How to watch, listen to Flyers-Penguins exhibition; ‘We’re trying to make it as normal as we can,' Jim Jackson says
When the Flyers face the Penguins in an exhibition game Tuesday afternoon in Toronto, the announcers will also be trying to get out the rust as they broadcast games off a monitor in Philadelphia.
After 140 days, hockey is back for the Flyers and their fans.
The Flyers will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4 p.m. exhibition Tuesday, and the game will be broadcast by NBC Sports Philadelphia+ and on 97.5 The Fanatic. You can also watch or listen to the live-streamed broadcasts: go to NBC Sports Philadelphia for the video, and Flyers Radio 24/7 for the audio.
The game will be played in Toronto, but the broadcast teams will be working from booths at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, where they will view the action off monitors.
Yes, the pandemic has changed the way we cover the game. The Inquirer will have several stories off the game as reporters watch on TV and do Zoom interviews with players and coaches.
Jim Jackson, Keith Jones, and Taryn Hatcher will be working the TV side, and Tim Saunders, Steve Coates, and Jason Myrtetus will handle the radio duties. All will be socially distanced, Jackson said.
Jackson said NBC will be giving the broadcasters a wide-view of the rink, “almost what we would see from the press box” if the action was in front of them. Extra cameras will provide different angles of the game.
Jackson said he has broadcast some games off a monitor when the Flyers have played preseason matchups in Allentown, home of their AHL team, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The broadcast teams will be calling games off monitors throughout the postseason.
“It’s not optimal, but you can make it work,” Jackson said. “Hey, it’s hockey. We’re playing and broadcasting for the first time in four months, so we’re excited. ... We’re trying to make it as normal as we can.”
Jackson said there will be a five-second delay “for worries there may be some cursing on the ice.”
Calling a game off a monitor has some challenges, he said.
“The biggest thing is that hockey is such a fast game and you have to see where the puck is going, not where it’s at, and that’s what you lose if you’re just watching what’s in range of the camera,” he said. “The wider angles can help us. I will probably have to simplify it a little bit, I like to call every pass and I’m not sure you can do that because you can’t see everybody. And sometimes getting the (players’) numbers on the far side of the ice is difficult, depending on the camera angles. And the referee is not always in the camera when you have a delayed penalty, so you may not know a penalty is coming up until play has stopped.”
But the obstacles don’t diminish Jackson’s enthusiasm.
“It’s an exhibition game for everyone he said, “...but we’re just glad it’s back.”