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Couturier Injury, Preseason Gameday (9/28/15) @ NYR, Prospect Updates

September 27, 2015, 7:42 PM ET [415 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
UPDATE: FLYERS LINEUP FOR SEPT. 28 PRESEASON GAME @ NYR

12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
20 R.J. Umberger - 89 Sam Gagner - 17 Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read - 40 Vincent Lecavalier - 10 Brayden Schenn
76 Chris VandeVelde - 49 Scott Laughton - 25 Ryan White

55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit
47 Andrew MacDonald - 3 Radko Gudas
23 Brandon Manning - 22 Luke Schenn

35 Steve Mason
[30 Michal Neuvirth]

Not playing: Chris Porter, Colin McDonald, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Sean Couturier (injury), Michael Del Zotto, Evgeny Medvedev.


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COUTURIER NURSING INJURY

During the latter part of the first period of Tuesday's preseason game between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers, Flyers center Sean Couturier hobbled gingerly off the ice after receiving a two-handed slash on the back of his right knee from New York's Jarret Stoll. Couturier went up the tunnel but returned to the game.

Wednesday was off-day for the Flyers. Couturier practiced on Thursday but was not in the lineup for Friday's game against the New York Islanders. He practiced with the team on Saturday.

On Sunday, Couturier briefly skated on his own before practice and then sat out the session according to the Camden Courier Post's Dave Isaac .

Couturier will be re-evaluated on Monday. The nature of the injury and whether it is directly related to the Stoll slash is undisclosed at this point. His status for the morning skate on Monday and the team's game that evening at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers is also unclear. The Flyers are slated to hold their morning skate at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ and then travel together to Manhattan for the game.

Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol told attending local media members after practice that he would not speculate on the player's status. General manager Ron Hextall would only say Couturier was "a little banged up" and would be re-evaluated on Monday.

However, based on comments Wayne Simmonds made to CSN Philly after practice, it seems as if Couturier could miss some games. The power forward said of his linemate, "When he’s ready to come back, you know what you’re going to get. I’ve played with him for awhile now and been on his line from time-to-time. He’s a player that’s easy to play with.”

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FLYERS PRESEASON GAMEDAY: SEPT. 28, 2015 @ NEW YORK RANGERS

With Sean Couturier unable to practice with the Flyers on Sunday, Dave Hakstol juggled a few forward line combinations. Per the Camden Courier Post, the revised lines were:

12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
20 R.J. Umberger - 49 Scott Laughton - 17 Wayne Simmonds
24 Matt Read - 40 Vincent Lecavalier - 10 Brayden Schenn
76 Chris VandeVelde - 25 Ryan White - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
33 Chris Porter - 89 Sam Gagner - 36 Colin McDonald

55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit
15 Michael Del Zotto - 82 Evgeny Medvedev
47 Andrew MacDonald - 3 Radko Gudas
23 Brandon Manning - 22 Luke Schenn

35 Steve Mason / 30 Michal Neuvirth

On Saturday, Hakstol indicated that priority on Monday would be given to players who had only appeared in one preseason game to date. Mason is slated to start in goal against the Rangers and go the distance. The defense pairings of Schultz with Streit and Manning with Schenn are also probable to play. A full projected lineup will be posted after Monday's morning skate.

The Rangers currently have 25 players remaining in their training camp. The roster is as follows:

Forwards (15): Derick Brassard, Emerson Etem, Jesper Fast, Tanner Glass, Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider, Oscar Lindberg, Jayson Megna, J.T. Miller, Dominic Moore, Rick Nash, Viktor Stalberg, Derek Stepan, Jarret Stoll, Mats Zuccarello.

Defensemen (8): Dan Boyle, Raphael Diaz, Dan Girardi, Kevin Klein, Ryan McDonagh, Dylan McIlrath, Marc Staal, Keith Yandle.

Goaltenders (2): Henrik Lundqvist, Antti Raanta.

Lundqvist was in goal for the Rangers for Saturday's 4-3 preseason road win over the New Jersey Devils. Raanta was last in goal for 31:19 of last Tuesday's game against the Flyers in Philadelphia.

Game time on Monday is 7:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised nationally in the U.S. on NHL Network.

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FLYERS PROSPECTS' UPCOMING SCHEDULE

The upcoming week will be a busy one for Flyers prospects at all levels of hockey. Here's a breakdown of the next seven days.

American Hockey League (AHL): Lehigh Valley Phantoms

Under the direction of new head coach Scott Gordon, the Flyers' AHL affiliate will play three preseason games over the next week.

1) Wed Sept 30 @ Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins (Pittsburgh affiliate), 7:05 p.m. ET.
2) Sat Oct 3 vs. Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers affiliate), 5:05 p.m. ET.
3) Sun Oct 4 vs. Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins, 5:05 p.m. EDT.

The Phantoms' regular season opens with an Oct. 10 home game against the Syracuse Crunch. Their second and third games are back-to-back road tilts on Oct. 16 against the Springfield Falcons (Arizona Coyotes affiliate) and an Oct. 17 late afternoon game against Wilkes Barre/Scranton.

The Flyers' ECHL affiliate, the Reading Royals, have preseason games on Oct. 9 (at Elmira) and Oct 10 (vs. Norfolk). The Royals open their 2015-16 regular season on Oct. 17.

Western Hockey League (WHL)

Travis Sanheim and Radel Fazleev (Calgary Hitmen): Friday night, Oct. 2, will be an intriguing game night from a Flyers' standpoint as the Hitmen are on the road to go head-to-head with the Brandon Wheat Kings. The following evening, the Hitmen are on the road to play the Moose Jaw Warriors. The road trip concludes on Sunday afternoon against the Regina Pats.

Ivan Provorov (Brandon Wheat Kings): After playing against Sanheim and Fazleev's club on Friday, the Flyers' 2015 first-round pick and the rest of the Wheaties are on the road to play Regina on Saturday.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)

Nicolas-Aube Kubel (Val-d'Or Foreurs): Aube's status will be reevaluated during the week. He missed Saturday's game after being knocked out of Friday's match by a blindside hit from Rimouski's Michael Joly that got the Oceanic player suspended. The Foreurs have home games upcoming on Thursday (vs. Drummondville Voltigeurs), Friday (vs. Chicoutimi Sagueneens) and Sunday afternoon (rematch with Chicoutimi).

Samuel Dove-McFalls (Saint John Sea Dogs): The Sea Dogs dropped a 4-3 regulation decision to the Acadie-Bathurst Titans on Sunday. Flyers 2015 fourth-round pick Dove-McFalls played a strong game in a losing cause, scoring his first goal of the regular season on a point-blank rebound and winning 13-of-18 faceoffs while not being out for any opposing goals. The Sea Dogs host the Gatineau Olympiques on Friday and then the Charlottetown Islanders will pay a visit to Harbour Station on Saturday evening.

Philippe Myers (Rouyn-Noranda Huskies): The visiting Huskies blew out the Shawinigan Cataractes by a 6-1 count on Sunday. Myers recorded an assist and was plus-two with a game-high seven credited hit. Rouyn-Noranda hosts Drummondville on Friday and then Chicoutimi visits on Saturday.

Ontario Hockey League

Travis Konecny (Ottawa 67's): Ottawa has been outscored by a combined 11-0 in its last two games, including a 4-0 home loss to the Barrie Colts on Sunday. Konecny had three shots on goal and was minus-two; he had two goals in the regular season opening loss and is minus-five in the team's three games to date. The 67's return to action on Friday to host the Hamilton Bulldogs. The team is then off for a week until a Friday, Oct. 9 home game against the Oshawa Generals.

Swedish Hockey League (SHL)

Oskar Lindblom and Felix Sandström (Brynäs IF Gävle): Brynäs has a road game against Linköpings HC on Thursday, followed by road game against Rögle BK Ängelholm on Saturday. It is possible that Sandström,who has started and won back-to-back games for BIF, could start at least one of these games. Power winger Lindblom, who is skating on the team's top line, has two assists and 10 shots on goal in the team's four regular season games to date.

Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) / Molodezhnaya Hokkeinaya Liga (MHL)

Mikhail Vorobyov (Tolpar Ufa, MHL): Tolpar has back-to-back home games upcoming on Friday and Saturday against Stalnye Lisy, For the season to date, Vorobyov has zero goals and four assists in eight games. He has received 12 penalty minutes, recorded 20 shots on goal and is 48.7 percent (73-for-150) on draws.

Ivan Fedotov (Reaktor Niznekamsk, MHL): The hulking goaltender selected by the Flyers in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL Draft has been on recall from MHL club Reaktor to its KHL parent club Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk over the past week. Fedotov is with the big team to serve as its backup goaltender while Finnish netminder Ville Kolppanen is out with an injury. It is unclear. Reaktor's next game is a road match against Chaika Nizhny Novgorod next Sunday. The parent KHL team has a game in Slovakia on Monday against Slovan Bratislava.

Valeri Vasiliev (Avangard Omsk, KHL): Flyers 2012 seventh-round pick Vasiliev has spent most of the season to date on loan to VHL (minor league) club Saryarka Karaganda. The 21-year-old defensive defenseman finally appeared in a KHL game last week with Avangard but received only 5:54 of ice time. He was credited with two hits. Vasliev's VHL team returns to action on Thursday with a road game against Neftyanik Almetyevsk.

Czech Extraliga

David Kase (Pirati Chomutov): The Pirates suffered a 5-2 road load to HC Olomouc on Sunday. Promoted from the fourth line to the third line, the 18-year-old Flyers 2015 fifth-round pick did not record a point, was minus-two and went 4-for-10 on faceoffs in 13:18 of ice time. For the season to date, Kase has not recorded a point in six games. He's only received significant ice time in the last two games, however. Chomutov hosts HC Karlovy Vary on Friday and then is on the road next Sunday to play HC Byli Tygri Liberec (Liberec White Tigers).

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Hockey

Mark Friedman (Bowling Green, WCHA, sophomore): The offensive-minded defenseman the Flyers chose with their 2014 third-round pick and the rest of the Falcons have a home exhibition game against the University of Toronto on Saturday. The regular seasons with a home-and-home set against Ohio on Friday, Oct. 9 (away) and the next night at home.

Cooper Marody (Michigan, Big Ten, freshman): The forward, whom the Flyers drafted in the sixth round of the 2015 NHL Draft, begins his collegiate career with a home exhibition game against University of Toronto next Sunday. The regular season starts with home games against Mercyhurst on Oct. 16 and 18.

Merrick Madsen (Harvard, ECAC, sophomore): As usual, Harvard's hockey season starts well into the fall semester. The Crimson have a home exhibition game against New Brunswick on Oct. 24. The regular season starts with a home-and-home pairing against Dartmouth on Oct. 31 (away) and Nov. 1.

Matej Tomek (North Dakota, NCHC, freshman): The Slovakian netminder's collegiate career at the program longtime head coach Dave Hakstol left earlier this year to join the Flyers gets underway with an exhibition game in Grand Forks against University of Manitoba on Saturday. The UND regular season starts with road games on Oct. 9 against Lake Superior State and Oct. 10 against the University of Maine.

David Drake (Connecticut, Hockey East, sophomore): The UConn Huskies have an exhibition game on Saturday against Queens University. The regular season starts with back-to-back road games against Alabama-Huntsville on Oct. 9 and 10.

Terrance Amorosa (Clarkson, ECAC, sophomore): The Golden Knights have a home exhibition game on Saturday against McGill. The regular season starts with back-to-back home games against Rochester Institute of Technology and Niagara University on Oct. 9 and 10.

Reece Willcox (Cornell, ECAC, senior): The Flyers' 2012 fifth-round pick starts his final year of collegiate hockey with the annual Red/White scrimmage in Ithaca on Oct.17. The regular season for the Big Red opens with Oct. 24 and 25 home games against Ryerson University and Laurentian University.
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