Provorov enjoying stay with billet family while Flyers' season paused

Ivan Provorov has used the NHL season pause to spend time with his billet family in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia Flyers defenseman is staying with the family he lived with when he came to the United States from Russia as a 14-year-old in 2011. He has remained a close part of a family that includes two sons and three daughters.

"I lived with them for 2 1/2 years, have a really close relationship with them," Provorov said Thursday. "Just to be able to spend time with them and hang out ... it's definitely been very nice to spend some time with them, just hang out, play some games, talk, catch up on some things and kind of sit back and look back and laugh at all the good times we had when I stayed here and stuff like that."

Provorov played for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights in the Atlantic Youth Hockey League for two seasons and lived with the family before moving on to Cedar Rapids of the United States Hockey League during the 2013-14 season and then Brandon of the Western Hockey League the following season. The Flyers selected Provorov with the No. 7 pick of the 2015 NHL Draft; Philadelphia is about a two-hour drive from Wilkes-Barre.

"During the year everyone's busy, three kids are in college, the other ones are finishing high school," he said. "Everyone's busy but probably 3-5 times a year they're able to come to games. Previous years, I would go there for Christmas break. It's definitely nice to get here and spend some time with them."

With the NHL season paused since March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, time in Wilkes-Barre also has allowed Provorov to skate on a small ice rink in a barn on the family's property and work out in a home gym. His daily workouts last 5-6 hours, which Provorov said is a slimmed-down version of his offseason workouts.

"The offseason there's the 10 weeks of hell, going through 10, 11 hours a day," he said. "Here's a little less, probably spending five or six hours trying to stay in shape, maintain, doing different stuff that I can to help. ... Get my mind off all the stuff, being locked down and not being able to play the game. It's been helping. Also been helping me stay in shape and hopefully when we come back, won't need too much time to jump right back in."

Provorov is eighth in the NHL with 24:51 of ice time per game, and the 23-year-old leads Philadelphia defensemen with 36 points (13 goals, 23 assists) in 69 games. The Flyers had a nine-game winning streak ended in its final game before the pause and is one point behind the first-place Washington Capitals in the Metropolitan Division.

That success, which Provorov called the best hockey Philadelphia has played in his four NHL seasons, has made the stoppage that much more difficult.

"I think everyone is doing the best they can to stay in shape, stay positive, and when the season continues try to get back to the same level that we were, continue winning games," he said. "Hopefully shouldn't take that long. It's definitely going to take a little bit of time, but hopefully with the practices and some games we'll be able to get back to the level that we were at."