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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers are home on Thursday evening to host Marco Sturm’s Boston Bruins at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The match will be broadcast on NBCSP+.
The Flyers are 0-2-0 in the preseason to date. The main issue stemmed from third period fades in a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Monday in Hershey and a 5-1 defeat in Boston the next night.
Flyers announce roster cuts
The Flyers made 13 roster cuts on Wednesday. They assigned 2025 second-round pick Matthew Gard to the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds. Meanwhile, the team made six moves to send waiver exempt players to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Additionally. they placed six waiver non-exempt players on waivers for purposes of AHL assignment come 2:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Sent to Phantoms camp (six)
- F – Noah Powell
- F – Riley Thompson
- D – Spencer Gill
- D – Hunter McDonald
- D – Ty Murchison
- G – Carson Bjarnason
Placed on waivers for AHL assignment purposes (six)
- F – Zach Aston-Reese
- F – Nolan Foote
- F – Carl Grundstrom
- F – Danila Klimovich
- F – Jack Studnicka
- D – Cam Dineen
Team Toyota Spotlight: Roster Battles
One of the main decisions the Flyers still have to make before opening night is whether to carry seven or eight defensemen on their opening roster. They also need to determine one starting blueline spot. The competitors: David Jiricek, Oliver Bonk and veteran Simon Benoit.
Up front, rookie hopeful Cole Knuble remains in the hunt for a roster spot. He impressed in both preseason games to date as well as last Saturday’s scrimmage in Voorhees. Additionally, Nikita Grebenkin appears ready to play in the final portion of the preseason.
Knuble, like Bonk, is waiver exempt. However, Jiricek is not.
Preseason Game Day Storylines
1. How many vets will play?
By NHL rule, veteran NHL players are now limited to a maximum of two preseason appearances.The Flyers saved their two home games for most of their veterans to get tuneup outings before the start of the season.
None of these veteran players appeared in either of the two games played to date: Trevor Zegras, Matvei Michkov, Tyson Foerster, Travis Konecny, Christian Dvorak, team captain Sean Couturier, Noel Acciari, Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen, Cam York, or Jamie Drysdale.
Consequently, all of these players are available for the final two preseason games. Meanwhile, the following veterans are available either for Thursday or Saturday. They appeared on Tuesday in Boston: Noah Cates, Owen Tippett, and Nick Seeler.
The two-game limit does not apply to NHLers with fewer than 100 games played in the league. Porter Matone played in the preseason opener but is eligble for both remaining preseason games if Tocchet so chooses.
2. Injury Report
Both Denver Barkey (lower body) and goaltender Dan Vladar (upper body) are officially day-to-day. Barkey practiced in a no-contact jersey on Wednesday. Vladar did not practice on Thursday.
It is likely that Joseph Woll and Aleksei Kolosov will split the goaltending duties in the final two preseason games. Woll played the first 40 minutes of Monday’s game against the Capitals. Kolosov played most of Tuesday’s game after Vladar left in the first period.
3. Power play
The Flyers unveiled a new PP1 personnel arrangement at Wednesday’s practice: Defenseman Drysdale manned the point with Zegras, Michkov, Foerster, and Martone up front.
Tippett and Konecny, who were PP1 staples most of last season may start out on the second power play unit.
Flyers announce their full-time EBUG
On Thursday, the Flyers officially named 32-year-old Finlandia University alum Daniel Spencer as their full-time emergency backup goaltender (EBUG) for all home and road games.
Over the past three years, Spencer served as home game EBUG for both the Flyers and their opponent. In his new role, Spencer will travel and practice full-time with the club, strictly as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Spencer earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Finlandia University in 2019, where he played four years of Division III hockey.
Forthcoming: Opening Night Fan Fest at Stateside Live!
On Wednesday, September 30, to celebrate the start of the 2026-27 NHL season and the Flyers Home Opener matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins, today the Flyers announced the club will host Fan Fest at Stateside Live! (the former Xfinity Live!)
Before the game, there’s an on-site Fan Fest event starting at 3 p.m. EDT. The Flyers encourage people to RSVP — and arrive early — for the best chance at entry inside. Full details are here.
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