UPDATE: FLYERS ROSTER FOR PRESEASON GAME 6
The following players have made the trip to Madison Square Garden and will be available for the Flyers in tonight's game against the New York Rangers:
FORWARDS
10 Brayden Schenn
12 Michael Raffl
34 Andrew Gordon
36 Zac Rinaldo
41 Blair Jones
42 Jason Akeson
45 Zack Stortini
46 Darroll Powe
49 Scott Laughton
58 Taylor Leier
76 Chris VandeVelde
78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
DEFENSEMEN
5 Braydon Coburn
39 Mark Alt
47 Andrew MacDonald
50 Sam Morin
53 Shayne Gostisbehere
55 Nick Schultz
GOALTENDERS
35 Steve Mason -- Expected to play the entire game
72 Rob Zepp
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PRESEASON GAME 6: FLYERS @ RANGERS
Looking to improve on their 2-2-1 record in the preseason, the Philadelphia Flyers head to Madison Square Garden to play the New York Rangers on Monday night. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised in the U.S. on NHL Network.
This is middle game of a stretch of three games in as many nights for the Flyers. On Sunday night, the Flyers absorbed a 3-1 road loss to the New Jersey Devils that was not nearly as close as the final score would suggest.
The Flyers will hold a workout in Voorhees on Monday for the players who are not making the trip to Manhattan for the game. Head coach Craig Berube indicated before Sunday's game that he is going to try to avoid playing players in back-to-back games when he can avoid it. Toward that end, the Flyers brought along numerous Phantoms players to comprise about half of the lineup in Newark.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is expected to play on Monday for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury in last week's split-squad game against Toronto. Claude Giroux (lower-body injury) could play on Tuesday.
The Flyers' top three defensemen -- Braydon Coburn, Andrew MacDonald and Mark Streit -- did not play at the Prudential Center on Sunday. They could be in the lineup at Madison Square Garden.
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FLYERS SHOW LITTLE ENERGY IN UGLY 3-1 PRESEASON LOSS IN NEW JERSEY
On Thursday, the Flyers ran roughshod over the New Jersey Devils en route to a 4-0 preseason win at the Wells Fargo Center that was even more lopsided than the final score suggested. On Sunday in Newark, the Devils turned the tables. The Devils' 3-1 margin of victory -- with a late empty net goal -- was much narrower than the disparity in the game play.
Simply put, the Flyers failed to compete for two-plus periods. Many of the veteran regulars were among the biggest culprits. Energy and motivation were low, and the Flyers did a lot more standing around than skating. The result was a staggering 41-16 disparity in shots (35-7 through the first two periods) and a parade of Flyers to the penalty box on needless penalties.
The brightest spot for the Flyers on this night was veteran goaltender Rob Zepp. The longtime Eisbären Berlin netminder authored numerous 10-bell saves to keep the Flyers close when they had no business being in the game.
Veteran forward Scott Gomez scored two power play goals for New Jersey. The first came on a deflection of a Damien Brunner shot in the final half-minute of the opening period. He struck for his second tally at 3:02 of the second period, as Tuomo Ruutu beat defenseman Nick Schultz wide on the rush and there was no support on the other side as Ruutu fed the puck across to Gomez. Zepp had no chance on either goal.
The other primary bright spot for the Flyers was the play of Blair Jones. Head coach Craig Berube praised Jones as one of the few veterans who played well in this game and said he has been good day-in and day-out through camp. Jones, who generated five of the Flyers' 16 shots on the night, finally got rewarded in the third period. He collected a New Jersey turnover and countered for a shorthanded scoring chance. Rookie Taylor Leier, who also had a decent night, stashed home the rebound to cut the Flyers' deficit to 2-1 with 10:09 left in regulation.
Philly was unable to find the equalizer. Tough guy Zack Stortini had the best chance but was unable to pot a goal in a sequence that ended with Devils goalie Scott Clemmensen getting bowled over in the crease and the play blown dead for incidental contact before the puck crossed the goal line. Marek Zidlicky added an empty net goal in the final 45 seconds to seal the win for New Jersey.
After the game, Berube said that he was disappointed by the lack of skating and focus from his team (even by preseason standards). Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds agreed.
"There's no dog days in the preseason," said Simmonds. "We have to compete a lot better every night than we did tonight."
Sean Couturier returned to the lineup for the Flyers after experiencing an upper-body injury that kept him out of practice and games for several days last week. This was the Flyers' lineup in the game:
Matt Read - Sean Couturier - Wayne Simmonds
R.J. Umberger - Vincent Lecavalier - Jakub Voracek
Taylor Leier - Blair Jones - Brett Hextall
Marcel Noebels - Chris VandeVelde - Zack Stortini
Michael Del Zotto - Luke Schenn
Nicklas Grossmann - Nick Schultz
Robert Hägg - Jesper Pettersson
Rob Zepp
[Anthony Stolarz]
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QUICK HITS: SEPTEMBER 29
* Prior to the game against the Devils, Craig Berube said he intends to continue evaluating Zac Rinaldo as part of the team's penalty killing rotation in upcoming games. The coach added that injury was the main reason the experiment of having Rinaldo kill penalties ended during the regular season last year.
Rinaldo did not play in last night's game after participating in Saturday's scrimmage in Allentown. The player said on Saturday that he remains eager to diversify his role with the NHL club this season and knows that paying attention to detail and playing with greater discipline are the keys to seeing increased ice time.
* There was a mixup in last night's official lineup for the Flyers. The score sheet and real time scoring listed University of Vermont defenseman Nick Luukko as number 54 in the Flyers lineup. Luukko, who is still playing collegiate hockey, is not in the Flyers' camp. Robert Hägg, who wore number 54, is listed as number 58. Taylor Leier, who actually wore number 58, was not listed at all.
Leier scored the Flyers' lone goal of the game. Leier's tally came with Hägg in the penalty box, but Hägg got credited with the goal due to the snafu.
Incidentally, both Hägg and Leier were among the bright spots for the Flyers' side in Sunday's tilt. While the majority of the veterans with NHL roster spots locked up (barely) went through the motions, the Phantoms-bound rookies played with more focus and energy.
After last night's game, Berube collectively called out the established NHLers on the team.
“I’m disappointed in our veterans and the way they performed tonight,” Berube said. “It’s unacceptable, exhibition or not. You still have to work, still have to skate. We didn’t do that.”
* WHL: Flyers 2014 first-round pick Travis Sanheim
scored a pair of goals for the Calgary Hitmen yesterday in a 9-2 trouncing of the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Sunday. Sanheim notched the second and fourth goals for his team. The first came as he joined the rush, sped through the slot and took a pass in stride for a pretty goal. His second tally was a wrist shot from the point that weaved its way into the net.
Flyers 2014 sixth-round pick Radel Fazleev did not get on the scoresheet for Calgary. Sanheim's twin brother, Taylor, scored his first goal for the Hitmen. Travis and Taylor are identical twins but Taylor, a forward, stands four inches shorter than his defenseman brother.
* QMJHL: Flyers 2014 second-round pick Nicolas Aube-Kubel was held off the scoresheet and was a minus two in Val-d'Or's 7-2 loss to Gatineau on Sunday.
* Flyers Alum birthday: Tough two-way defenseman John Miszuk turns 74 today. Born Jan Miszuk in 1940 in the village of Naliboki, which was part of the Polish Republic before invasions by the Nazis and Soviets and is today part of western Belarus, the future NHL player was raised in Hamilton, Ontario after his family fled to North America.
Miszuk was the first relatively offensive-minded defenseman in Flyers history, leading the blueline in points (five goals and 22 points in 74 regular season games, three points in seven playoff games) in the team's inaugural 1967-68 season. He spent two seasons with the Flyers before moving on to the Minnesota North Stars.
* Flyers Alum birthday: Speedy forward Jon Sim turns 37 today. A member of the Philadelphia Phantoms' Calder Cup championship team of 2004-05, Sim notched 10 goals and 17 points in 21 playoff games that year. The following season, after the settlement of a season-long NHL lockout and signing a one-season contract with the Flyers, Sim cracked the big club. Sim appeared in 39 games for Ken Hitchcock's Flyers in 2005-06, contributing seven goals and 14 points.
On January 23, 2006, the Flyers traded Sim to the Florida Panthers in exchange for a 2007 sixth-round pick (Patrick Maroon). Sim went on play 469 NHL games for several organizations, scoring 75 goals and 139 points.
After his NHL run ended, Sim was a teammate of current Phantoms-Flyers goaltender Rob Zepp with the DEL's Eisbären Berlin in 2011-12 after starting the season in the Czech Republic's Extraliga. Sim made a brief return to the Phantoms (by then relocated to Glens Falls) in 2012-13. Last season, he appeared in 14 AHL games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
* Today in Flyers History: On this date in 1976, the colorful Flyers career of enforcer Dave "The Hammer" Schultz came to an end when the team traded him the Los Angeles Kings for a 1977 fourth-round and 1978 second-round pick. On this date in 1988, the Flyers traded oft-maligned defenseman Doug Crossman to the Los Angeles Kings for tough-guy defenseman Jay Wells. On this date in 2000, the Flyers traded defenseman Mark Eaton to the Nashville Predators for a 2001 third-round pick (which was used to select Patrick Sharp).
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