Flyers new head coach John Tortorella worked his first game behind the bench on Sunday night but even his presence couldn’t help break the team’s preseason offensive problems.
Philadelphia was held to just one goal in a 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y.
The defeat was the Flyers’ fourth straight and dropped their overall record to 1-4 in preseason play.
Perhaps most concerning: The Flyers have scored a grand total of just five goals in five games.
They finish the preseason with a home game against the Islanders on Tuesday night.
Tony DeAngelo scored the only goal for the Flyers, connecting on a five-on-three power play at 3:26 of the second period with assists from Morgan Frost and Tyson Foerster.
But the Islanders came back pretty quickly on a goal from Kyle Palmieri at 10:15. His shot eluded Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson.
Scott Mayfield scored the winning goal at 15:18 of the middle frame when Ersson couldn’t control a rebound to his right.
Semyon Varlamov started in goal for the Islanders and played the first two periods to record the victory.
The Flyers were one for five on the power play.
Prior to the game, Tortorella didn’t sound too concerned with the Flyers’ recent performances. The team has a number of minor injuries to deal with so the lineups are dotted with a lot of youngsters trying to win jobs.
“There are still question marks at certain positions so this just gives them more opporunities,’’ Tortorella said. “If you map it out in the summertime, you kind of look at the last two games to look at your guys.
“You can’t do it. We’ve got some bumps, bruises, nicks. . .(we’ll) just be cautious with that and prepare for the first regular season game.’’
