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As roster decisions loom, Flyers try to remain stoic

"Obviously I'd like to be up here with these guys," Vecchione said. "But if they decide I need to go down there to get the ice time and develop, I'll deal with that too."

Flyers center Mike Vecchione.
Flyers center Mike Vecchione.Read more(Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)

Twelve players and goaltender Brian Elliott took part in Tuesday's morning skate at Skate Zone in Voorhees.

Most will not play in tonight's game against the New York Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center, the second of back-to-back exhibition games. The Rangers won, 3-2, in overtime Monday at Madison Square Garden.

Matt Read will be on the ice, however, fighting what may be a losing battle for one of the last roster spots. "It's a little anxiety riddled," he said after the skate Tuesday. "I'm trying to have a stoic attitude. But obviously there's a little nerves to go along with it.''

Because he is waivers-exempt and Scott Laughton is not, it is likely Mike Vecchione will at least begin his season at Lehigh Valley. The Flyers are at 26 players right now with three cuts remaining, and even a big explosion over the remaining three exhibition games is not likely to alter what is, for now, more numbers game than evaluation based.

Hence, the stoicism.

"Obviously I'd like to be up here with these guys," Vecchione said. "But if they decide I need to go down there to get the ice time and develop, I'll deal with that too. I'm pretty stoic about the whole. I'm not laid back. If it happens, it's not going to be easy by any means. But I've been through this plenty of times, although, in this case it's a little different because it's the best league in the world.

"Whether I am with the Phantoms or the Flyers, I'll give it everything I have."

The others on the ice with Vecchione Tuesday morning: Ivan Provorov, Radko Gudas, Andrew MacDonald, Wayne Simmonds, Oskar Lindblom, Valteri Filppula, Read, Dale Weise, Taylor Leier, Samuel Morin and Jori Lehtera.

Lindblom, Leier, MacDonald, Gudas, Weise and Elliott will dress for tonight's game. Elliott is expected to start in goal. Tonight's lineup will again include Sean Couturier centering Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek, as the experiment to deal with a glut of centers continues.

The Flyers also recalled forward Mikhail Vorobyev for the game.

Here are the other players slated to skate: Travis Konecny, Michael Raffl, Laughton, Jordan Weal, Nolan Patrick, Brandon Manning, Robert Hagg, Shayne Gostisbehere and Travis Sanheim, who scored both goals in Monday night's loss to New York.