PHILADELPHIA – With the exception of injured defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, the Flyers’ lineup on ice for Thursday night’s preseason game against the New York Islanders, a 4-3 loss, might be pretty much the one you see when the Flyers hit the ice for the regular season opener on Oct. 9 in Florida.
Coach Rick Tocchet had indicated he was going to go with this group at practices this past week.
Someone like Rodrigo Abols or Jett Luchanko could crack this unit but Tocchet wants to give the lines and defense pairings a chance to develop some chemistry.
Of note: Sean Couturier centered a top line with rookie Nikita Grebenkin, who has been sensational in the preseason, along with Travis Konecny.
The Islanders broke a 3-3 tie with 2:54 to play on a goal from Emil Heineman.
Tocchet conceded the Flyers did not play a crisp brand of hockey throughout this game.
“We’ve got to clean some stuff up,” said Tocchet after his team fell to 2-4 in the preseason with one game to play. “We’re just (playing) a little risky. We have to understand when to do it (attack) and when not to do it.”
There were several bright spots however, such as Grebenkin.
Flyers president Keith Jones has been particularly impressed with Grebenkin, who just might be the surprise contender of this training camp.
“Grebenkin’s done a great job,” Jones said during a second intermission interview. “All through training camp. He’s worked hard. He’s done all the little things that we want him to and taken some of the risk out of his game. He’s been a noticeable contributor to the team’s success.”
Jones also praised the work of defenseman Jamie Drysdale.
“I’m very excited about where he’s going to take this season,” Jones said.
Meanwhile, Christian Dvorak was one of the Flyers’ less-hyped offseason free-agent signings but he’s already showing how valuable he can be for a team looking strong two-way hockey.
The 29-year-old Dvorak centered a fourth line of Nic Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway, so you know protecting the Flyers’ end of the ice is his No. 1 priority.
So it was no surprise when Dvorak started a breakaway which ended with a tap pass to Sanheim for a short shot past Ilya Sorokin just 1:46 into the game.
Sanheim had good things to say about that play. Dvorak executed a nifty drop pass.
“I wasn’t expecting him to make that play,” Sanheim said. “He’s a really good player, plays both ends of the ice, wins draws. Pretty creative, I think he’s going to fit in well.”
Added Dvorak: “I feel pretty good. I feel I’ve had a good fit so far. I’ve had some good chances. I’d like to bury them. I just have to keep working on that in practice and get better at it.”
The Islanders tied the score in the second period on a power-play goal from Maxim Shabanov. He tipped in a pass from Maxim Tsyplakov at 3:45.
In the second period, Konecny sent a long shot through Sorokin at 11:10. It only took the Islanders 15 seconds to square the score when Anders Lee buried a shot from the right hash marks.
Then the Isles went up on a shorthanded goal from Adam Pelech but the Flyers rallied on the same power play, getting a goal from Noah Cates off a nice feed from Tyson Foerster.
On defense, the Flyers opened with pairings of Travis Sanheim-Cam York, Nick Seeler-Jamie Drysdale and Egor Zamula-Adam Ginning.
Samuel Ersson started in goal for the Flyers.
>Ginning ready to go if he gets the call
It looks like Ginning is the leading contender for the vacancy left by Ristolainen’s absence. He appears to like his chances.
“I think I’ve been playing good,” he said. “Had a good camp. It’s a good opportunity with new people (Tocchet, staff) coming in to really start over.”
>Seeler’s evaluation
Nick Seeler gave the impression the Flyers still have some work to do on defense.
“I think we created some offense,” he said. “We just have to manage the risky plays in our game. It cost us a few times. That’s what preseason is for. Getting those out of your system. Hopefully we can build as a group here.”
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