FLYERS PRESEASON GAMEDAYS: FLYERS VS. ISLANDERS SPLIT SQUADS
The Philadelphia Flyers open their 2015 preseason schedule with split-squad games on Monday against the New York Islanders at the PPL Center in Allentown and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The dual games mark the first time an NHL game of any sort will be played in Allentown -- home of the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms -- as well as the Islanders' first game since relocating from Uniondale to Brooklyn.
New Flyers head coach
Dave Hakstol will coach the game in Allentown; his first game coaching at the pro level. Assistant coach
Gord Murphy is also making the trip to the Lehigh Valley.
Joe Mullen and
Ian Laperriere will be in Brooklyn.
Both games will start at 7:00 p.m. EDT. CSN Philadelphia will televise the Allentown match.
The roster of Flyers players going to Allentown contains more NHL-bound players than the crew going to Brooklyn. Number one goaltender
Steve Mason will not play in either locale, and will likely play his first preseason game on Tuesday when the Flyers host the New York Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center.
Mark Streit,
Nick Schultz, 2014 first-round pick
Travis Sanheim and Phantoms defenseman
Mark Alt are also slated to stay behind on Monday. Streit with Schultz plus Sanheim with Alt are likely to comprise two of the Flyers' three defensive pairs in the Rangers game.
Based upon the roster construction for the games, it seems as if Hakstol plans to keep together the line combinations he used in practice over the weekend.
Projected Flyers Allentown line combinations (subject to change)
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
20 R.J. Umberger - 40 Vincent Lecavalier - 89 Sam Gagner
76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Ryan White
41 Jay Rosehill - Cole Bardreau - 80 Travis Konecny
15 Michael Del Zotto - 82 Evgeni Medvedev
23 Brandon Manning - 22 Luke Schenn
43 Davis Drewiske - 79 Ivan Provorov
30 Michal Neuvirth / 67 Martin Ouellette
Projected Flyers Brooklyn line combinations (subject to change)
24 Matt Read - 14 Sean Couturier - 17 Wayne Simmonds
33 Chris Porter - 49 Scott Laughton - 10 Brayden Schenn
58 Taylor Leier - 52 Nick Cousins - 38 Aaron Palushaj
57 Derek Mathers - 70 Danick Martel - 73 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
47 Andrew MacDonald - 3 Radko Gudas
50 Samuel Morin - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
48 Robert Hägg - 62 Logan Pyett
45 Jason LaBarbera / 65 Antony Stolarz
CAMP QUICK HITS
* The Flyers played a scrimmage on Sunday morning involving members of Group A (NHL roster and roster bubble players) and Group B (rookies and Phantoms players) being mixed into two roster. VandeVelde scored the winning goal during the 3-on-3 overtime segment. The two sides played the full five minutes anyway. Earlier in the scrimmage, Read and Del Zotto also scored for their respective sides.
* The NHL has mandated that all teams play three-on-three overtime in three preseason games this year regardless of whether the score is tied at the end of regulation. For the Flyers, Tuesday's game against the Rangers will the first. Friday's "pope game" against the Islanders will the second. The final one will be Sept. 30 when the Flyers are one the road to play the New Jersey Devils.
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For every point he registers during the 2015-16 season, Flyers All-Star right winger Jakub Voracek will donate $1,000 to the multiple sclerosis charitable foundation he created in honor of his older sister, Petra, who is afflicted with the incurable and degenerative condition of the central nervous system.
Public donation and corporate contribution information, the foundation's three-fold mission statement as well as information about the direct beneficiaries of all monies contributed and distributed are available on its bilingual (Czech and English) official website
JakubVoracekFoundation.com.
In the interest of complete transparency, the Voracek Foundation site will publish its first financial resource allocations in April 2016 and subsequently follow up on a quarterly basis.
Initially, the funding allocations will be geared MS toward patients in the Czech Republic, but the founder plans over time to offer support to people in need in North America as well.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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