The first preseason contest of 2023 is finally upon us, as the Philadelphia Flyers will travel to Prudential Center to take on the New Jersey Devils.
For some of the younger Flyers like Tyson Foerster, Elliot Desnoyers, and Emil Andrae, a lot of eyes will be on them to see if they make impressions and further their chances of making the NHL squad. But the bigger story is about two veterans in the lineup.
Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson will be playing in tonight’s contest after missing all of last season with injuries. Couturier has not played since December 18th, 2021 while Atkinson hasn’t played since April 12th, 2022.
“I won’t play those guys 25 minutes, I can tell you that right now,” said Ian Laperrière, who will coach tonight’s game for Philadelphia. “But they’ll play regular shifts, special teams. I already grabbed Coots, I know it’s preseason, but if we’re up a goal and it’s a big faceoff, he’s going to want to go out there. I told him already, we need to see some kids, so he might not be that guy taking that huge faceoff that he’s used to.”
”Right now I feel pretty good,” said Couturier earlier Monday. “Trying to approach it like any other game but it’s been a while. Obviously there’s some things where I’m still trying to adjust, adapt with my timing and everything, so I’m looking forward to it to see how it goes finally in a real game and go from there.”
After undergoing two back surgeries in the last year, Couturier is anxious to get back into game action and he wants to play as much as possible ahead of Philadelphia’s regular season opener on October 12th. It will be interesting to see how he and Atkinson perform tonight after lengthy absences, but nonetheless it will be nice to see #14 and #89 back on the ice.
When: 7:00pm ET
Where: Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
PHI Goalie: Cal Petersen (2022-23: 5-3-2, .868 SV%, 3.75 GAA, 0 SO w/Los Angeles, 16-20-4, .904 SV%, 2.88 GAA, 2 SO w/AHL Ontario)
NJD Goalie: Vitek Vaněček (2022-23: 33-11-4, .911 SV%, 2.45 GAA, 3 SO w/New Jersey)
PHI Projected Lineup
#86 Joel Farabee – #14 Sean Couturier – #46 Bobby Brink
#62 Olle Lycksell – #48 Morgan Frost – #89 Cam Atkinson
#38 Matthew Brown – #52 Denver Barkey – #71 Tyson Foerster
#91 Brendan Furry – #73 Elliot Desnoyers – #56 Samu Tuomaala
#8 Cam York – #26 Sean Walker
#36 Emil Andrae – #3 Helge Grans
#24 Nick Seeler – #59 Oliver Bonk
#40 Cal Petersen
#32 Felix Sandström
NJD Projected Lineup
#96 Timo Meier – #13 Nico Hischier – #10 Alexander Holtz
#63 Jesper Bratt – #56 Erik Haula – #18 Ondřej Palát
#89 Josh Filmon – #20 Michael McLeod – #12 Tyce Thompson
#48 Brian Halonen – #15 Shane Bowers – #79 Ryan Schmelzer
#88 Kevin Bahl – #7 Dougie Hamilton
#2 Brendan Smith – #52 Cal Foote
#82 Santeri Hatakka – #59 Daniil Misyul
#41 Vitek Vaněček
#31 Erik Källgren
News and Notes
– Cal Petersen will start tonight’s contest and play the first two periods. Felix Sandström will play beginning in the third period.
– Likewise for New Jersey, Vitek Vaněček will play the first two periods while Erik Källgren will appear in the third period.
– Cam York and Emil Andrae will quarterback the power play units tonight.
– This is one of two split-squad games for New Jersey tonight, as the Devils have a second team playing in Montréal as well.
– Travis Konecny did not skate for a second straight day, but head coach John Tortorella said the forward is just a little banged up and it’s nothing serious.
Broadcast Info: TV – PhiladelphiaFlyers.com, Radio – 97.5 The Fanatic
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