Flyers vs. Capitals preview: Steve Mason will play, Andrew MacDonald will not

Steve Mason left practice early on Wednesday, and he underwent an MRI to take a look at an unspecified injury that apparently was suffered or aggravated on Tuesday night against Ottawa.

But it seemingly was nothing. Mason is expected to start Thursday's game against the Washington Capitals, and he was on the ice for the morning skate. Good thing, too, because Rob Zepp and the Phantoms are on the road to Newfoundland right now ... and the travel to get there is a little nuts.

In other news, Luke Schenn will check back into the lineup. Sitting will be ... Andrew MacDonald?

Luke Schenn plays tonight, MacDonald sits. Berube says it's because of Washington's big forwards.

— wayne fish (@waynefish1) January 8, 2015

Well, OK. MacDonald deserves to sit just as much as anybody else on this defense, but "Washington is big" is probably the wrong reason to make that call. In any event, that's your only change for this game.

Washington enters as the hottest team in the NHL right now, winners of three straight including last week's Winter Classic. But forget about that: You should probably make fun of Brooks Orpik's virgin ears tonight.

"Probably not a building you want to bring your kids to, that’s for sure," Orpik said. "They’d learn some new language, especially with the way the benches are set up. They’re kind of open to the crowd."

That's an invitation if I've ever heard one.