John Tortorella benches Kevin Hayes, who leads Flyers in scoring
The Flyers' Kevin Hayes skates off the ice after an NHL game against the Capitals on Dec. 7 in Philadelphia. Credit: AP/Matt Slocum
PHILADELPHIA — Former Ranger Kevin Hayes, the Flyers’ leading scorer, was scratched by coach John Tortorella from Saturday’s game against the Rangers at Wells Fargo Arena. Hayes, who has 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) in 31 games, had been benched for the third period of the Flyers’ 2-1 win over the Devils on Thursday.
Tortorella declined to explain his decision to scratch Hayes, who signed a seven-year, $50 million contract as a free agent in 2019 and is the Flyers’ highest-paid player with an annual salary-cap hit of $7.142 million. He declined to comment to Flyers reporters at the morning skate.
Another former Ranger, defenseman Tony DeAngelo, returned to the Flyers’ lineup after being scratched for two games and missing the next three because of the death of his grandmother. Former Ranger Justin Braun originally was supposed to be scratched to make room for DeAngelo, but the Flyers went with an 11-forwards, seven-defensemen lineup. DeAngelo had a rough night, going minus-5.
The Flyers also were stunned by the abrupt decision of forward Lukas Sedlak to leave the team and return home to the Czech Republic. “I’d rather be home with my family,’’ he told reporters at the morning skate.
Former Islander Kieffer Bellows was called up from the Flyers’ Lehigh Valley farm team to replace Sedlak.
High on Goodrow
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant had said after Friday’s practice that gritty forward Barclay Goodrow, who has played the last two games on the first line with Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, doesn’t get credit for all the good things he’s done for the team in the last season-and-a-half. So Gallant was happy to highlight Goodrow’s goal and assist in Saturday’s game.
“He made some real good plays, especially on that first goal, that cross-ice pass [to Panarin],’’ Gallant said after the Rangers’ 6-3 win. “He’s making some plays and he’s a good player and he’s a character guy for us.’’
Blue notes
Gallant’s decision to start Jaroslav Halak on Saturday sets up No. 1 goaltender Igor Shesterkin (15-4-4, 2.45, .917) to play Sunday in Chicago.
Gallant reinserted LW Sammy Blais, who was scratched for Thursday’s win over Toronto, and scratched RW Julien Gauthier. D Ben Harpur played his second straight game and D Libor Hajek sat out a second straight.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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