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Flyers Preseason Gameday: 10/1/16 vs. BOS |
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The Philadelphia Flyers, 2-2-0 thus far in preseason play, host the Boston Bruins in an exhibition game on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on the radio (97.5 FM) but there is no television broadcast.
On Friday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, the Flyers skated five forward lines and five defense pairs. Head coach Dave Hakstol was noncommittal if the team's game night four lines and three defense pairs would be selected from among the practice combinations and also declined to say whether Steve Mason or Michal Neuvirth would be in goal. Hakstol did indicate, however, that the plan was to play the starter for 60 minutes rather than splitting the game.
Last week, before the preseason schedule started, Mason indicated that he would ideally like to get about three games in before the regular season. If he and Neuvirth rotate the remaining four games, that should be sufficient work for both to be ready for the season.
Mason looked sharp in shutting out the New York Islanders at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night; his lone appearance of the week. Neuvirth played in two World Cup of Hockey preliminary round games and one round-robin game against Team Canada (Sept. 17) but is now two weeks removed from his last game action.
The Flyers' practice lines on Friday were as follows:
Travis Konecny - Sean Couturier - Jakub Voracek
Brayden Schenn - Nick Cousins - Wayne Simmonds
Chris VandeVelde - Michael Raffl - Matt Read/ Colin McDonald
Scott Laughton - Jordan Weal - Dale Weise
Taylor Leier - Boyd Gordon - Roman Lyubimov
Michael Del Zotto - Shayne Gostisbehere
Brandon Manning - Travis Sanheim
Samuel Morin - Andrew MacDonald
Ivan Provorov - Philippe Myers
Will O'Neill - Radko Gudas
Steve Mason / Michael Neuvirth
The righthanded Konecny, who played right wing in his stellar outing on Wednesday against the Devils in Allentown, indicated that he feels he actually sees the ice better on his off-wing and is entirely comfortable playing the left side if asked to do so. Although Voracek played left wing for a portion of last season and had some effective games, he's played right wing for the vast majority of his career and is more comfortable on that side.
On Friday, the Flyers placed the following players on waivers for purposes of assigning them to the American Hockey League's Lehigh Valley Phantoms: Petr Straka, Andy Miele, Chris Conner, Greg Carey and T.J. Brennan. All are expected to clear waivers.
After this game, the Flyers host the New York Rangers on Monday, play the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday and then wrap up the exhibition slate in Boston one week from tonight. The regular season starts Oct. 14 and kicks off with back-to-back road games against the LA Kings and Arizona Coyotes. According to the Flyers' broadcast on Wednesday, the team will play more back-to-back games during the 2016-17 season than any club in NHL.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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