Coach Peter Laviolette and general manager Paul Holmgren "have been talking about having an outside practice for a while now," Hardenbergh said. "They wanted to do something fun and different."
With skyscrapers in the background, the players, feeling like little kids on a pond, wore broad smiles during the scrimmage at Lasker Rink.
"It was a great bonding experience," Laviolette said.
The Flyers will face the host Rangers on Sunday night as they end a grueling stretch in which they will have played nine of 10 games on the road. They are 6-3 in that span, including a 5-3 road mark.
Going through four grueling playoff rounds last spring, Laviolette said on Friday, has helped spur their road success this season.
"Maybe it comes from some of the battles we had as a group last year," said Laviolette, whose conference- and division-leading team will have a difficult challenge against the goal-stingy Rangers. "Every group is different. You go through something last year and you toughen up a little bit. It toughens your skin, and when you get in a road situation, it's not so [daunting]. They rely on each other and there seems a lot of trust in each other in what we need to do to be successful.
"We do the work, and we do it together."
Inside or outside.
With the season just past the halfway mark, the Flyers already have almost as many roads wins as they did in the entire 2009-10 season, when they were 17-21-3. They are on pace to surpass the best road record in franchise history: 24-10-5-2 in 2002-03.
Center Danny Briere thinks the Flyers' road record is good because they have so much scoring balance on the first three lines. Even though their host opponents have the last line change, it doesn't help them much, Briere said.
"We're not an easy team to match up against," Briere said.
Ville Leino, Briere's playmaking linemate, said the Flyers rely heavily on basics when they are playing on their opponents' ice.
"We try to work more and don't try to get too fancy on the road." Leino said. "Just get the puck in . . . and play with consistency."
Inside or outside.
Breakaways. Entering Saturday night's game in Montreal, goalies Henrik Lundqvist and former Flyer Marty Biron had helped the Rangers compile a 2.37 goals-against average, sixth-best in the NHL. . . . The Flyers are 6-2-2 on the second half of games on back-to-back nights.
Contact staff writer Sam Carchidi at 215-854-5181 or scarchidi@phillynews.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter/BroadStBull.
