Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers will look for their second win of the preseason when they head to Beantown on Monday to take on Marco Sturm’s Boston Bruins.
Game time at TD Garden is 7:00 p.m.EDT. The game will be streamed on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
Here are five storylines to follow as the team enters its second week of practices and exhibition games.
1. Foerster in force.
Third-year NHL winger Tyson Foerster will play his first preseason game on Monday. He is fully recovered from an off-season upper-body injury. Last season, Foerster found a groove playing on a line with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink. The trio has been back together in recent practices and earned praise from Tocchet for their diligence and tone-setting on the ice. All three players are in the lineup on Monday.
2. Blueline roster competition.
The Flyers have four set-in-stone opening night roster defensemen: Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Jamie Drysdale and Nick Seeler. With Rasmus Ristolainen (upper-body injury) sidelined through October, there’s open competition for at least three roster spots. Egor Zamula is an NHL-roster incumbent.
Meanwhile, Monday’s game roster features Zamula and numerous other defensemen competing for opening-night spots. These include veterans Noah Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert, young offensive-minded defenseman Emil Andrae, and Lehigh Valley Phantoms incumbents Hunter McDonald.
Tocchet has made clear that he wants to see some of the players who have not locked-up roster spots step up a little more in the preseason.
3. Vladar returns to Boston.
New Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar began his North American pro career in the Bruins’ organization. The 28-year-old Czech is slated to get the start in net for Philly on Monday. After Samuel Ersson went the distance in Saturday’s game, Vladar could follow suit in this match. Aleksei Kolosov (three preseason appearances to date) will also dress for this game.
4. Turning up the Jett.
The Flyers already know that 19-year-old center Jett Luchanko is exceptionally fast on his skates. They know he plays a responsible defensive game. Meanwhile, Luchanko has shown playmaking upside in junior hockey and the AHL playoffs. However, the player is still trying to demonstrate his offensive abilities in NHL camp.
Tocchet has said the next step for Luchanko is to keep the puck for longer and make more plays. He’s had a tendency in camp to get rid of the puck a little too quickly. Luchanko is back in the lineup on Monday: his fourth straight opportunity to show what he can do on both ends of the ice.
5. Grebenkin gets another game.
Tocchet and his staff have taken a long look at Russian winger Nikita Grebenkin in training camp to date. The big-framed forward is in the lineup again on Monday after a strong offensive showing against Boston in Philadelphia two nights ago.
