PRESEASON GAMEDAY: FLYERS @ ISLANDERS
The Philadelphia Flyers open their 2017 preseason slate on Sunday afternoon, as they take on the New York Islanders. Game time is 1 p.m. EDT. The game will not be televised but the game will be on the radio (97.5 FM in Philadelphia) with Tim Saunders and Steve Coates on the call. The match will be played at the Islanders' longtime home, Nassau County Coliseum in Uniondale, NY, before the team relocated to the Barclay Center in Brooklyn. The game will also be streamed on the Islanders' official website, but local access may encounter region blocks.
Below is the Flyers Gameday Roster. Note that the entire defense corps consists of young homegrown defensemen, that both Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom are making their NHL preseason debuts and that three Russian forwards (2016 first-round pick German Rubtsov, 2015 fourth-rounder Mikhail Vorobyev and 2017 training camp invitee Ivan Kosorenkov) will all be in the lineup as well as second-year NHLer Travis Konecny.
Forwards: 11 Travis Konecny 12 Michael Raffl 15 Jori Lehtera 21 Scott Laughton 24 Matt Read 42 Cole Bardreau 46 Mikhail Vorobyev 54 Oskar Lindblom 63 German Rubtsov 64 Nolan Patrick 74 Mike Vecchione 89 Ivan Kosorenkov
DEFENSEMEN: 09 Ivan Provorov 48 Robert Hagg 50 Sam Morin 53 Shayne Gostisbehere 57 Travis Sanheim 61 Philippe Myers
GOALTENDERS: 32 Leland Irving 49 Alex Lyon
ISLANDERS PLAYERS (per Islanders.NHL.com)
FORWARDS: 7 Jordan Eberle 12 Josh Bailey 13 Mathew Barzal 16 Andrew Ladd 21 Arnaud Durandeau 25 Jason Chimera 27 Anders Lee 36 Scott Eansor 45 John Stevens 52 Ross Johnston 56 Tanner Fritz 71 Michael Dal Colle 91 John Tavares
DEFENSEMEN: 2 Nick Leddy 4 Dennis Seidenberg 6 Ryan Pulock 14 Thomas Hickey 40 Kyle Burroughs 58 Mitchell Vande Sompel
GOALIES
33 Christopher Gibson 70 Kristers Gudlevskis
Likely linemates: Jordan Eberle - John Tavares - Anders Lee, Josh Bailey - Mathew Barzal - Andrew Ladd, defense pairing of Ryan Pulock - Nick Leddy.
The Flyers players who will not be making the trip to Long Island will practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ, on Sunday morning (scheduled to take the ice at 9:45 AM).
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JUNIOR AND EUROPEAN PROSPECT UPDATES
1) OHL preseason: The Flyers 2017 NHL Draft selections who were reassigned to their Ontario Hockey League teams on Friday have hit the ground running in their returns to their OHL clubs. One day after 2017 first-round pick Morgan Frost notched a goal and an assist in preseason action with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, 2017 second-rounder Isaac Ratcliffe (Guelph Storm) had a three-point game (one goal, two assists) and fourth-rounder Matthew Strome (Hamilton Bulldogs) had a regulation goal and assist.
2) Later today, Frost, Strome and fourth-round pick Maksim Sushko (Owen Sound Attack) are all back in action. The OHL regular season starts on Thursday (Sept. 21).
3) SHL: The regular season got underway on Saturday. Two of the Flyers' four prospects playing at that level were in action. Czech forward David Kase made his SHL regular season debut for Mora IK in a 3-2 OT loss to Frölunda. Kase played right wing on the second line and registered 17:41 of ice time. He made several nice plays but did not get on the scoresheet. In Jönköping, defense prospect David Bernhardt was in action as his Djurgà¥rden team dropped a 4-2 verdict to host HV71.
3) MHL: Flyers goaltending prospect Kirill Ustimenko and his MHK Dynamo St. Petersburg team suffered their first loss of the 2017-18 regular season earlier today, as they dropped a 3-1 decision to Kunlun Red Star Jnrs. Ustimenko stopped 11 of 13 shots. The final Kulun goal was an empty netter.
4) A sad note to pass along: Flyers goaltending prospect Matej Tomek's father unexpectedly passed away a few weeks ago after suffering a fatal heart attack. Condolences go out to Matej, his entire family and friends of the family. Thank you, Ondrej Fessl, for bringing this to my attention.
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FLYERS ADOPT POWERPLAY HOCKEY
The Philadelphia Flyers organization has long been admirers and advocates for the Philadelphia PowerPlay electric wheelchair floor hockey organization. Yesterday, the Flyers announced an affiliation agreement with the non-profit organization: the first of its kind between an NHL organization and a wheelchair hockey team. The team has been renamed the Philadelphia Flyers PowerPlay and will be an offshoot of the Flyers' organization itself.
To commemorate the announcement, Flyers right winger Jakub Voracek presented each of the players with their new jerseys -- identical to the Flyers' official sweaters and logo -- before the team held its first game as a branch of the Flyers.
The Philadelphia Flyers PowerPlay power wheelchair team consists of players ages 18-38 that reside in the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. The team plays under United States Electric Wheelchair Hockey Association rules. For more information, click here.