text: Maybe home ice will be kinder for Flyers against Panthers | Sports | pottsmerc.com
  Flyers captain Claude Giroux, right, gives Steve Mason a peop talk after the goalie gave up his fourth goal of the first period against the Panthers Saturday night. Mason was pulled in favor of Michael Neuvirth in a disastrous 7-1 loss to the Panthers.
  Maybe home ice will be kinder for Flyers against Panthers
  Oct 11, 2015 Updated Mar 23, 2021
  VOORHEES, N.J. >> Crank up the publicity machine, Philadelphia, because the Flyers are back. Yes, the team that actually paid a marketing person to come up with the slogan "Play Boldly!" has its home opener Monday night, boldly coming out of the Wells Fargo Center tunnel two nights after a 7-1 loss to the Florida Panthers.
  Two games road games in Florida, two losses. That's a bold place to be for a team that for the third straight year swore it had to get off to a better start. Don't be surprised if they come on the ice Monday wearing fake noses and wigs.
  "We're going to be 100 percent ready, no matter what," Jake Voracek swore Sunday. "We'd be approaching the game the same way as if we would have won yesterday. It's an 82-game season and we just have to make sure we're ready tomorrow."
  If they needed any more motivation, the Flyers have it in their home-opener opponent — the Florida Panthers of the seven goals on a Saturday night Florida Panthers.
  "They just spanked us," Wayne Simmonds said looking back on that game. "We know we messed up last night. We know where we messed up. The guys came out today and we had a solid practice the day after a loss like that. All we can do is build off that and learn from our negatives."
  It remains to be seen if head coach Dave Hakstol has learned if it's already time for a change. While Vinny Lecavalier being a healthy scratch around here is nothing new, another noteworthy veteran scorer who was benched for the two games in Florida might be in the starting lineup Monday.
  That would be Sam Gagner, who won praise for his first Flyers training camp from Hakstol, but didn't win a place in the lineup. He practiced with the starters Sunday, though that was with R.J. Umberger missing in action due to what was being called a "maintenance day."
  Of course, that might be a euphemism for "he's hurt and we're not telling you why."
  Either way, Gagner is hoping it means he'll be in the lineup.
  "I certainly hope so," Gagner said. "I want to be a part of things. I definitely feel I can help, so it's frustrating. I want to be out there helping my team. It's not fun (not playing). I want to be out there tomorrow and hopefully I get a chance to do that."
  Hakstol offered no other information on Umberger, who opened the season Thursday night with a pair of assists in the 3-2 overtime loss in Tampa. As for Gagner, Hakstol's comments were similarly vague.
  "It's early; we're going to need everybody here and when he gets his opportunity, he'll go in and he'll be ready," Hakstol said. He added that Gagner's biggest problem in camp was making the transition from center to wing, but he still thought Gagner had done a good job of that.
  "It's a tough transition when you're all of a sudden playing on the wall in your end and doing all those little things that wingers have to do," Hakstol said. "Quite honestly, that's probably one of the most difficult areas of the game, playing on the wall with the puck and coming out of your own zone."
  To that end, Gagner knows he has to play in order to get better.
  "I've never sat two in a row," he said. "It's definitely unexpected, but I'm going to control what I can control. That's my focus right now. The motivation's there. ... I feel like I've kept a good attitude, pushed myself in practice to stay ready and hopefully when the opportunity comes I can get in there and stay in there for good."
  Even coming off a six-goal loss, it's too early to wager any opinions on how good or not-so good the Flyers might be.
  "It's not like, you know, we got beat back-t-back by 7-1," Voracek said. "We lost a game. We lost two points. That's the way we have to look at it. So we had a bad game and now it's a new day. We had a good practice and we have to put that behind us. I think we already did."
  • • •NOTES >> Steve Mason was very good in Tampa Thursday, very bad in Sunrise Saturday. After such an up and down Florida road trip, he almost certainly will land back in the crease for the Flyers in their first home game Monday night. "Mase is our guy," Hakstol said. "We got ourselves down by four as a team. We played that 60 minutes as a team. I haven't made any decisions yet for the lineup but, Mase is our guy. I'll leave that at that." ... After this Panthers rematch, the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks are coming to town Wednesday night.