(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
VOORHEES, N.J. — Michal Neuvirth took the ice for the Flyers, making his first full return to practice since sustaining a lower-body injury in November.
According to Neuvirth, he's glad to be back. He got some valuable reps in between the pipes, as the Flyers rotated him, Steve Mason and Anthony Stolarz around.
"I felt pretty well today," Neuvirth said. "It was a great test for me, practicing with the team."
Whether or not Neuvirth can return in a backup capacity for Wednesday night's game against the New York Rangers is still up in the air, though. That's still something he needs to clarify with coach Dave Hakstol.
"It's a possibility, but I haven't talked to coaches yet."
Neuvirth was injured in the Flyers' 3-2 win over Minnesota on Nov. 12, and missed the Flyers' last 23 games. He did travel with the team on last week's road trip, but wasn't expected to play unless absolutely necessary.
Hakstol, despite the three-goaltender workload, was optimistic about what he had seen from Neuvirth in the practice session, but still maintained a need to speak with him directly.
"Today's his first full day of practice, so I want to sit and talk with him — I'll base a lot of my opinion on that," Hakstol said. "Neuvy had a good practice, but that's his first full day.
"Obviously, we still had three goaltenders out there, so it's still not a full workload."
Hakstol also commended the Flyers' effort against Anaheim on Sunday, calling it "dominant," even though the end result could have ended better for him. Of course, that's just how hockey goes sometimes.
He also maintained that the Flyers are in a good spot mentally, despite their 10-game winning streak looking further and further in the rearview after an 0-3-1 stretch on a four-game road trip. Though the Flyers couldn't pull the win out after recording their most shots since 2012, that hasn't dampered any moods.
"It's not like it could have gone either way, it ended up we couldn't find a way to get the game-winner," Hakstol said. "It was an outstanding performance by our group, and I think we could've caught [the Ducks] on one of their low-energy nights — it happens throughout the schedule."
For Hakstol, though, the important thing is coming away with two points against a division rival. He still maintains the Flyers are in a good spot to do that against the Rangers, who sit eight points ahead of them in the Metropolitan Division.
"For us, the most important thing is to get ready and go play a good hockey game tomorrow night — two points is the important thing," Hakstol said. "Mentally, we're in a good spot."
Other practice snippets:
• Forward lines and defensive pairings were the same since the Flyers' matchup against the Ducks.
• Matt Read on the team's funk: "You play such good hockey for so long, once you lose, you kind of lose that momentum and have to find a way to outwork the other team and almost go back to that grind game to win again."
• Shayne Gostisbehere on John Gibson's performance: "I think their goalie got more composed as the game went on. Games like that are gonna happen, where you outshoot the opponent, we just gotta take the positives from that game."
• Steve Mason on the differences between a win streak and a down stretch: "Even the games when we were winning 10 in a row, some of them could've gone the other way. Small things — it's a tight lead, no games are easy. It's just a matter of sticking with it, we're going through a tough stretch in a tough part of the season. It's a matter of not getting discouraged here and just pushing forward."
