Jake Voracek
The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs get underway for the Philadelphia Flyers as they play the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 on Wednesday night at 8 p.m.
Consider this win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday everything. The Flyers have the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Who would have imagined that a season ago? Here are 5 takeaways from Flyers-Lightning.
For Saturday’s Round Robin finale against the Tampa Bay Lightning, a battle that will be for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, both teams will be missing a key part of their offense. Jake Voracek will not be available for the Flyers. Steven Stamkos will be out for the Lightning.
From start to finish, it was total dominance from the line of Kevin Hayes, Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton. “They’re certainly, without a doubt, our best line at this moment,” Alain Vigneault said after the Flyers 3-1 win over the Capitals.
The first test for the Flyers comes in the Round Robin opener against the Boston Bruins, a team that was running away with the President’s Trophy at the time of the pause. Game time is at 3 p.m.
The Flyers get a rivalry matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins, quite the way to make their return to the ice for the first time in nearly five months. Game time is 4 p.m.
In total, 17 forwards of 18 in camp and 10 defensemen of 12 in camp made the roster. All four goalies from camp made the trip. Here is the Flyers final roster for Phase 4.
How serious is Carter Hart’s injury? We may never know, though a report from NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Colby Cohen said that Hart was suffering from minor back spasms and should return soon. Teammates also said they believed it to be a minor deal and probably more precautionary than anything. So how concerned should the Flyers be with this?
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.
When Jake Voracek was absent from the Flyers scrimmage on Saturday, the first thought is that there could be a positive COVID-19 test in Flyers camp. But that was quickly put to rest when Voracek was back on the ice on Sunday for the next practice.
