PHILADELPHIA — For 16 years, Flyers defenseman Keith Yandle has never wavered from his pregame routine.
Whether he’s unwrapping a new pair of socks at his stall before each game — when he played for the Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes, he had to stretch each one out twice “all the way down the sock” before putting them on, according to former teammate Paul Bissonnette — or stickhandling in his corner of the neutral zone during warmups, Yandle’s pregame rituals have fueled him to play 965 consecutive games in the NHL.
But on Tuesday at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., on the cusp of passing Doug Jarvis for sole possession of the NHL’s iron-man record, Yandle strayed from his routine. As he warmed up with the Flyers, he looked up into the crowd.
