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Flyers might benefit from choppy ice outdoors

Rain is expected Saturday morning and afternoon, and the ice conditions may not be the best when the Flyers face the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins later that night in the NHL's Stadium Series at Heinz Field.

Rain is expected Saturday morning and afternoon, and the ice conditions may not be the best when the Flyers face the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins later that night in the NHL's Stadium Series at Heinz Field.

"It comes down to limiting your mistakes," Flyers winger Matt Read said Thursday after practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. "If the ice is bad and the puck bounces around, you just have to make sure you get pucks deep and live to fight another day out there. If it's choppy and bouncy, it won't be so much a skill game but a hardworking-and-looking-for-the-lucky-bounce game."

Choppy ice conditions might work in the Flyers' favor and slow down the speedier, more talented Penguins.

"In the games I've played outdoors, the ice hasn't been the greatest," captain Claude Giroux said, "so you try to keep it simple out there."

If the Flyers can find a way to beat the Penguins, it "could push us in the right direction. Maybe mentally it gives us a huge push," left winger Michael Raffl said.

"At the end of the day, it's two points," Read said. "It's a 60-minute hockey game played on the same ice sheet. . . . It's a lifetime experience and you enjoy it for maybe the warm-ups and take it all in, and once the game starts, it's back to 200 by 85 [feet] and go from there."

The Flyers will be playing before the largest crowd in franchise history as more than 60,000 fans are expected to attend the game.

"It's pretty weird because when you're on the ice, you don't really hear the crowd," Giroux said. "It's obviously pretty exciting to play in the Steelers' stadium and playing against Pittsburgh, too."

"It's a must-win for us no matter where we play," Raffl said. "We could play here at the Skate Zone and we would be excited. . . . It's worth two points and we need those two points."

Raffl said he once played in an outdoor game in Austria before 30,000 fans and "it started to snow and it was actually awesome. I'm expecting more [excitement] here. It's going to be sweet."

Flyers goalie Michal Neuvirth was a backup for an outdoor game for Washington, but he is expected to get his sixth straight start Saturday.

"I'm going to prepare myself for 8 o'clock on Saturday and play my game," he said. "We have to focus on the game. There's going to be a lot of distractions . . . but we're going to go there and it's all about business."

The Flyers have played the Penguins just once this season, dropping a 5-4 decision in Pittsburgh on Oct. 29. Back then, the Flyers were scoring goals in bunches, collecting four goals or more in seven of their first 11 games.

By comparison, they haven't scored more than three goals in their last 16 games.

Breakaways

Jake Voracek, who leads the Flyers with 49 points, left practice with an undisclosed injury and was treated by trainer Jim McCrossin. The Flyers said he is expected to play Saturday. Voracek was injured when a puck deflected off his groin at Tuesday's practice, but he played Wednesday and was one of the Flyers' best players in their 4-1 loss to Washington. . . . Jordan Weal, sidelined the last two games, said he would be a game-time decision Saturday and he was "feeling better every day." . . . The Flyers began Thursday three points out of a playoff spot. "We were in the same position last year and we found a way to do it. Hopefully that experience will help us do the same," Giroux said.