It all begins Friday in Prague, Czech Republic.
The Flyers kick off their 2019-20 regular season against the Blackhawks as part of the NHL Global Series.
Is this team poised for a return to the playoffs? We have our predictions here.
Meanwhile, let's get into Friday's essentials:
• When: 2 p.m. ET with Flyers Pregame Live at 1:30 p.m. ET
• Where: O2 Arena
• Broadcast: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Live stream: NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com and the NBC Sports MyTeams app
• Here are the NHL's leading scorers since 2013-14:
Philadelphia Flyers
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia Flyers and their rivals in the NHL from NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Sidney Crosby - 551 points
Patrick Kane - 514 points
Alex Ovechkin - 476 points
Claude Giroux - 471 points
Giroux has 23 points and a plus-9 rating in 16 career regular season games against the Blackhawks.
• In 2018-19, the Blackhawks allowed the NHL's second-most goals (291) and the Flyers surrendered the third most (280).
The Flyers believe a full year of Carter Hart and the acquisitions of Kevin Hayes, Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun will lower that figure.
The Blackhawks are hoping the additions of Robin Lehner, Olli Maatta and Calvin de Haan (when healthy), along with Corey Crawford, will improve things on their end.
• Last season, Hart beat the Blackhawks in his lone matchup against Chicago. He made 40 saves on 41 shots.
• The Flyers have won their last three season openers by a combined score of 14-7.
• This is fun:
The #Flyers' first goal scorer of the last five seasons:
• Oskar Lindblom - 2018-19
• Claude Giroux - 2017-18
• Boyd Gordon - 2016-17 (no, seriously)
• Matt Read - 2015-16
• Sean Couturier - 2014-15— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) October 4, 2019
Quotable
It's always for them. To see me play at home and what the people are saying about me in the stands, I think it's going to give them a good feeling about they raised me well and they did something right.
- Jakub Voracek on playing in front of his native fans
Projected lineup
Forwards
Claude Giroux-Kevin Hayes-Jakub Voracek
Oskar Lindblom-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny
James van Riemsdyk-Scott Laughton-Carsen Twarynski
Connor Bunnaman-Michael Raffl-Tyler Pitlick
Defensemen
Ivan Provorov-Justin Braun
Travis Sanheim-Matt Niskanen
Robert Hagg-Shayne Gostisbehere
Goalies
Carter Hart
Brian Elliott
Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device.
