O, Canada! Flyers head north for unique Stanley Cup run

Sean Couturier (left) and Scott Laughton get set to board Sunday's flight to Toronto.

O, Canada, here they come.

The Flyers were one of 24 teams to begin the Stanley Cup playoff journey on Sunday when they took a charter jet to Toronto, Canada’s largest city.

They will open play with a preseason game at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Then it’s a round-robin tournament to determine top four seedings in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers will play Boston on Aug. 2, Washington on Aug. 6 and Tampa Bay on Aug. 8.

After that, the traditional 16-team tournament will begin.

The Flyers have high hopes for this postseason event. They haven’t won a playoff series since the 2011-12 season, the longest drought in franchise history.

There’s a lot of uncertainty to living “in a bubble’’ but Justin Braun believes the particulars of everyday life can he handled prudently.

“It’s a little different,’’ he said. “They told us today they’re going to be doing our laundry, so at least you’ll get some clean clothes once a week. It should be too bad. Guys have a general idea of what we need to bring. No suits this time, just kind of casual wear, so that cuts down on a lot of space. I don’t think it’s going to be too bad.’’

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About Wayne Fish 2420 Articles
Wayne Fish has been covering the Flyers since 1976, a stint which includes 18 Stanley Cup Finals, four Winter Olympics and numerous other international events.

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