The Flyers (9-4-3) will be as close to full strength as they've been in three weeks on Saturday when they open a back-to-back set against the Sabres (6-8-3).
Let's get into the essentials for the game:
- When: 1 p.m. ET with Flyers Pregame Live at noon ET
- Where: KeyBank Center
- Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
- Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app
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• Jakub Voracek is one of four Flyers players expected to return to the lineup against the Sabres.
Voracek had been on the NHL's COVID protocol list and was in a mandatory 14-day quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus. He skated Thursday for the first time since Feb. 8 and practiced Friday.
How did he stay in touch with teammates during his quarantine?
"We play Call of Duty," Voracek said Friday. "Because I'm here by myself without the family, I have a lot of spare time. I was lucky enough that during the day I played Call of Duty and at 7 p.m., it was the Australian Open on. Because I'm a big fan of tennis, I kind of get long nights of watching tennis until like 5 a.m. and then slept all the way through the day, so kind of cut my days in half, which was an advantage for me."
NHL
Following their own two-week stints on the NHL's COVID protocol list, Oskar Lindblom, Scott Laughton and Justin Braun are also set to reenter the lineup against the Sabres.
"I expect those guys to come in and try to help us win games because we've got quite a lovely schedule ahead of us," Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said Friday.
Travis Konecny remains on the COVID protocol list, going back to Feb. 14.
More: The latest standard set by Giroux has Flyers teammates pushing to come back
• It's possible Vigneault will sit Philippe Myers on Saturday. Instead of skating with Travis Sanheim, Myers was paired with Nate Prosser in Friday's practice, a potential implication that he could be the odd man out against Buffalo.
“I haven’t made that decision yet," Vigneault said Friday after practice. "I wanted to see Brauner with Travis. Brauner has been skating since Wednesday. Wednesday was his first day from COVID protocol, so wanted to see him with Travis. I’m going to talk to my staff on the way down.
"We're playing six games in nine nights, I have a feeling that if I can, I will be using more personnel. I don't recall that any time in my coaching career — and I've been around a couple of years — six games in nine nights. We're not the only team, a lot of teams are doing that. If I have the possibility to use a rotating forwards and Ds, that might be a possibility for me. We'll figure it out game by game."
Myers is one of the club's better and most versatile blueliners, so it would be an eye-opening scratch. If he is out Saturday, it won't be for long.
• Sabres star Jack Eichel is out for Saturday's game. He is currently day to day with a lower-body injury.
Projected lineup
Forwards
James van Riemsdyk-Sean Couturier-Joel Farabee
Claude Giroux-Kevin Hayes-Nolan Patrick
Oskar Lindblom-Scott Laughton-Jakub Voracek
Michael Raffl-Connor Bunnaman-Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Defensemen
Ivan Provorov-Shayne Gostisbehere
Travis Sanheim-Justin Braun
Robert Hagg-Erik Gustafsson
Goalies
Brian Elliott
Carter Hart
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