With a goal of inspiring more Philadelphia-area families to join the hockey community, the Philadelphia Flyers have partnered with nine hockey rinks across the region to launch the Flyers Rookie Program, a six-week learn-to-play initiative for first-time youth hockey players that features FREE head-to-toe equipment for participants. Part of a National Hockey League-wide initiative in partnership with the National Hockey League Players' Association, the Flyers Rookie Program aims to teach first-time players the basic skills of hockey, while focusing on important "off-ice" skills such as teamwork, responsibility, and respect.

The program, open to boys and girls ages four through eight, provides each participant with a full set of Flyers-branded hockey equipment including: helmet with cage, shoulder pads, elbow pads, hockey gloves, hockey pants, shin guards, skates, jersey, socks, stick, and equipment bag. Upon completion of the program, participants can keep their equipment. The six-week course also includes age-appropriate instruction by a certified coaching staff, including NHL alumni.

* The Flyers have now won both games played at their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, in each of the last two seasons.

* The Flyers outshot the Devils 24-18 in the game led by defenseman Andrew MacDonald with four shots, which also led all players in the contest.

* Anthony Stolarz and Alex Lyon split duties in the game, marking the first preseason game that a goaltender did not play the full contest… Stolarz got the start and stopped all 11 shots, while Lyon finished, making seven saves to complete the shutout.

7 p.m. | TCN & 97.5 The Fanatic

* This is the second consecutive year the Flyers have played a preseason game at the PPL Center in Lehigh Valley. They earned a 5-3 win over the NY Islanders last preseason.

* Head coach Dave Hakstol made his NHL coaching debut in that very game last year's and walked away with a lasting impression.

"I remember it last year," said Hakstol. "I thought the building was awesome. The fans and the atmosphere was excellent and it's just a great setting."

SEPT. 28

SCHULTZ OUT WITH LOWER BODY INJURY
7:05 p.m.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall announced just prior to the Flyers-Devils game at the PPL Center in Lehigh Valley that defenseman Nick Schultz will be out of action for 4-7 days with a lower-body injury.

Game Summary: Wayne Simmonds scored twice, Dale Weise and Andy Miele scored and Travis Sanheim had two assists as the Flyers picked up their first win of the preseason.Weise and Simmonds combined to pot two goals within 1:16 of one another, with Weise tallying unassisted at 17:39 of the first period and Simmonds scoring at the 18:55 mark.

Miele went to the net in traffic to score 11:22 into the second, and Simmonds finished things off just 15 seconds into the third. Steve Mason went the distance, stopping 23 shots for the shutout.

* Steve Mason made his first start of the preseason and stopped all 23 shots he faced.

NY ISLANDERS vs. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
7 p.m. | TCN & 97.5 The Fanatic

* Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol announced that Steve Mason will get the start in net tonight with Anthony Stolarz backing up.

* The Flyers roster has 11 players with three years or more NHL experience and seven players who have played fewer than 20 games of NHL experience.

* Two NHL veterans will make their debuts as a member of the team tonight: Dale Weise and Boyd Gordon.

SEPT. 27

FLYERS ANNOUNCE ROSTER MOVES
1:06 p.m.

Following the team's morning skate and extra group of players skating in Voorhees, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall announced that the following players have been returned to their junior teams:

* 10 players appeared in their first ever NHL preseason game (Connor Bunnaman, Anthony Salinitri, Alex Lyon, Roman Lyubimov, Philippe Myers, Reece Willcox, Pascal Laberge, Carsen Twarynski, Steven Swavely, Mark Zengerle)

FLYERS 0, NJ DEVILS 2
* Alex Lyon got the start in net and played the entire game, making 29 saves, all 13 he faced in the first period, including a great stop on D Andy Greene on a breakaway less than three minutes into the game.

Goaltender Alex Lyon: "They spent some time in our zone and had some of their big guns out there. To be honest they had a few shots but we did a good job with keeping them to the outside. They didn't really have any super grade A opportunities."

After 12 years, this week will see another World Cup of Hockey championship take place as Team Canada will face off against Team Europe beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 29 with Game 2 on Thursday, Sept. 29 and, if necessary, a decisive Game 3 on Saturday, Oct. 1.

Europe posted a thrilling overtime victory on Sunday, 3-2, over Sweden to continue their run throughout the tournament. Flyers defenseman Mark Streit was a +1 in the game while logging 15:42 of ice time and leading the team with three blocked shots.

Jordan Weal arrived in Philadelphia last January from the Los Angeles Kings with nowhere near the fuss created by the departure of the players he was traded for, Luke Schenn and Vincent Lecavalier.

There had been extensive speculation regarding what the Flyers would do about a bit of a logjam on defense and the overall situation of Lecavalier. Flyers fans only saw Weal in four games over the second half of the season, so he remained relatively unknown heading into the offseason.
 
But Weal certainly isn't an unknown to Flyers GM Ron Hextall. Hextall was part of the Los Angeles front office that drafted Weal in 2010, and Weal played for two of the Manchester Monarchs AHL teams that Hextall oversaw as an assistant GM for the Kings. After Hextall's return to Philadelphia, Weal played two more seasons for the Monarchs, leading them to the 2015 Calder Cup championship while earning playoff MVP honors with 10 goals and 12 assists in 20 games.