MELTZER'S MUSINGS: OCTOBER 23, 2015
* According to the Flyers,
Sean Couturier and
Michal Neuvirth are both day-to-day with upper-body injuries.
Couturier was injured moments before the expiration of the first period of Wedneday's game in Boston as he got hit late by former teammate Zac Rinaldo after chipping the puck about 10 feet up the ice along the defensive zone boards. Couturier's head snapped back violently as Rinaldo followed through on the hit, although the primary point of contact was Couturier's upper chest Couturier went down in a heap and clutched his head at one point.
Neuvirth sustained his injury a few minutes earlier when Boston forward Patrice Bergeron accidentally whacked him in the head with his stick in the process of scoring the Bruins' second goal of the game. A dazed Neuvirth went down heavily to the ice, but finished the period. Steve Mason replaced him the rest of the game. Neuvirth did not return to the bench after the first intermission.
*
Brayden Schenn (upper-body injury) participated in Wednesday' morning skate but was a late scratch for the game, replaced by
Sam Gagner. Initially slated to be a healthy scratch, Gagner wound up scoring the Flyers' second goal of the first period to give the team a short-lived 2-1 lead prior to Bergeron's goal. Schenn was shaken up a hit away from the puck by Dallas Stars winger
Antoine Roussel in Tuesday's game.
* After taking a complete off-day on Thursday, the Flyers return to practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ on Friday at 10:30 a.m. ET. The New York Rangers pay a visit to the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday evening.
Friday's practice may or may not shed light on the availability of Schenn and Couturier to play on Saturday and Neuvirth's availability to back up Mason. The Flyers can dress veteran
Vincent Lecavalier on Saturday if they need him in order to have 12 forwards in the lineup. Lecavalier has been a healthy scratch in all six regular season games to date.
If Neuvirth is unavailable to dress for Saturday's game, the Flyers can recall veteran
Jason LaBarbera to back up Mason against the Rangers. LaBarbera previously backed up Neuvirth for two games while Mason was on family leave.
* NHL rules under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the Players' Association prohibit the scheduling of games on three straight nights/days for any team, although every team has several three-in-four and four-in-six stretches during the campaign. In the American Hockey League, periodic three-in-three gauntlets -- usually on Friday, Saturday and Sunday -- are a fact of life.
That is what the Lehigh Valley Phantoms face this weekend. On Friday (road) and Saturday (home), the Phantoms oppose the Providence Bruins. On Sunday, the Toronto Marlies will face off with
Scott Gordon's club at the PPL Center. The Phantoms are even more injury-riddled than the Flyers right now.
Per
Highland Park Hockey's in-depth updates from the Phantoms' practice on Thursday, here is the team's current injury outlook provided by Gordon.
Andrew MacDonald: Practiced in full on Thursday, expected to return to the Phantoms lineup after missing the team's last game.
Colin McDonald: Missed both games last weekend, out several more weeks.
Robert Hägg: Dressed but did not skate a shift in the last game. He will miss the games this weekend and then be re-evaluated.
Danick Martel: out two to three weeks with a lower-body injury.
Cole Bardreau: Similar timetable to Martel's.
Michael Parks: Out at least a couple more weeks after an injury last weekend.
The wave of injuries forced the organization to make recalls from the ECHL's Reading Royals to fill out the Phantoms' lineup. If LaBarbera needs to be recalled to the Flyers,
Martin Ouellette will likely be moved up to join the Phantoms.
The line combinations that practiced on Thursday were as follows:
Taylor Leier - Tim Brent - Aaron Palushaj
Petr Straka - Nick Cousins - Chris Conner
Jay Rosehill - Pavel Padakin - Brandon Alderson
Tyrell Goulbourne - Kevin Goumas - Derek Mathers
Samuel Morin - Andrew MacDonald / Jesper Pettersson
Shayne Gostisbehere - Matt Lashoff
Davis Drewiske - Mark Alt
Jason LaBarbera / Anthony Stolarz
* Flyers prospects
Travis Sanheim (Team WHL),
Nicolas-Aube Kubel (QMJHL),
Travis Konecny (OHL) and
Radel Fazleev (Team Russia) will all take part in the CHL vs. Russia series (formerly the Subway Super Series) from Nov. 9 to 19.
Ivan Provorov (Team Russia) is also a shoo-in. The schedule is as follows.
Nov. 9 (Kelowna, BC): Team WHL vs. Team Russia
Nov. 10 (Kamloops, BC): Team WHL vs. Team Russia
Nov. 12 (Owen Sound, ON): Team OHL vs. Team Russia
Nov. 16 (Windsor, ON): Team OHL vs. Team Russia
Nov. 17 (Rouyn-Noranda, QC): Team QMJHL vs. Team Russia
Nov. 19 (Halifax, NS): Team QMJHL vs. Team Russia
***************
PUCK TALKS IN PHILADELPHIA
On Nov. 18 at 7 p.m., I will be part of the hockey panel at the Puck & Pitch Talks event at Bourbon & Branch (705 N. 2nd St.) in Philadelphia. CSN Philly's Sarah Baicker will be the moderator and my fellow panelists will include Al Morganti (WIP & CSN Philly), Dave Isaac (Camden Courier Post) and Adam Kimelman (NHL.com).
Tickets can be purchased at
PuckTalksLive.com. Use promo code "Bullies" to get a $5 discount off the $20 ticket price. Further information and updates are available on the Puck Talks Twitter page (@PuckTalksLive) and on Facebook (Facebook.com/Pucktalks).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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