VOORHEES, N.J. — For the first time in eight days, the Flyers were able to take the ice Tuesday morning.
There were some new faces at practice while plenty of familiar faces were missing.
The team was back on the ice after its seven-day pause enforced by COVID protocols.
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General manager Chuck Fletcher on Tuesday said the Flyers had more than one positive COVID-19 case in Washington, D.C., last week, which resulted in the team's NHL-mandated shutdown. Head coach Alain Vigneault confirmed that Claude Giroux's COVID-19 test came back positive last Tuesday, which led to the team's game that night being postponed. Giroux and Justin Braun were added to the NHL's COVID protocol list that night.
There have been a multitude of postponements and schedule changes across the league. The Flyers had four games last week postponed. Last Thursday's and Saturday's games were already postponed prior to the Flyers' shutdown. The Flyers last played Feb. 7 against the Capitals. Travis Sanheim missed the team's 7-4 win that afternoon because of COVID protocols. Without Sanheim, the team practiced last Monday at Capital One Arena and was then shut down the following day.
More: A glimpse behind Flyers' COVID-19 shutdown, return to the ice and outlook moving forward
The Flyers had 16 players for this Tuesday's practice at Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone. Fletcher said the Flyers will have a group of eight players eligible to join practice Wednesday.
NHL
James van Riemsdyk, Sean Couturier, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Philippe Myers and Erik Gustafsson did not practice Tuesday but have not been on the NHL's COVID protocol list. Fletcher said the Flyers are following the league's quarantine requirements.
The Flyers on Tuesday night had seven players on the COVID protocol list: Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom, Scott Laughton, Morgan Frost (already on injured reserve), Jakub Voracek, Giroux and Braun. Vigneault said those players will not be available to play Thursday against the Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
Four taxi squad regulars did not practice Tuesday: Alex Lyon, Samuel Morin, Nate Prosser and Carsen Twarynski.
Here is the group of 16 players (14 skaters, two goalies) that practiced Tuesday:
Andy Andreoff
Connor Bunnaman
Brian Elliott
Joel Farabee
Mark Friedman
Shayne Gostisbehere
Robert Hagg
Carter Hart
Kevin Hayes
David Kase
Nolan Patrick
Derrick Pouliot
Ivan Provorov
Michael Raffl
Travis Sanheim
Maksim Sushko
More: A lot coming Flyers' way with personnel adjustments, schedule changes, makeup dates
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