Brian Elliott will be right back in the Flyers' net for Game 2, from Dave Hakstol's tone following practice Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
“I fully stand by what I said last night,” Philadelphia's coach responded to a reporter's question on the topic. “That was how I felt, and I’m not going to move away for sure from that.”
What Hakstol said of his goaltending situation Wednesday, the previous night, after Elliott gave up five goals on 19 shots in the Penguins' 7-0 rout in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, was this: “I fully stand by what I said last night with how I felt, and I'm not going to move away from that. But again, I'm not making any lineup decisions or announcing any lineup decisions today. I've never done that. We'll do that on game days."
Which wasn't exactly a resounding endorsement. But then, Hakstol's options aren't exactly overflowing.
Elliott, 33, is the Flyers' starter, he's popular with teammates, and he's got far more pedigree than anyone else in the Philadelphia system. But he's also a week removed from ending a 53-day absence for core muscle surgery, and there's no small amount of sentiment that he was rushed back because ... well, because of Petr Mrazek and all the rest.
Oh, and Elliott's faced the Penguins three times this season, including Game 1, and has a 6.42 goals-against average and .835 save percentage.
“It’s just a matter of going back to work and having the confidence that we can definitely be better," Elliott said before adding of his own practice Thursday: "I felt good. I felt confident and big in there."
Elliott had one net to himself in practice, while backups Mrazek and Michal Neuvirth split time in the other. Neuvirth is working to come back from a lower-body injury, and his status was uncertain enough that Dustin Tokarski was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the AHL for Game 1. Tokarski didn't dress and was sent back Thursday.
That leaves Mrazek, 26, who's been mostly lousy since the Flyers acquired him at midseason from the Red Wings: In 15 starts, he's 6-6 with a 3.22 goals-against average and .891 save percentage. It's worth noting, though, that in 10 career playoff games with Detroit, those figures were 1.88 and .931.
The leash for Elliott doesn't look to be long.
Hakstol made no other visible changes in practice, at least based on the lines and pairings shown through colored sweaters, from Game 1:
Giroux-Couturier-Raffl
Lindblom-Patrick-Voracek
Konecny-Filppula-Simmonds
Laughton-Lehtera-Read
Provorov-Gostisbehere
Sanheim-MacDonald
Manning-Gudas
Possibilities for change: Robert Hagg, a physical defenseman, could be added. So might Jordan Weal, a 21-point winger in the regular season. And Travis Konecny, who scored 21 goals in the 41 games he spent on the Flyers' top line in the regular season, could bump Michael Raffl from that spot next to Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier. The latter might be the most likely, given that Giroux, Couturier and Raffl were a combined minus-11 with four shots in Game 1.
Hakstol cautioned reporters against reading his practice lines and pairings as firm.
"Postseason's a little bit different," he said. "We may or may not make lineup changes as we go into tomorrow's game. Today's practice was more about getting focused in on a couple of areas we wanted to clean up and be sharper in terms of our execution."
