Flyers Send Jake Voracek to Third Line

PHILADELPHIA — No, Jake Voracek isn't mad. He's on the Flyers' third line now because rookie coach Dave Hakstol is trying to light a fire under somebody, anybody, and maybe get a goal.

The Flyers have now gone 137 minutes and 34 seconds without putting the puck in the net, a span of three games.

So instead of having Voracek on Claude Giroux's right wing, he will start Monday night's game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Pierre-Edouard Bellemare's right wing. Chris VandeVelde will be on the other side.

"Upset? Not at all," Voracek said. "Vandy and Belly are great players. We didn’t score for the last two games so I think Hak’s trying to spread it out and hopefully get the lines going and get some direction."

Instead, Brayden Schenn is on Giroux's right and Michael Raffl is back on the left wing. Is it really a demotion for Voracek if no one else is scoring either?

"We’ve got to spread it out," the right winger said. "I think that’s the idea of it. Last year when I played a couple shifts with Belly and Vandy, we gained some momentum. Hopefully we do that (Monday)."

"It’s Jake Voracek," Bellemare added. "Everybody in the whole league knows what kind of a player he is. It’s kind of an unbelievable feeling to be the player starting the game with Jakey. We have a lot of good players, but Jake Voracek’s going to be on my line."

If Voracek being split up with Giroux was surprising, try this one on for size: Hakstol says that Saturday's 4-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators was, "a pretty good hockey game when you dig through everything, but we gave up goals too easily."