One night after the Flyers shut out the Maple Leafs, 4-0, in their first game of the preseason, Philly will square off with Toronto again. This time the scene shifts to the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia.
Last night, the Flyers rode three second-period goals (scored on a total of six shots during the stanza) to build a 3-0 lead. First, agitator prospect Zac Rinaldo took a pass from new arrival Jakub Voracek and showed a surprisingly deft finishing touch against James Reimer to opening the scoring.
That has been always been part of the intrigue with Rinaldo-- he possesses comparable or superior hockey skill to other players of his projected NHL role, who were typically much higher scorers when they played in junior hockey and/or at the minor league level. Rinaldo has always put up "fourth liner" offensive numbers from the OHL on up but sometimes displays skills that make you think he's capable of contributing more than just pushing the envelope with his physical play and trash talking.
The Flyers' second goal was a power play tip-in by newcomer Wayne Simmonds of a point shot by Matt Carle. Rookie Brayden Schenn got the secondary helper on the play. Second year pro Mike Testwuide increased the lead to 3-0 late in the second period and top 2011 draft pick Sean Couturier added the game's final goal early in the third period.
Up and down the lineup, the exhibition opener went as well for the Flyers as they could have possibly hopes. Sergei Bobrovsky showed outstanding lateral movement and had to come up with about 4 or 5 tough saves among the 27 he made in the shutout. Young players -- Schenn, Matt Read, Blake Kessel and Harry Zolnierczyk among them -- saw a lot of ice time and handled it very well.
As the preseason rolls along, one player whom I think needs to play a little better than last night is Tom Sestito. He was caught running around a bit in the defensive zone and had a couple of bad turnovers. If he is to make the team as a 12th or 13th forward, he's going to have to do a little better than he did in several of his 11 non-fighting shifts. I also thought Oskars Bartulus had some rough patches in last night's game.
If you are going to take a lot of penalties in a game, it might as well be in the preseason, and Philly killed off 8 disadvantages, including a 5-on-3. Toronto brought the pressure at times during the game last night. Bobrovsky was the team's best penalty killer when he had to be.
For tonight's game,
here is the roster the Flyers will use. Jaromir Jagr will not make his first appearance yet, but most of the other regulars who did not play last night will be in the lineup tonight (obviously also excluding Chris Pronger). Ilya Bryzgalov will start in goal.
Andreas Nodl - Danny Briere - Jakub Voracek
Scott Hartnell - Claude Giroux - Tomas Hyka
Max Talbot - Brayden Schenn - Matt Read
Ben Holmstrom - Blair Betts - Jody Shelley
Kimmo Timonen - Erik Gustafsson
Oskars Bartulis - Braydon Coburn
Kevin Marshall - Andrej Meszaros
Ilya Bryzgalov
[Jason Bacashihua]
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The big news around the team this morning was that the club has signed Couturier, the 8th overall pick of the 2011 Entry Draft, to an entry-level contract. I will post the terms of the three-year deal when available.
If Couturier does not make the NHL club, his contract will "slide" this year, meaning that it will not count against the 50-contract maximum on the reserve list.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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