PREVIEW: FLYERS @ DEVILS
The Philadelphia Flyers wrap up their preseason schedule on Friday as they take on the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark. The clubs played each other on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center with the Devils prevailing, 4-2, after the Flyers took a 2-1 lead to the first intermission.
Game time on Friday evening is 7 p.m. ET. The game will not be televised but will be on radio locally on 93.3 FM. Radio play-by-play man Tim Saunders and color commentary partner Steve Coates will call the game.
Flyers outlook
Noticing that his team lacked energy for much of Wednesday's game, Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol canceled on-ice practice on Thursday. The team traveled to Newark later in the day and will hold their morning skate at the Prudential Center.
Steve Mason will get the start in the preseason finale; his third start of the preseason. Michael Neuvirth, who has been dealing with a minor lower-body injury this week, traveled with the team to Newark is slated to back up Mason. Assuming Neuvirth is good to go, veteran Jason LaBarbera will return to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms for their weekend games.
While the rest of the team remained off-ice on Thursday, Flyers forwards Sean Couturier (upper body injury) and Michael Raffl (upper body injury) went through an intensive 40-minute skating session at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ. Couturier said he would participate in the morning skate on Friday and make a decision about playing, while Raffl said he was out for the game. Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said the club prefers to hold both players out for this game as a precaution but both should be fine for opening night along with backup goalie Neuvirth.
The Flyers have 24 players remaining in camp, with one cut (or NHL-level roster move) to go before opening night rosters are set on Tuesday. Subject to change --- and with one defense pair sitting out -- here is the projected lineup for Friday's game:
10 Brayden Schenn - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek
89 Sam Gagner - 40 Vincent Lecavalier - 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
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Devils outlook
Kyle Palmieri, who got banged up in the game on Wednesday, is day-to-day. Devils head coach John Hynes will most likely hold the player out of the preseason finale. Veteran forward and longtime Flyers nemesis Patrik Elias will likely miss the start of the regular season.
Cory Schneider will get the start against the Flyers on Friday. Keith Kinkaid, who was the winning goaltender on Wednesday, will serve as the backup. The projected lineup (with one defense pair sitting out):
13 Mike Cammalleri - 19 Travis Zajac - 12 Reid Boucher
14 Adam Henrique - 16 Jacob Josefson - 15 Tuomo Ruutu
20 Lee Stempniak - 51 Sergey Kalinin - 9 Jiri Tlusty
22 Jordin Tootoo - 37 Pavel Zacha - 25 Stefan Matteau
6 Andy Greene - 2 John Moore
7 Jon Merrill - 28 Damon Severson
8 David Schlemko - 5 Adam Larsson
33 Seth Helgeson - 44 Eric Gelinas
35 Cory Schneider
[1 Keith Kinkaid]
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FRIDAY QUICK HITS
* Congratulations to legendary Flyers goaltender Bernie Parent for his inclusion on a series of postage stamps issued by Canada Post honoring some of the great Canadian-born netminders in hockey history. The Montreal native's stamp is joined by ones depicting Johnny Bower, Lorne "Gump" Worsley, Tony Esposito, Ken Dryden and Martin Brodeur. The stamps can be
ordered here.
* The recent Flyers Alumni Team benefit game and fan meet-and-greet in Aston, PA as part of the 2015 Faceoff Against Cancer event raised $88,000 going for the direct benefit of selected Delaware Valley cancer patients and their families. Here's a look at the upcoming benefit games on the Flyers Alumni Team schedule:
Oct. 17, 2015: You Too Animal Rescue Benefit, Lehigh Valley Ice Arena, Whitehall, PA. TBA
Dec. 27, 2015: Flyers Skate Zone, Voorhees, NJ. 4:00 p.m.
Feb. 20, 2016: Ice Works, Aston, PA, 8:15 p.m.
Feb. 27, 2016: Class of 1923 Arena (University of Pennsylvania), 6:00 p.m.
March 12, 2016: Junior Achievement of Delaware, University of Delaware. TBA
* QMJHL: Flyers 2014 second-round pick Nicolas Aube-Kubel remained out of action on Thursday, as his Val-d'Or Foreurs team played the Drummondville Voltigeurs. Aube-Kubel had to leave his team's Sept. 25 game against the Rimouski Oceanic as a result of a heavy blindsight hit in open ice by Michael Joly. The Rimouski player was suspended three games.
* WHL: In a Western Hockey League game of interest to Flyers fans, the Brandon Wheat Kings will host the Calgary Hitmen on Friday night. Flyers 2015 first-round pick Ivan Provorov plays for Brandon while 2014 first-round pick Travis Sanheim and 2014 sixth-round pick Radel Fazleev skate for Calgary. All three players are under NHL entry-level contracts that will slide for the 2015-16 season.
* OHL: Flyers 2015 first round pick Travis Konecny and the Ottawa 67's are in action on Friday, hosting the Hamilton Bulldogs. Ottawa has been outscored by an 11-0 margin it is last two games. Konecny scored two goals in the regular season opener.
* SHL: Making his third straight start for Brynäs IF Gävle, Flyers 2015 third-round pick Felix Sandström stopped 28 of 31 shots in a 4-3 shootout loss to Linköpings HC on Thursday. He stopped one of two in the shootout. Flyers 2014 fifth-round pick Oskar Lindblom skated a season high 17:18 of ice time on the Brynäs top line and recorded his third assist of the season (he's still looking for his first goal through five games to date but does have 11 shots on goal while skating on the first line and five-on-five and on the second power play unit). Game highlights of the BIF-LHC game are
available here. Brynäs plays Rögle BK Ängelholm on the road on Saturday. Veteran goalie Berhard Starkbaum, who has been dealing with a minor injury, could return to the net in place of the 18-year-old Sandström.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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