The Flyers are in Elmont, NY, on Wednesday evening to take on the New York Islanders at UBS Arena. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be streamed on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
Philadelphia's six-game pregame schedule opened on Monday with a 6-0 road blowout loss at the hands of the New Jersey Devils. Sean Couturier played his first game since Dec. 18, 2021. Cal Petersen (first and second periods, 19 saves on 24 shots) and Felix Sandström (third period, nine saves on 10 shots) split the goaltending duties. The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill. Philly was outshot by a 34-21 margin, outhit 19-13, and won only 41.1 percent of the faceoffs.
Here are five things to look for in Wednesday's game:
1. Fresher legs for the Flyers
Training camp opened last Thursday with head coach John Tortorella's signature skating test for all camp participants. That was followed over the next three days by six scrimmages among three "teams", with one team per day playing back-to-back scrimmages and the other two having a single scrimmage plus an on-ice practice or off-ice workout. All teams played a total of four scrimmages in three days.
The Flyers had an immediate turnaround on Monday with the preseason opener in New Jersey, and Philly's starting lineup including several players who were in Sunday's back-to-back scrimmage group. Collectively, the Flyers stumbled out of the gates in Monday's game, trailing early in the contest and ultimately falling to the Devils, 6-0.
Tuesday was a planned off-day for all players in camp. On Wednesday, the game group held a morning skate on the Flyers rink at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, while the two non-game groups held successive practices on the Phantoms rink.
The off-day on Tuesday and the separation of three days since the skating-intensive first four days of training camp should be beneficial to the Flyers from an energy standpoint in their second preseason game. This should be especially true at the outset of Wednesday's game.
2. A different lineup look
A relatively low number of returning and projected 2023-24 NHL roster players -- forwards Couturier, Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Wade Allison (subbing for late scratch Cam Atkinson), rookie hopeful Tyson Foerster, and defensemen Cam York, Nick Seeler and Sean Walker -- were in the Flyers' starting lineup on Monday. So too, were prospects Bobby Brink, Elliot Desnoyers, Emil Andrae, and Helge Grans.
Among these players, only Allison and Andrae were part of Wednesday's game group in the morning skate at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees. Prospect Samu Tuomaala, who played on Monday, was also in the game group for Elmont. Felix Sandström, who played the third period on Monday, was likewise a morning skate participant.
Veterans in Wednesday's game group included Scott Laughton, Noah Cates, Nic Deslaurieres, Ryan Poehiling, and Garnet Hathaway. Goalie Sameul Erisson was also a morning skate participant.
Wednesday's game group combinations:
Scott Laughton - Noah Cates -Samu Tuomaala
Nic Deslauriers - Ryan Poehling - Garnet Hathaway
Zayde Wisdom - Rhet Gardner- Wade Allison
Brendan Furry - Tanner Laczynski - Cooper Marody
Victor Mete - Ronnie Attard
Adam Ginning - Emil Andrae
Adam Karashik - Louie Belpedio
Samuel Ersson
Felix Sandström
PP1: Tuomaala, Cates, Poehling, Laughton, Andrae
PP2: Marody, Laczynski, Wisdom, Mete, Attard
Note: Defense pairings rotated frequently during the morning skate reps. The in-game duos could vary from what's listed above.
Returning Flyers winger Owen Tippett did not play on Monday and was not in Wednesday's game group. However, he is healthy and practicing with the team. Likewise, none among veteran defensemen Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen or Marc Staal were in Monday or Wednesday's game groups.
3. Competitive push
Thus far in training camp, the emphasis has been on skating and getting the competitive juices flowing. Midway through the Saturday's second scrimmage, Tortorella stopped game simulation to come downstairs from the balcony perch and exhort the participants to pick up the pace. Likewise, at least part of the reasoning behind the six scrimmages over three days with a game immediately thereafter on Monday was to test players' mental toughness to push through the challenge. Tortorella believes it will pay longer-term dividends.
Wins and losses in the preseason are essentially meaningless. However, competitiveness always matters. Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere, who was behind the bench as acting head coach in the match against the Devils, emphasized that he felt the Flyers players were feeling the effects of an intense start to training camp.
"It's an intense camp. It's a lot [of instant adversity] for a lot of those guys. But I like that they battled through it. Nobody quit. They worked hard. Yes, they looked tired [against the Devils]. That's obvious. But I think it's great, especially for the young players," Laperriere said, adding that it's also a positive for a veteran like Couturier to get through the opening four days of camp and his first game in 19 months with no issues.
Against the Islanders, with an off-day beforehand, it will be important for the Flyers not just to work hard but to skate better and win more of the mini-battles within the game than they did in Newark. Those things will be more important than the final score.
4. Awareness and engagement are not systems issues
At this stage of camp and the preseason, simplicity and communications are the keys. For Wednesday night's game, here are reachable objectives: Don't be "strangers" on the ice. Communicate better. Don't be spectators. Make yourself a reachable target for a short or medium-range pass. Have a safety valve in mind if there isn't a play to make. If necessary, simply dump the puck to soft ice or hang in and battle for possession in the trenches rather than making a "hope" pass or making a panic play where there are only opposing uniforms to be seen. None of these are systems dependent. All, however, require awareness and engagement.
5. Behind enemy lines: New York Islanders
The Islanders lost their preseason opener, 4-2, to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. William Dufour (1st goal of the preseason) and Arnaud Durandeau (1st) scored in a losing cause. Former Flyers and Phantoms forward Jackson Cates, Noah's brother, recorded one of the New York assists. Islanders prospects Matt Maggio and Isaiah George made their respective preseason debuts for New York. Maggio, in fact, skated on a line with team captain Anders Lee and veteran JG Pageau.
The Islanders fell into a 3-0 deficit and weren't quite able to overcome it. Semyon Varlamov stopped 20 of 24 shots over the first and second periods. Jakub Skarek played the third period, stopping all six shots he faced.
Familiar Islanders veterans, apart from Lee and Pageau, who appeared in Tuesday's lineup included forwards Brock Nelson, Cal Clutterbuck and Pierre Egvall, as well as defensemen Ran Pulock, Scott Mayfield and Sebastian Aho.
Mathew Barzal, now healthy after dealing with a knee injury last season, was one of the most notable Islanders who did not appear in the preseason opener. Others who did appear in the Madison Square Garden match: Bo Horvat, Julian Gauthier, Casey Cizikas, Ross Johnson, Matt Martin, Kyle Palmieri, Oliver Wahlstrom, Noah Dobson, Adam Pelech, and Robin Salo. In goal, Ilya Sorokin could get the start against the Flyers.
Projected Islanders Lineup:
Simon Holmstrom-Bo Horvat-Mathew Barzal
Eetu Liukas-Karson Kuhlman-Oliver Wahlstrom
Ruslan Iskhakov-Casey Cizikas-Julien Gauthier
Dmytro Timashov-Brian Pinho-Matt Martin
Adam Pelech-Noah Dobson
Dennis Cholowski-Robin Salo
Travis Mitchell-Paul LaDue
Ilya Sorokin
Ken Appleby
