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Flyers deal with nagging injuries, roster cuts

The Flyers have been hit by several injuries late in training camp, but general manager Ron Hextall said none were serious.

Sean Couturier is one of several Flyers nursing an injury in training camp.
Sean Couturier is one of several Flyers nursing an injury in training camp.Read more( CLEM MURRAY / Staff Photographer )

The Flyers have been hit by several injuries late in training camp, but general manager Ron Hextall said none were serious.

Second-line center Sean Couturier and top-line left-winger Michael Raffl have upper-body injuries and did not practice Tuesday in Voorhees. Backup goalie Michal Neuvirth is also sidelined with a nagging injury, but he should be available for Wednesday's preseason game (7 p.m., TCN) against the visiting Devils, Hextall said after practice.

Hextall said he was hoping Couturier plays in the team's final preseason game Friday in New Jersey, and that he thought Raffl, injured in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Rangers on Monday, would be ready for the season opener Oct. 8 in Tampa.

Star right winger Jake Voracek downplayed the injuries.

"We're professionals and we have to find a way to be successful," he said. "We can't just stop the season because someone gets hurt. It happens. We're good enough players to find a way to play with each other; that's why we are in the best league in the world."

Winger Matt Read limped off the ice during Tuesday's practice, but later said he was fine. Read said he suffered a charley horse in Monday's loss.

At Tuesday's practice, Chris Porter, a veteran who signed as a free agent in the offseason, replaced Raffl on the top line with Claude Giroux and Voracek.

"He's a good hardworking player [who's] skating very well," Voracek said. "Goes to the dirty areas."

The Flyers have to make three more roster cuts, and Porter is on the bubble. The Flyers had hoped to get down to 23 players - the most allowed on a roster - before their final preseason game Friday, but Hextall said the injuries may alter the timetable.

"We'll see how Wednesday goes and go from there," the general manager said.

Porter is among the players fighting for a roster spot.

"You can only control what you can control," said Porter, 31, who spent six seasons with St. Louis, and played for Flyers coach Dave Hakstol at North Dakota. "You're never certain until the final roster comes out. . . . This is a position I've always been in."

The Flyers (3-1-1 in preseason) have eight defensemen left in camp, all on one-way contracts. If they don't deal Luke Schenn and keep all eight, they would probably demote Porter, Scott Laughton, and Colin McDonald. If they tried to send defenseman Brandon Manning through waivers and to the Phantoms, one of the three aforementioned forwards figures to stick.

Camp Comments

- D Radko Gudas struggled in Monday's preseason loss to the Rangers and isn't a lock to be one of the top six defensemen.

- C Scott Laughton, despite some mistakes late in Monday's defeat, drew praise for his overall play from GM Ron Hextall.

- The Flyers' much- maligned PK unit was 6 for 6 Tuesday against the Rangers regulars. They are 20 for 24 (83.3 percent), 10th in the NHL.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

@BroadStBull