FLYERS POST-PRACTICE REPORT: SEPT. 29, 2015
One night after failing to protect a 2-0 third period lead in a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Rangers, the Philadelphia Flyers returned to practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ, in preparation for Wednesday's preseason game at the Wells Fargo Center against the New Jersey Devils.
The Flyers are dealing with a growing number of injured players. Sean Couturier (upper-body injury) and Michael Raffl (upper-body injury) did not practice, nor did goaltender Michal Neuvirth (undisclosed). After practice, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said Couturier and Raffl should be fine to play on opening night of the regular season and the team hopes to have at least Couturier for Friday's preseason finale in Newark.
Regarding Neuvirth, Hextall said the player simply took an extra maintenance day and should be fine to play on Wednesday.
Matt Read, who got banged up in the Rangers' game, limped off the ice early at Tuesday's practice. Afterwards, the player said he was OK and his issue was a charley horse.
Jakub Voracek, who got up slowly in the overtime period after having his skates knocked out in a collision with former Columbus teammate Rick Nash, practiced in full and seemed fine. Jason LaBarbera, who served as a last-second backup to Steve Mason on Monday after practicing with the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms in Allentown earlier in the day, practiced in Neuvirth's spot.
The most notable change in line combinations at Tuesday's practice saw Chris Porter skate in Raffl's place on the top line with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. Afterwards, Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said not to read too much into the left winger's presence on the line at practice.
"I wouldn’t overthink that too much," said Hakstol. "Raffl wasn’t available today. It’s game day tomorrow, so don’t overthink what you saw on the lines today in any way, shape or form. I think it was good to see Chris there."
On the Rangers' tying goal late in regulation of Monday's game, there were multiple breakdowns off a lost faceoff that ended with a point-blank scoring chance for a wide-open Chris Kreider. Although the outcome was undesirable under any conditions -- preseason or otherwise -- when protecting a late one-goal lead, the Flyers' coach said it at least presented a lead-in for a teaching opportunity in upcoming practices.
“There’s two things there that we have to change. We haven’t gone through them on the ice in practice, so they are things that we will. Things like that happen when you have one or two breakdowns. Usually, it’s a couple that get you and that’s what got us last night," Hakstol said.
The Flyers are 20-for-24 on the penalty kill (83.3 percent) in the preseason, including a 6-for-6 showing against the Rangers' "A" team on Monday. The club is 8-for-22 (36.4 percent) on the power play in exhibition play.
“I think we have the right people," Hakstol said of the penalty killing, which was one of the team's biggest areas of disappointment in 2014-15 after previously being a strength.
"think Lappy [assistant coach Ian Laperriere] has made a small change to what we’re doing up ice, but it's the same basic system. We’re trying to empower our guys to be a little more aggressive up ice and to empower our guys to fight opportunities to get a press or a force going in our own zone. I’ve seen a great response to the things that Ian is talking to them about. I like the base that we’ve built with the PK so far."
The power play, a main strength of the team both last year and previous recent seasons, has been left untouched.
“Joe [Mullen] has done a great job with that PP unit and those guys have. There have been some guys interchanged from that unit over the first few exhibition games here, so we’re gonna look at everything. That’s been a strength. We’re confident it will remain a strength, but we also want to improve every portion of our game, whether it’s special teams or 5-on-5," said Hakstol.
QUICK HITS
* The Flyers practiced with the following combinations:
33 Chris Porter - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek 10 Brayden Schenn - 89 Sam Gagner - 17 Wayne Simmonds 24 Matt Read - 49 Scott Laughton - 20 R.J. Umberger 76 Chris VandeVelde - 25 Ryan White - 78 Pierre Edouard Bellemare
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 / 45 Jason LaBarbera
Extra forwards: 40 Vincent Lecavalier, 36 Colin McDonald. Did not practice: 30 Michal Neuvirth, 14 Sean Couturier, 12 Michael Raffl.
* Hextall said after practice that, in an ideal scenario, the team would carry seven defensemen on the NHL roster but that "we’re not going to let a guy go for nothing," to get down to that number and enable the team to carry a 14th forward. The GM declined to discuss anything regarding trade talks except to once again reiterate that, if he feels it will improve the team, he will make a move.
* The GM acknowledged that figuring out if Vincent Lecavalier has a role in the lineup is still one of the issues that needs to be determined over the next week.
"Some things have to play out in the next two games and that’s one of them," Hextall said. "There’s other people involved as well, obviously. Scotty [Scott Laughton] and Sam [Gagner], and whoever else plays center, Brayden [Schenn] looks like he is going to stay on the wing, so it’s hard to kind of pinpoint right now where everybody fits. So we’ll wait for the next two games and things will hopefully flesh themselves out where Vinny ends up. I have no idea so we’ll see.…
* Hextall also said it's too early to make judgments on Sam Gagner's role -- right wing, left wing or center -- because he is still a newcomer to the team.
“It’s hard to say. I think the skill that Sam brings is just something that we need. Right now, I don’t know if I would say center, right side, it’s kind of hard to say at this point. There’s not enough of track record here to say that he’s going to be a center, right winger, or left winger, so it’ll have to play out," said Hextall. * Hextall was more complimentary of Brayden Schenn's preseason performance than he was last week when he said the player had been "OK". The GM also praised Schenn's ability to play all three forward positions as needed.
“I think part of the allure of Brayden is to play all three positions, that’s a good thing. You go through a long year, guys get banged up, you have a guy here you need to have a guy there, you need to have a guy there, the fact that he can play all three positions he’s a versatile guy and I’m not convinced he’s not equally as adept at playing all three positions, so it’s almost like okay you have a weakness here, Brayden can go there," said Hextall.
"I think that’s good to have on a hockey club and again when you go through times during the year and you get banged up to have a guy that can play all three positions is a good thing. I think he’s proved he can play the right side, is it a big enough sample? Probably not, but he can certainly go over there at least for a while and obviously can play the left and the middle so that’s a good thing for us.…
* Hextall said that Steve Mason still flies under the radar outside Philadelphia but has become a pro in his approach and improved his consistency. The GM said he thinks people in Philly are a little more aware than national pundits on what the team has in him now compared to the struggling player he was in Columbus prior to coming to the Flyers. * After practice, Mason said he spent the summer working with goalie coach David Franco. It was the first time in his career that Mason has done goalie-specific work over the summer. Mason, who has come to camp and played very well in two preseason games, said he wishes he'd sought out summer coaching sooner because it was a big help in his preparations along with getting to work with new Flyers goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh.
* It was former Flyers/Phantoms goaltender Rob Zepp who connected Mason with Franco. During Zepp's formative years as a prospect, he had no access to personal goalie coaching, even when he was a minor league player in the Carolina Hurricanes' organization. Of Zepp's own initiative, he started working with brothers Marco and David Franco; best know for their work with former NHLers Curtis Joseph and Jamie Storr. For more background, click here.
* Kimmo Timonen was at the Skate Zone on Tuesday to watch practice and briefly chat with Hextall. Timonen plans to take some time off to spend with his family before potentially seeking a job back in hockey. Most recently, Timonen took a week-long winery tour of Napa Valley.
* Hextall also said Danny Briere may come to work for the organization at some point, but it would be more likely under the domain of team president Paul Holmgren than under the hockey operations side.