It’s that time of year where you start to notice everything slowing down. The Sun cascading its light in such importance to give you a lasting impression before going away for a few months. The air beginning to chill, forcing change to your daily decisions — making previous standard practice like a hot coffee or that nice wool sweater, now necessity.
Maybe the Philadelphia Flyers are preparing for hibernation as well. Through the first four preseason games of their dreadful slate of exhibition action, this hockey team has scored four goals. Somehow, they earned themselves a victory in there, but this is just an incredible showing of grinding-to-a-halt-before-the-season-gets-started sort of gamesmanship.
It has been just some of the most meaningless hockey we have ever experience. This is not some sort of way to get excited about this season — that was already had to get excited about in the first place. Yesterday’s game against the Washington Capitals was perhaps the most boring time we had while watching something we supposedly care about, in a very long time.
If you want to experience that all again, or hope that something will change between then and now, then you’re out of luck. Today’s game against the Islanders will be unavailable to watch on television, with no broadcaster even attempting to show it on their channels. Thank goodness for that and their responsible reasoning, realizing that a Sunday evening preseason NHL game between the Flyers and New York Islanders in 2022, is just something nobody truly wants to watch.
Maybe there will be a spare online stream somewhere, but I am afraid that my computer will shut off and display What do you think you are doing? in giant blue text if I attempt to search for it.
Anyway, we have been given the roster for tonight’s penultimate preseason game, but not the lineup. So we had a guess.
Flyers’ projected lineup:
Wade Allison — Scott Laughton — Owen Tippett
Noah Cates — Morgan Frost — Tyson Foerster
Adam Brooks — Tanner Laczynski — Olle Lycksell
Nic Deslauriers — Jackson Cates — Hayden Hodgson
Max Willman
Cam York — Tony DeAngelo
Egor Zamula — Justin Braun
Adam Ginning — Kevin Connauton
Louie Belpedio
Samuel Ersson
Troy Grosenick
Maybe we will get to read all about how Tippett looked amazing, or how Foerster is claiming his spot on the roster, or how Frost is taking that next step into becoming a top-six center for this team, or Lycksell will score a hat-trick and beat out Zack MacEwen for a roster spot. We can only hope for these things to happen!
It’s a whole lot of roster hopefuls or young players, and then some regulars like DeAngelo and Braun. We are putting as much effort into this game preview as the Flyers put into playing hockey during the preseason.
Whatever. Go Birds.
