Flyers Must Make Good Decisions After Finishing Preseason With A Win

The Flyers wrapped up their preseason with a 5-2 win over the Islanders at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night.

Nicolas Deslauriers, Noah Cates, Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny and Cam Atkinson all scored goals for the Flyers.

Eleven different Flyers scored a point. Konecny and Morgan Frost led the way with two-point nights.

The Flyers went 3-2-1 in the preseason and scored 14 goals in six games.

“We saw the people we needed to see and thought we were going to be fair with the people who got the ice time and the games,” head coach John Tortorella said. “We have a really good assessment of most of the guys that came through camp. Now we will see where we go and try to reduce our squad to 23.” [players] Monday.”

• In one final show, junior Tyson Foerster picked up his second assist of the preseason.

“I thought tonight was my best game yet,” Foerster said. “It’s up to them, but we’ll see what happens.”

The 21-year-old winger is fighting against Bobby Brink and Wade Allison for the final positions in the attack. Brink and Allison did not play Thursday night.

The game was important for Foerster because he hadn’t excelled offensively in his three exhibition appearances.

Foerster had a solid night on Thursday. He started the game at the helm of Sean Couturier. As he moved to Tippett and Frost’s line in the second period, he scored a nice pass to his helper to help the Flyers get out of the defensive zone.

“He moved the puck well, I thought he was on the puck, he protected the puck well,” Tortorella said. “I thought he played really well. I know he doesn’t have the points, but I thought he had a good camp and did a lot of the little things that I’m looking for.”

“He had a good camp. I want him to score, just to take a little pressure off himself. I think that’s what he’s done a little bit in this camp here after starting with a little bit of flash last year. The game is hard.” . I think he just applied some pressure. If he scores a goal or two I think he will feel a lot better.”

The Flyers have to make good decisions here in attack and defense. They will take it.

This time last year, the Flyers weren’t having any luck health-wise.

“Every coach in the league is whatever they want at the end of the exhibition season,” Tortorella said. “That’s the number one priority, just getting out healthy so you can make the right decisions about your lineup.”

• Rasmus Ristolainen was originally slated to play alongside Cam York on the Flyers’ top defensive pairing.

However, according to a Flyers spokesman, Ristolainen was somewhat injured and was held out of the game as a precautionary measure. The injury is not serious.

Ristolainen’s absence gave prospect Emil Andrae another opportunity to make an impression on the Flyers’ decision-makers.

“You know what I really like about him? I thought he made a lot of mistakes, but right after he makes a mistake he makes a good game,” Tortorella said. “I don’t think he’s afraid of anything. I don’t think he’s afraid of making a mistake. I like a lot of things about him.”

With eight defensemen still on the roster, the Flyers will have to decide who their sixth will be on opening night. If the club has eight players at the start of the season, one would think that either Egor Zamula or Andrae would crack the lineup. The Flyers don’t want their prospects to remain as extras for too long. The sixth and final spot could be awarded between Zamula, Andrae and Sean Walker.

• Couturier recorded two assists in four preseason games. He is coming back from two back operations that have kept him sidelined since December 2021.

Atkinson played the last three exhibition games and scored two goals. He missed all of last season due to a neck injury that required surgery in December.

Both established strikers looked sharper with each game. They said their bodies responded well to the game’s action, which was an overwhelming advantage for the Flyers.

“Physically, physically, I feel really good,” Couturier said. “I was surprised that with all the skating and rigor of this camp, I didn’t really feel any pain or tension. That’s good. Obviously I think there’s still a lot of work to be done with my game. But I think things are improving.” In the right direction, things got better from game to game. I just have to keep building on it.”

• Carter Hart played the entire game for his second and final appearance. The 25-year-old made 14 saves.

In two starts this preseason, Hart stopped 33 of 38 shots.

Karson Kuhlman beat him on a breakaway in the first period. The second goal Hart allowed was his own when he misplayed the puck behind the net in the third period, resulting in a goal from Brian Pinho.

Samuel Ersson will open the season as Hart’s replacement.

“The opportunity to work with Carter and see him up close, how he prepares, how he takes his time off the ice, being the professional that he is, it’s eye-opening for me,” Ersson said Thursday morning . “Knowing, ‘OK, this is what it takes to be an elite goalie in this league.’ It’s great for me to see it up close, to find out what’s important and also for me to set this standard for myself.”

Islanders backup Semyon Varlamov stopped 26 of the Flyers’ 31 shots.

• The Flyers’ roster consists of 25 healthy players. It must be reduced to a maximum of 23 players and submitted by Monday at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Over the weekend, the Flyers are scheduled to practice at 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday and 11:00 a.m. ET on Saturday before having a day off on Sunday.

They begin the regular season next Thursday against the Blue Jackets in Columbus, Ohio (7:00 p.m. ET/NBCSP).