Saturday's game is another young-trending lineup for the Flyers, with a handful of NHL veterans headed out with a group of younger pros vying for a spot on the NHL roster.
The Flyers took Thursday off following Wednesday's 3-1 loss to Washington. Watching from above, head coach John Tortorella liked what he saw in the first period but after that thought the team appeared tired, something he attributed to all the conditioning work done to this point of the camp. That led the coaching staff to change Thursday to an off-day, which Tortorella thought paid off with a high energy level on Friday.
"Today was encouraging to me because I think we made the right call in giving them another day when we had it scheduled for a work day," Tortorella said. "You can tell, when everybody just simply loses their energy, it was a tired [group] because everyone had put their time in."
Saturday's game will be the final one that Tortorella watches from the press box. Beginning with Sunday's penultimate exhibition contest, he will take up his position behind the bench.
Pat Nagle and Troy Groesnick will be the Flyers' goaltenders on Saturday. Carter Hart has been cleared for no-contact practice, and said Friday that he is hoping to get back into the crease at some point during the last two exhibition games.
"It's been a long time since we've played an actual hockey game, for myself, so it would be nice to get into at least one game," he said. "I'll be ready [for the regular season]. It's just more so being cautious, making sure I'm 100 percent."
Saturday's contest will be televised on NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus, with the radio broadcast on 93.3 WMMR. Puck drop is 1:00 PM.
