(Photo: Zack Hill/Philadelphia Flyers)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
To this point, most of Flyers camp has gone off without a hitch, hold for Jake Voracek’s absence on Saturday due to a pending COVID-19 test result that ultimately came back negative. On the ninth day of camp, after a complete off day on Monday, the Flyers were back on the ice for a scrimmage and have hit their first bit of adversity. It just happens to be to their most important player.
During the first period of a three-period scrimmage on Tuesday, goalie Carter Hart left the ice and did not return. He was scheduled to speak to the media following the scrimmage, but was pulled from the availability list, indicating a potential injury. Per NHL protocols, the team is not allowed to disclose any injury information.
“I noticed he left the ice, that’s all,” assistant coach Ian Laperriere said. “That’s all I know.”
Now, before everyone runs for the nearest bridge, there are still 12 days until the Flyers first Round Robin game, and if Hart were to miss even just a few days of camp, it would not be the biggest loss. There is time and perhaps this was just a precautionary measure to prevent something more serious from happening knowing how far there is to go before Phase 4 begins.
“I didn’t even realize he left until someone on the bench said it. I think it’s nothing too serious,” Kevin Hayes said. “Obviously it’s important to get in shape and get game ready, but if you have something that’s minor that you don’t want to push, it’s not a big deal to get off the ice like that. We’d rather have him be at 100 percent than pushing hard at 85, 90 percent. Probably a smart decision by him. I don’t think it’s anything major.”
That said, the Flyers were about to enter the playoffs with a goalie that had certainly earned their trust, even if he is just weeks away from turning 22 and doesn’t have any playoff experience.
“Obviously, he’s a big part of our team. He’s a good young goalie,” Sean Couturier said. “Let’s not forget we have Moose here. A great veteran. Has a lot of experience. He’s been great for us all year. Whoever’s in net, I think this year we showed that we’re a good team and we don’t see anything different here.”
As for the scrimmage, Team Orange, led by Claude Giroux, defeated Team Black, led by Hayes, in overtime, 7-6. Hayes had a hat trick in the loss and the additional goals for Team Black were scored by Travis Konecny, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Ivan Provorov. Giroux scored two goals, including the game-winner in overtime. Joel Farabee, Voracek, Tyler Pitlick, Carsen Twarynski and Couturier had the other goals for Team Orange.
Three practices remain for the Flyers before they head to Toronto. They will include two group sessions and one more scrimmage. This is the time to get conditioning back up to speed, and the Flyers were starting to show some of that and some of the chemistry that can make a team successful in the playoffs.
“I’ll be honest, that’s one thing I’m really pleased and surprised and was personally my biggest worry being four months away from being able to go to the gym and go to the rink and skate. I’m pleased and very surprised and I’m glad our guys did their work,” Laperriere said. “Obviously the way the first week went and the second week is going right now, everybody is getting better every day. They came in in pretty good shape to be off for four months. There’s still work to do. The players know. System wise, conditioning’s going to come with it. But I’m very pleased with the way the guys showed up.”
“I think we have more chemistry, more flow today,” Couturier said. “Last game, lines were all screwed up. Never playing with the same guy. Every shift was different. It was tough to get anything going. Today we had three lines going. Me, G, and Jake, we know each other out there. We’re just trying to find our rhythm again. I thought it went pretty well today.”
Schedule Change and Broadcast Information Announced
Obviously, in the bubble setting, broadcasts will be very different. There will be two feeds from Toronto and Edmonton that are used by all broadcast networks, whether local or national in the US.
That will allow the Flyers to have their exhibition game and all three Round Robin games televised locally.
Next Tuesday’s game against Pittsburgh and the Round Robin games against Boston, Washington and Tampa Bay will be available on the NBC family of networks and to stream on NBC Sports Philadelphia’s website. The Aug. 2 game against Boston will be on NBC10 while the exhibition against Pittsburgh will be on NBC Sports Philadelphia+. The time and broadcast info for the other two games will be announced later, but will still be available for local fans to watch.
One of the Flyers Round Robin games also had a date change that was announced on Monday. The Flyers were originally scheduled to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, Aug. 9. That will now be on Saturday, Aug. 8. The Boston-Washington Round Robin game moves from Aug. 8 to Aug. 9 as a result.
