The Philadelphia Flyers are visiting the Washington Capitals — or are the Washington Capitals visiting the Philadelphia Flyers? Either way, there is a preseason game going on between these two hockey teams at the Giant center in Hershey, PA, home of the Hershey Bears, and it should be a fun one. At the very least, we’re going to get to watch some Flyers hockey, at the very most, we’re going to find out some things about some NHL hopefuls.
Puck drop: 7:00 p.m.
How to watch/listen:
📺: NBCSP+
📻: 97.5 The Fanatic
Pregame reading
- A year ago, we made predictions of how Matvei Michkov’s rookie season is going to go. Now, we revisit the 39 “firsts” that we thought were going to happen. [BSH]
- Rick Tocchet has a new nickname courtesy of Trevor Zegras. [BSH]
- Flyers send a few players back to their respective junior teams. [BSH]
Pregame watching
Projected lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Alex Bump — Noah Cates — Travis Konecny
Nikita Grebenkin — Jett Luchanko — Owen Tippett
Denver Barkey — Jack Nesbitt — Devin Kaplan
Nic Deslauriers — Jacob Gaucher — Rodrigo Abols
Cam York — Helge Grans
Adam Ginning — Egor Zamula
Dennis Gilbert — Noah Juulsen
Dan Vladar
(Aleksei Kolosov)
Washington Capitals
Ivan Miroshnichenko — Dylan Strome — Ryan Leonard
Andrew Cristall — Connor McMichael — Aliaksei Protas
Sonny Milano — Hendrix Lapierre — Ethen Frank
Matt Strome — Ilya Protas — Justin Sourdif/Spencer Smallman
Rasmus Sandin — Matt Roy
Declan Chisholm — Dylan McIlrath
David Gucciardi — Vincent Iorio
Clay Stevenson
(Charlie Lindgren)
Storylines to watch
Roster hopefuls still in position to succeed
It’s been a topic of conversation that is basically the entire reason why the Flyers are having a training camp in the first place, but Jett Luchanko, Alex Bump, and Nikita Grebenkin are all vying for one of the (potentially) open NHL roster spots. And on Thursday night in Hershey all three of those players should be playing a whole lot of minutes and will be playing those minutes with either their prospect peers or full-time, very good NHL hockey players.
Bump is getting the first-line responsibilities alongside defensively sound Cates and Travis Konecny. Those three should provide a fairly balanced approach to the game and those two players should make life just a little bit easier for Bump. Basically, if he doesn’t look good with these two then we know where he should start his season.
Grebenkin and Luchanko will be playing together with Owen Tippett on the second line and the dynamic could be thrilling. Luchanko and Tippett have been linked throughout camp and we’re convinced it’s just because those two are the only two skaters who can keep up with each other. Their speed will be mixed in with Grebenkin’s desire to get to the front of the net and cause havoc — making what seems to be a pretty straightforward offensive strategy.
With those players in those positions, they at least have the opportunity to do something.
The goaltending rotation
According to Rick Tocchet (for real this time), Dan Vladar will be making his Flyers (preseason) debut as he is going to play for the first period and then make way for Aleksei Kolosov for the remaining 40 minutes. Vladar will be facing some tough shooters on the ice for the Capitals but as it is with any new player, it will be interesting to see how it all pans out.
Tocchet says that Vladar is only going to get the first period tonight, just like Ersson did on Tuesday. That's an organizational plan meant to help the two NHL goalies be ready for the start of the year. They'll get full games next week.
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) September 25, 2025
While it reads as Kolosov just being The Other Goalie, it is crucial for him to start his season out correctly and the Flyers having at least some positive thoughts about him after the preseason would be great.
Matt Strome is playing hockey against the Flyers
Yup.
