Bryzgalov, Voracek speak on Day 2

Courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov

Q: How was Day 2?

A: Same as Day 1.

Q: Does it feel like you guys are getting into the swing of things with this crazy shortened training camp?

A: No, I like it. It’s better than three weeks.

Q: What about the crowd, what do you think about the amount of people?

A: It’s nice to see. Yesterday the stadium was packed, and today was lots of fans too. It’s nice to see that we have the support, and see jerseys and the fans are back and waiting.

Q: You’ve said in the past you prefer to play more games and be out there as much as you can be, do you think that will benefit you this year with the shortened season?

A: We’ll see.

Q: How much do you think it will help you having played games in Russia as opposed to just starting from scratch?

A: It’s great. I had a great experience over there. I was keeping myself in shape and I had a different experience with that – you know bigger eyes, I see things from the goalie coach out there.

Q: As far as you being ready and in game-shape. People saying goaltending in a shortened season like this is the last thing to be 100 percent. Do you think that will help you be sharp right from the start having played those games?

A: Of course, I think it’s going to be an advantage because it’s different situations. It’s going to be far far away from good shape.

Q: With fewer games this year is there any added pressure on you?

A: We have more games for a short period of time. We don’t have 82 games but our schedule, for 11 days we have seven games, so we very much are going to be playing more than we play in the regular full season.

Q: Does that put more pressure on you?

A: I just have to worry about one thing – how to help the team win games, that’s it.

Q: Is this similar to the KHL where you have a week to get ready and then start playing games. Is this training camp similar to that?

A: We start the season in the middle of July and they have two months for preparation before the season starts. When I came, I felt like I was far behind physically and they gave me some time to prepare.

Flyers RW Jakub Voracek

Q: How’s this grind of the camp going so far?

A: I think it’s pretty good. We have two practices behind us and we’ve worked on a lot of things. I think everybody else is very excited, so everybody can’t wait for Saturday’s game.

Q: Does this feel any different than normal training camps?

A: It’s hard to say. We have six days before the first game and no preseason games, so obviously it’s a little bit different, but we are focused. We all knew what was going to happen, and we are going to play every other day and prepare for that  and be ready for Saturday.

Q: Is there a way to prepare for that – get your legs in shape, things like that?

A: Well, it’s hard to say, more than half of the team played. So that’s a good sign, but we won’t know that until after the first couple of games. Hopefully that’s going to have a good effect on us and win games in the beginning.

Q: You’ve been on a line with [Sean Couturier] can you tell that after playing half a season with the AHL he’s already making it further along than some other guys?

A: Like I said, we haven’t played a game yet. So, practice is hard to tell. But, already he is looking better than last year and he’s 19 years old and his patience on the stick is very tremendous and I’m very excited for us to start.

Q: Do you see him being more aggressive offensively, I know he was being used as a checking center but do you see his game sort of evolving from this year?

A: He’s older, he’s more experienced, he’s stronger, like I said he got more patron on his stick so I think he will put up more points this season.

Q: What part of your game do you think you need to pick up on?

A: I haven’t played a game in half a year so, I can’t really tell you.

Q: Do you see a difference from playing over there?

A: Oh it’s totally different; the ice is bigger, and it’s a different style of hockey. So, mostly I try to play my best and work as hard as I can every time, and everything is going to come.

Q: In the later part of last season, you’ve had a lot of work on the power play. They’ve had you out there the first couple days again. Is that something you enjoy doing, playing that role?

A: Well I’ve played there since January, so I’ve played it for awhile and it’s very good there. We all know what we have to do on the power play, where everybody has to stay when somebody has the puck, and when we are under pressure where to go. We are used to playing together and I think you can tell.

Q: Opening against Pittsburgh, how exciting is that going to be?

A: It’s going to be a great game. Like I said, everybody is pumped up for the season to start. So, obviously the end of last season for them wasn’t they wanted it. But that’s why they are going to come even harder Saturday.

Q: Are you expecting to get a look on [Claude Giroux’s]line?

A: It’s still preseason and it’s not my job to get the lines together.