracek and Claude Giroux have been the hottest Flyers. In the last five games, Voracek has five points (goal, four assists), and Giroux has three goals.
Miles Wood has three goals and six points in the last five games for New Jersey.
For those looking ahead to the July 23-24 draft, the Flyers have the 14th-worst record in the NHL. They have a 1.5% chance to get the No. 1 overall pick in the draft lottery, and a 3.2% chance to get the No. 2 selection, according to tankathon.com.
If they don’t advance in the lottery and stay in the same position, they would get the 13th overall pick because Arizona has forfeited its first-round selection.
Prospects getting chance
Defenseman Egor Zamula on Tuesday became the fifth Flyer to make his NHL debut this season, joining Maksim Sushko, Tanner Laczynski, Wade Allison, and Jackson Cates.
Of that group, Allison has made the best impression.
“For these guys, it’s a dream come true,” center Sean Couturier said. “They worked their whole life to be up here, and they’re finally getting that opportunity. They’re doing well, playing a good, hard game. They don’t look out of place.”
Breakaways
The Flyers and Devils have the NHL’s worst two penalty-killing units. The Flyers are 30th (73.5% success rate), and New Jersey is 31st (70.2% success rate). … The Phantoms have a four-game point streak (3-0-1) and points in their nine of their last 10 games (7-1-2). ... The Flyers have a minus-37 goal differential; last year, they were plus-36. That’s a 73-goal difference.