Playoff-bound Philadelphia Flyers hit the ice for practice today in Vorhees on Thursday. Travis Kineckney spoke for the first time since the Flyers clinch and talked about why he was so motivated to get the playoffs back to Philadelphia. And Mafei Mishkov continues to become more and more comfortable within the Flyers team atmosphere. I'm Charlie O'Connor, the P.H.L.Y Flyers and P.H.L.Y. Sports. And these are your Flyers post-practice notes. So as of Thursday afternoon, we finally have a date and time for game one of the Flyers playoff series with the Pittsburgh Penguins. They will be playing on Saturday at 8 p.m. to kick off this long-awaited match up between these two in-state rivals. Now, the Flyers did make the playoffs in 2020,

but those games were played in front of no fans due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

This will be the first time the Flyers play a playoff game in front of a crowd

since April 22nd, 2018, nearly eight years ago.

Expects it to be a tight series. The Penguins are the 2C, the Flyers of the 3C. There was a little bit of simmering hatred that was created during their matchups this season, but I'm not expecting the Flyers to be overmash. If you want to get my preview of the series, go on all p.hly.com. For Die Hards Only, I have my in-depth dive on the entire series and what the Flyers will need to do in order to come away with the victory. But it's

already a major achievement for the Flyers just to make the playoffs, especially given the fact

that they were as far back as 10 points behind the spot they ultimately secured back in early March. They went on a heck of a run

to get here. And today, for the first time since the clinch, we spoke to one of the key members

of the team that made that push, Travis Kineckney. Now, Kinekney's made it clear for months,

even when the Flyers were at their lowest in January that he believed in this team's ability

to make the playoffs.

He's been talking them up since the start of the season.

So while Kineckney certainly felt good about making the playoffs first time, he's been in the

playoffs since 2020.

For him, it was more about proving him and the rest of the team right than being surprised

that they achieved this goal.

But for Kine, you know, went beyond just wanting to make the playoffs.

Kinekney's obviously been a Philadelphia flyer since way back in 2016.

And he said a lot of their motivation for him in terms of trying to get the playoffs back to

Philadelphia came down to watching the other Philadelphia teams have success.

He's watched the Eagles make Super Bowls, watched the Phillies go to a World Series, and he watched that, sometimes even attended those games, and wish that the Flyers can get back there too, and now he's got them back there. I mean, I've been here when I was in the, I forget my, maybe my second year, we played in the playoffs, and then, you know, I've been through all the, you know, the Super Bowls and the World Series stuff. So, like, I've seen all this playoff stuff going on around the basketball team, too, like all the playoffs stuff. And you want to be part of it, you know, every single year you see it. You know, so I'm just excited. I think the whole city was, it wasn't just us. You know, the whole city was ready to be back in the playoffs and we're ready. Now, Kinectne will certainly be intently focused about making sure this playoff run lasts longer than just a few short days, but he'll have some help with the Flyers, many quality young players that'll be filling out the roster in this playoff series,

and not just filling out the roster, but hopefully for the Flyers playing a major role in their success.

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