Flyers Preseason Game 1: Lineups and Information

The Philadelphia Flyers will officially unofficially kick off their 2023-24 season tonight when they take on the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center at 7 p.m. This clash between rivals will be each team’s first preseason game, however the Devils will be having a split-squad game against the Montreal Canadiens tonight as well.

Flyers items to know

• Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson will return to the Flyers’ lineup tonight after missing the entirety of the 2022-23 season
• Newcomer Cal Petersen will play the first two periods of the game in goal
• Felix Sandstrom will get the third period
• Travis Konecny is ‘banged up’, will not play tonight
• Olle Lycksell will be playing on the second line with Atkinson and Morgan Frost
• 2023 draftees Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk will both play
• The Flyers and Devils last met on Feb. 25, 2023; New Jersey won 7-0
• Tonight’s game will not be televised, but a stream will be available at philadelphiaflyers.com
• Todd Fedoruk will be calling his first game, which can be heard on 97.5 The Fanatic.

Flyers lineup @ NJD

According to PHLY’s Charlie O’Connor, the Flyers’ lines tonight are as follows:

Joel Farabee – Sean Couturier – Bobby Brink

Olle Lycksell – Morgan Frost – Cam Atkinson

Matt Brown – Denver Barkey – Tyson Foerster

Brendan Furry – Elliot Desnoyers – Samu Tuomaala

The defense pairings had some moving parts, but from my understanding they should look something like this:

Cam York – Sean Walker

Nick Seeler – Oliver Bonk

Emil Andrae – Helge Grans

Cal Petersen will start and play periods 1 and 2, and Felix Sandstrom will close the game out.

The Flyers’ opponents

The Devils will have one group of players playing the Canadiens in Montreal tonight and another facing the Flyers in New Jersey, so not all of their usual suspects will be playing. That will include LHD Luke Hughes, who will not play for either Devils squad this evening.

Devils reporter Amanda Stein did not have lines or pairings for the team’s game against the Flyers, but they should look something like this, based on what I have seen:

Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Alexander Holtz

Jesper Bratt – Erik Haula – Ondrej Palat

Josh Filmon – Michael McLeod – Tyce Thompson

Brian Halonen – Shane Bowers – Ryan Schmelzer

Kevin Bahl – Dougie Hamilton

Brendan Smith – Cal Foote

Santeri Hatakka – Daniil Misyul

Vitek Vanecek will begin his second season in New Jersey playing the first two periods, and former Toronto Maple Leaf Erik Kallgren will finish the game for the Devils.

The Flyers will certainly have their hands full tonight, even with the absence of other Devils like Jack Hughes and Dawson Mercer. Hischier, Meier, and Bratt will represent a huge first challenge for Couturier as he continues to work his way back into regular season form. Tonight, we play hockey.