Philadelphia Flyers prospects: Cousins honored, promoted as the Phantoms streak

Phantoms go streaking

The Phantoms headed into Providence on Friday night coming off a win in Toronto just two nights earlier. They hoped to use the momentum created north of the border to push them into the playoffs. This tilt against the Bruins saw the Phantoms lose the shot battle, but ultimately win on the stick of Scott Laughton and the pads of Robb Zepp.

Providence and Lehigh Valley both scored late in the first period, but that was all she wrote for regulation and overtime. Adam Comrie’s goal with just two ticks left on the clock in the first period tied the game for the Phantoms. The Phantoms were outshot 13-6 in the first and 10-4 in the second before evening it up at 7 in the third and 4 in overtime. Overall though they were outshot by a dozen, 34-22.

Luckily Zepp was able to stand on his head and stop 33 of the 34 shots he faced in his 67 minutes. Not only that, he stopped all three shootout attempts to give the Phantoms the two points.

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Lehigh Valley then traveled to Bridgeport to face off against the Sound Tigers on Sunday. Anthony Stolarz got the start in this one and let in two early goals before shutting the door on 38 of the 40 shots he faced overall. The Phantoms were once again outshot quite heavily, 40-25, but were able to prevail on the scoreboard.

After going down by two just less than 14 minutes into the game Nick Cousins scored in the second period before his team added three more, including an empty netter, in the third period. Both Cousins and Jason Akeson had a goal and an assist in the game to lead the team to victory.

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Shortly after the conclusion of the game it was announced that Nick Cousins was to be recalled by the Flyers for his first NHL stint. Cousins did not play the next night in Ottawa but made his NHL debut in a strong showing Tuesday night in Vancouver. He will remain with the big club for the time being

The Phantoms will see a new face join them this weekend as Cole Bardeau is slated to join the team after finishing up his collegiate career.

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The Phantoms have three more crucial games this weekend. They finish out their road trip in Hartford and Worcester before coming home to the PPL Center crowd for a Sunday evening game against the Penguins.

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Phantoms Points Leaders

Nick Cousins remains at the top with an impressive seven points in his last five games earning him AHL player of the week honors.

Brandon Manning will return to the Phantoms for the home stretch after sitting a few games in the press box in wake of the Michael Del Zotto injury. He has some work to do to keep pace with the streaking Akeson however.

Andrew Gordon has been put up surprising numbers this season. He was picked up off of the scrap heap and has turned into a potential NHL bottom-six forward.

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Prospect Points

Nicolas Aube-Kubel only has six points in his last five games including zero points in his last game. What a bust.

Radel Fazleev and Tyrell Goulbourne continue to show some promise as bottom-six forwards.

One of the newest Flyers‘ prospects Danick Martel has “slowed down” recently with only six points in his last five games. This is off of his pace of nearly two points per game.

Samuel Morin and Travis Sanheim both are showing promise as at least second pairing defensemen in the NHL. Morin’s physical attributes and Sanheim’s offensive abilities could pair well in the future.

Noted Brayden Schenn hater Travis Sanheim actually paid a visit to the Flyers along with Radel Fazleev yesterday. We’ll see how this progresses.