"It will be pretty exciting, pretty cool for us since we haven't played each other" since juniors, said Brayden Schenn on Monday after the third day of the Flyers' camp in Voorhees.
Schenn said he and his brother have been talking about the 7 p.m. game - to be shown on the Comcast Network - "ever since the schedule came out." Schenn added that the meeting "won't change anything for me" and that he wants to play his usual game. "I've got to play him as just any other guy. I'm sure it's going to be a little different at the start, but after a couple shifts I'm sure it will be the same old game."
On Monday, Schenn centered a line with Max Talbot and Wayne Simmonds. Schenn and Simmonds came to the Flyers in the deal that sent Mike Richards to Los Angeles in the summer. Schenn said he has "a little more chemistry" with Simmonds because they played together a bit with the Kings.
While Schenn is favored to win the third-line center spot, Kessel is a long shot to break camp with the team. After playing three years at the University of New Hampshire, he signed a two-year entry-level deal for $1.85 million with the Flyers on Wednesday then scored a goal and added an assist as the Flyers defeated Washington on Thursday, 3-2, in a rookie game.
Kessel's older brother, Phil, scored 32 goals last season. No word on whether Phil will dress Tuesday.
"It'd be nice to finally play against him after being around him so much all my life, and him always trying to help me," Blake Kessel said. "It'd be nice to kind of put my skills to the test against him and see how things go."
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette didn't announce his lineup for Tuesday, but the lines he used in Monday's first group were expected to go to Toronto.
The lines looked like this: Sean Couturier centering Matt Read and Jakub Voracek; Michael Nylander centering Scott Hartnell and Andreas Nodl; Schenn centering Talbot and Simmonds; and Blair Betts centering Jody Shelley and Adam Mair.
After three days of drills, Laviolette is looking forward to a preseason game.
"I think you get your best read on a situation or on players when they're competing against others," he said. "This is our first crack at it, and I think everyone's excited to get going."
Breakaways. Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to start in goal. Ilya Bryzgalov and Michael Leighton will not make the trip. . . . Chris Pronger, making a comeback from back surgery, skated briefly with the team and appears to be ahead of schedule. . . . Tuesday's game will be televised by the NHL Network. . . . The Flyers sent 15 players back to their junior teams, including winger Tomas Hyka, who scored in last week's rookie game, and center Nick Cousins, the team's third-round draft pick in June.
Contact staff writer Sam Carchidi at scarchidi@phillynews.com, or on Twitter at BroadStBull.
