Flyers get look at potential season-opening lineup in preseason loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
With a full NHL lineup, the Flyers suffered a 4-3 preseason loss Thursday night to the Islanders at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Rick Tocchet’s club scored goals on the power play, penalty kill and at even strength. Travis Sanheim, Travis Konecny and Noah Cates provided the markers.
The Flyers dropped to 2-4-0 through the exhibition slate and have one more to go before the real thing starts in a week.
“I think we’re continuing to build each and every game,” Nick Seeler said of the team picking up Tocchet’s system. “Our meetings have been really good in the room, I think each game we’re doing a little bit more than the last. It’s an ongoing process and that’s what preseason is for, is continuing to build and I think we’re getting better and better.”
• This one sure looked like a dress rehearsal for opening night.
“I wouldn’t say it’s 100 percent in stone, but the majority of it, I would say yes,” Tocchet said Thursday morning. “Most teams at this point, the last couple of games, you start to try to chunk things together.”
Rodrigo Abols and Jett Luchanko were the extras up front, while Dennis Gilbert and Noah Juulsen were the extras on defense. More on the Flyers’ final decisions here.
• Christian Dvorak looks like somebody who could play a lot of roles for the Flyers.
“So far in preseason, I’ve played winger and center, so I think it’s a high probability I’ll do that during the season, too,” Dvorak said. “I’m pretty comfortable doing both, I take pride in doing that and playing a two-way game.”
The free-agent addition delivered a nifty drop pass through his legs to Sanheim for the Flyers’ game-opening shorthanded goal in the first period.
“I think he’s a really good player,” Sanheim said. “He’s a guy that can play at both ends of the ice, wins draws and is pretty creative and can make plays. I think he’s going to fit in well.”
Dvorak had another shorthanded breakaway in the second period, but Ilya Sorokin denied him with a nice save.
The 29-year-old centered the fourth line Thursday night, but there’s clearly some versatility there.
“The guy that I’ve got to get more ice time — because the fourth line usually doesn’t play as much — is Dvorak,” Tocchet said Thursday morning. “I might move him around, I might put him on the wing sometimes with certain people. I’ve got to find him more minutes, I don’t think he’s a fourth-line center.”
• Samuel Ersson played the full game in net, stopping 23 of 27 shots.
The Flyers were slow to get back on New York’s game-winning goal with 2:54 minutes left in the third period.
“I think we’ve got to quit giving up some of those easy ones, that’s something that we’ve got to clean up for the regular season,” Sanheim said. “But I think some of the system stuff we’re definitely picking up, guys are getting a little bit more used to what’s expected. But in saying that, there are still turnovers and little things that we need to clean up that isn’t going to cut it in the regular season.”
Fifteen seconds after Konecny gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead in the second period, Anders Lee drew the Islanders even. Ersson reacted as if he would have liked that one back.
But New York’s other two goals were awfully tough to stop. One was an impressive power play redirection and the other was a 2-on-0 shorthanded breakaway.
“It’s a new system, you’ve got to go through these things,” Tocchet said. “But the Grade As, the 2-on-1s, the breakaway on the power play — they’re just freebies. You might give up about three freebies a month; you can’t give them two or three a game. It just can’t happen, you can’t give free goals in this league.”
Ersson finished exhibition play with 53 saves on 63 shots through seven periods. Dan Vladar is set to play the full game in the finale.
• Tocchet said Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube told him that Nikita Grebenkin was a sticky player.
And you can see why that was the scouting report. The 22-year-old winger hunts the puck and competes hard for it. He’s getting a great look with Konecny and Sean Couturier.
Grebenkin played seven games for Toronto last season before coming to the Flyers in the Scott Laughton trade.
• There was some good and bad from the Flyers’ power play.
In the second period, a real sloppy attempt at a zone-entry by the first unit led to a go-ahead shorthanded goal for the Islanders.
But the Flyers’ second unit got the goal back when Cates was set up by Tyson Foerster.
• Karsen Dorwart and Lane Pederson were both cleared to return from their upper-body injuries and loaned to AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley after practicing Thursday morning.
Excluding two injured players in camp (Oliver Bonk and Ethan Samson), the Flyers’ roster is at 24 players. It needs to be down to a maximum of 23 by Monday at 5 p.m. ET.
• The Flyers wrap up the preseason Saturday when they host the Devils (12:30 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
