Philadelphia Flyers

Quick Hits: Weal, Neuvirth, Mason, Konecny, Gudas and More
April 7, 2017, 7:04 AM ET [160 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
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QUICK HITS: APRIL 7, 2017

1) Jordan Weal returned to the ice on Thursday as the Flyers held what may be their final full practice of the season (depending on whether Friday's session at the Skate Zone is an optional). Brandon Manning was also a full participant in practice. Mike Vecchione, who will be in Chicago on Friday evening for the Hobey Baker Award ceremony -- he is a finalist for his outstanding senior season at Union College -- will not play in Saturday afternoon's game at the Wells Fargo Center against the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, Vecchione rotated with the recently seldom-used Roman Lyubimov at Friday's practice. Travis Konecny and Nick Cousins rotated on the top line with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek.

2) Radko Gudas (upper-body injury) did not practice on Thursday and will be held out of the remaining two games of the season. Flyers general manager Ron Hextall, in a lengthy post-practice discussion with reporters that covered a wide array of topics, said there was at least a possibility that Gudas could have played this weekend if the games were meaningful. Since the team is eliminated from playoff contention, there is no need to push it.

3) The Flyers said that Michal Neuvirth is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. This appears to be something separate from the upper respiratory infection and possible dehydration that seemingly contributed to the goaltender's fainting/collapsing episode during last Saturday's game against the Devils. Hextall declined to elaborate any further. It was speculated aloud by media members that Neuvirth perhaps was suffering ill effects from hitting the back of his head on the ice as he fell down before the center ice faceoff following a Brayden Schenn goal in the first period. In any case, Neuvirth will be held out of the final two games.

4) With back-to-back games on Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening, the Flyers will likely split the two games in goal between Steve Mason and Anthony Stolarz. Although not confirmed as the starter for Saturday's game, Mason went through his usual routine for when he's slated to start the next game. If Friday's practice is an optional, it's likely that only the next day's backup will take reps.

5) Mason talked at length after practice about his streaky season and impending free agency. The goalie said that the lack of a defined goalie rotation early in the season was a struggle for him and, conversely, playing every game of tightly packed sets of matches in December -- at one point starting eight times in 13 nights, left him tired for awhile as the schedule reached midseason. Mason did not seem particularly optimistic of re-signing with the Flyers, but also did not rule out that possibility. The goaltender, who thanked former Flyers goalie coach Jeff Reese and current coach Kim Dillabaugh for helping him sharpen his game after coming over from Columbus at the 2013 trade deadline, said that he's enjoyed his years with the Flyers and thinks they've generally been productive. Asked again about his contract situation, Mason said that he'll focus more on that in the offseason. He added that he's not concerned about being able to find work for next season and that now that he has a family, it is easier not to take job-related matters home with him.

6) Travis Konecny has shown remarkable maturity and insight into his rookie season in the NHL, which has come with many of the typical trials and tribulations of teenage players in the league. Not infrequently, young players are the first to be benched for a bad penalty or making risky plays they could get away with in the game's developmental levels but rarely work in the NHL.

“I think eventually I will look back on these experiences I am going through and can use them, whether on the ice, or off the ice, as life lessons. Everything you learn in hockey doesn’t just contribute to hockey and I know you have to work hard for everything you get," Konecny said.

The player, who said that teammates have shared their own rookie experiences with him and that he is aware that many other players his age have often faced adversity as well as doses of success. The 20-year-old noted that its par for the course to be moved around among different linemates, spend some time on the fourth line, periodically be a healthy scratch, etc.

Konecny, who is averaging 14:10 of ice time, also said that he understood his benching for a significant portion of Tuesday's game after taking a careless penalty in the opening minute of the first period and being called out by Dave Hakstol for not being ready to play from the drop of the opening faceoff.

"I understand what was happening and knew [why],” he said. “I knew I was going to get another opportunity in the game.”

Konecny said that his tripping penalty was an instant momentum killer for a team, and a bad -- if accidental -- play on his part. Over his shoulder, serial chirper (and no stranger to the occasional bad penalty) Nick Cousins offered grinning commentary away from the microphones, fully agreeing with Konecny that it was an awful penalty to take and encouraging his locker room neighbor to verbally take himself to task a little more for it.

6) Wayne Simmonds, one of several players in the Flyers locker room who was under the weather from the bug going around the team, smiled sadly when asked about the team's chance to set it's best home record since 2000-01 if they win both games this weekend.

On the one hand, he acknowledged that there have been some very good Flyers teams in that time period (including a Stanley Cup finalist, an additional pair of Eastern Conference Finalist teams, and clubs that were playoff shoo-ins). On the other hand, he said, the bottom line is that team's road record cost them a playoff spot and is an ongoing issue that need to be resolved. Simmonds opined that the team needs to simplify its game on the road more consistently. He said that it's the overall record is ultimately the only thing that matters.

Flyers captain Claude Giroux said that the team needs to take pride in its home record, that they enjoy playing in front of the Philly crowds -- and that the fans deserve their best effort -- and that it shows what the team is capable of doing. He , too, then stressed the need to get better on the road.

Hextall, conversely, did not see the home record as any source of pride in a season in which they missed the playoffs, adding "I'd rather set a best road record, to be honest." That is because teams with strong road records are usually the contenders come playoff time.

7) The strong season enjoyed by Flyers goaltending prospect Merrick Madsen and his Harvard team came to a heartbreaking end in the Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday. Tied 1-1 late in the third period, Alex Iafallo put Minnesota Duluth ahead to stay with 26.6 seconds remaining in regulation. Madsen stopped 36 of 38 shots in a losing cause.