VOORHEES - When teams don’t make the playoffs, like the Flyers haven’t for two times in the last three years, it makes for a long summer. Goalie Steve Mason admitted that at times he was flat out bored with his summer workouts.

All that preparation for hockey stops Monday, when the Flyers finally have a game…two, in fact.

Things happen quickly in the fall. The Flyers have had only three days of practice before Monday’s split-squad games against the New York Islanders. That’s fine with them. The competitive juices are flowing.

“It will be nice to get back into a game situation where games start to become more meaningful,” said Mason, who will actually have to wait a little longer because he isn’t playing in either game Monday. “Obviously it’s preseason, but you still want to take it seriously and that once the regular season does start in Tampa that we’ve done everything we can to prepare for it.”

And the Flyers do need to prepare, especially in the new system of rookie head coach Dave Hakstol. Most of the systems Hakstol is implementing are pretty similar to what the Flyers had last year. There are adjustments, however, in the breakouts and how the team comes through the neutral zone.

More From 97.3 ESPN