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Rob Riches

Sports Editor

Articles by Rob Riches (464)

Phantoms hold off late Portland Pirates charge, win 2-1

Photo Courtesy of Nina Weiss A steady performance in goal from Jason LaBarbera on Sunday helped the Phantoms hang on to a 2-1 win against the Portland Pirates. LaBarbera turned away a season-high 37 shots — a staggering 17 of which came in the third period as the Phantoms' lead shifted from 2-0 to 2-1 […]

Rob Riches  •  03 Jan 2016
Phantoms rally, but fall to Pirates in OT

Photo: Nina Weiss/Flyerdelphia Thanks to a pair of goals in a 47-second span in the second period from Mark Alt and Aaron Palushaj on Saturday, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms were able to dig themselves out of a 3-1 hole against the Portland Pirates. They could not get the job done, however, as Kyle Rau's second […]

Rob Riches  •  02 Jan 2016
WJC Report: 3 Flyers eliminated from quarterfinals

Canada's bid for a second-consecutive gold medal and sixth in 10 years fell short on Saturday, meaning that Travis Sanheim and Travis Konecny will return to Calgary and Ottawa without gold medals. With the Czech Republic's 7-0 whitewashing at the hands of Team USA, David Kase will go home medal-less as well. Four Flyers — […]

Rob Riches  •  02 Jan 2016
WJC Report: Quarterfinal matchups are set

Seven Flyers prospects headed to Helsinki for this year's World Juniors tournament, and as the preliminary round comes to a close, all seven will be playing in this weekend's quarterfinal round. All prospects were active on Thursday, in a day that included a thrilling matchup between four Flyers prospects.

Rob Riches  •  31 Dec 2015
WJC Report: Oskar Lindblom earns 2 points

Three Flyers prospects were active in today's World Juniors action — a day that was more highlighted by USA's 10-1 laugher over Switzerland and Finland's 8-3 romp of Slovakia (on a day that saw them retire the legendary Teemu Selanne's number from international competition). Let's take a quick look at how your Future Flyers performed:

Rob Riches  •  30 Dec 2015
WJC Report: Canada, Russia advance to playoff round

The World Juniors tournament continued on Tuesday, and all but three of the Flyers' prospects were active. Some guaranteed that their tournament will extend past the end of the qualifying round on Thursday. Here's how the future Flyers fared on Tuesday:

Rob Riches  •  29 Dec 2015
Flyers place Sam Gagner on waivers

Embed from Getty Images   As Mark Streit gets set to return to the lineup, the Flyers on Tuesday placed Sam Gagner and his $3.2 million cap hit on waivers. Neither R.J. Umberger nor Nick Schultz was demoted, as speculated. Assuming no other teams pick Gagner up off the waiver wire, he will be sent to the […]

Rob Riches  •  29 Dec 2015
Will another lengthy layoff hurt the Flyers?

Photo Courtesy of Kate Frese It's safe to say that through the month of December, the Flyers were picking some momentum up.  Since Black Friday — a 3-2 win over Nashville — the Flyers went 8-2-2 and looked like a completely new team. They were spirited, they were playing a more complete game, they were […]

Rob Riches  •  29 Dec 2015
Flyers sluggish in 4-2 loss to Anaheim Ducks

A pair of Corey Perry goals — including the go-ahead goal just 58 seconds into the third period — lifted the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday to a 4-2 win over the Flyers.  Ryan Getzlaf opened the scoring for the Ducks, and snapped a 15-game goalless drought in the process. The power-play goal was his second […]

Rob Riches  •  27 Dec 2015
Jason LaBarbera earns first shutout in 3-0 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Photo Courtesy of Nina Weiss Jason LaBarbera has struggled mightily in a backup role for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for much of this season, but he was flawless on Sunday in a 3-0 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. LaBarbera's shutout did not come easy, as he turned away 35 shots from an active Penguins (21-7-0-1) […]

Rob Riches  •  27 Dec 2015