With just 16 days until the regular season, the Philadelphia Flyers began the preparation to opening night. The preseason began as the Flyers split up the camp roster between Philadelphia and London, Ontario.
In Philadelphia, Mark Streit and Jake Voracek shined as the Flyers defeated the Washington Capitals, 5-4, at Wells Fargo Center.
In London, the Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs went to a shootout where the Leafs would score the only goal to secure a 3-2 win.
The Flyers trailed the Capitals, 2-1, following the first 20 minutes at home. Washington opened up a 2-0 lead on goals by Eric Fehr and John Erskine. Voracek scored with 24 seconds left on the power play to cut the lead to one.
Three goals in the second period carried the Flyers into the lead. Streit scored the equalizer on a shot from the point on the power play at 11:56. Andrew Gordon scored the go-ahead goal, beating Justin Peters through the five-hole at 14:26. Less than two minutes later, Brayden Schenn deflected a shot by Blair Jones to make it a 4-2 game.
Vincent Lecavalier scored on a deflection to open the third-period scoring just 34 seconds into the period. The Capitals added a pair of goals midway through the period with Troy Brouwer and Michael Latta scoring.
Ray Emery stopped nine of 11 shots faced before giving way to Rob Zepp midway through the game. Zepp stopped 17 of 19 shots.
In London, the Flyers and Leafs skated through a scoreless first period before the Flyers took the lead in the second on a power-play goal by Matt Read. Michael Raffl would also score in the period.
The Leafs got on the board late in the second on a goal by Nazim Kadri.
In the third, the Leafs tied the game on a goal by Tom Nilsson.
The game would go to a shootout where all three Flyers shooters – Jason Akeson, Raffl and Scott Laughton – were all stopped by former Flyers farm-hand goalie Cal Heeter. Anthony Stolarz made saves on the first two attempts before David Booth scored to give the Leafs the win.
Stolarz stopped 29 of 31 shots in the loss.
The Flyers return to the ice on Tuesday night in Toronto for their second preseason game in as many nights against the Maple Leafs. For some, the next preseason game will come on Thursday night when the Flyers face the New Jersey Devils at Wells Fargo Center.
Kevin Durso is the lead beat writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
