Philadelphia Flyers: Bubble life begins
The bubble life has begun as the Flyers had their first practice on the Toronto ice.
The Flyers were the first team to make it to the Toronto bubble yesterday. And now they’ve completed their first practice in the bubble. It was as normal as normal could be right now. Especially when the team was told to try and keep to themselves for the first few days
Aside from Oskar Lindblom, all 30 skaters took the ice for practice. The competition is still there as certain players are fighting for roster spots. Joel Farabee is one of them. He’s looking to break in after a solid end to his rookie regular season.
Nate Thompson is his likely competition. Nicolas Aube-Kubel could also be fighting for a spot. He impressed this season and is looking to hold down a permanent spot past these playoffs.
There isn’t much competition going on with the defensemen. The only fight continues to be between Shayne Gostisbehere and Robert Hagg for the sixth spot on the backend.
Otherwise, it was status quo for the first practice inside the bubble. We did find out some of the things to expect when the Flyers take to the ice to play for the first time tomorrow.
As expected, Carter Hart and Brian Elliott will split time in net against the Penguins. Hart will see the first two periods while Elliott will wrap the game up in the third.
Egor Zamula, a surprise name on the playoff roster, will get even more time to impress tomorrow. The Flyers are giving him every chance they get to see what he can do. While the Penguins may not put out their full roster, it will give Zamula a chance to play against a lot of regular NHL players.
There has been no word on which defensemen will sit out the game in place of Zamula. It’s likely a veteran will sit out on the back end. That could be someone like Matt Niskanen or Justin Braun.
The Flyers will be allowed to ice 13 forwards and seven defensemen. So we will see various combinations on the ice during the evening.
It will be the team’s first game since the season was paused in March. And while it won’t mean anything for the playoffs, it does mean that hockey is back.