Flyers blown out in preseason opener as Sean Couturier returns and Cal Petersen debuts

NEWARK, N.J. — What’s the 2023 version of burning the game tape in a world with less tapes? Deleting the file?

That’s probably what the Flyers will do with the footage from their preseason opener Monday night vs. the Devils. There was little to see here. And far too few positives to take away.

The Flyers had little jump, fell behind early and never looked like they would crawl out of the hole in a 6-0 loss at Prudential Center.

Here are a few takeaways from the preseason opener.

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Cal Petersen spoke Sunday about his fresh start in Philadelphia. Petersen, 28, was shipped to the Flyers in the Ivan Provorov trade, a salary cap dump from the Los Angeles Kings after Petersen struggled mightily on the heels of signing a three-year, $15 million deal. He played 10 games with the Kings last season before being sent down to the American Hockey League’s Ontario Reign.

Petersen got the first crack at game action as part of a three-man battle for the backup goalie spot behind Carter Hart. It did not go that well.

The Devils, who are among the Stanley Cup favorites, scored on their first shot and four of their first seven. They tallied nine of the game’s first 10 shots on net.

Petersen struggled early with controlling rebounds and he appeared to be out of position on multiple occasions.

The Flyers did little to help him, especially early. They got burned and allowed an easy goal on an odd-man rush to kick off the onslaught. They later left Erik Haula wide open in a dangerous area on New Jersey’s second goal. And Timo Meier later had way too much space on the power play in giving the Devils a 5-0 advantage two minutes into the second period.

“They came at us hard,” Petersen said. “They had a lot of experienced guys in there and put us on our heels a little bit. That’s what preseason is for. You want to make mistakes and you want to get up to speed.

“I think I have the ability to stop every goal. I want to do that for my teammates. I’m going to look at (the bad coverage goals) and look at what I could have done to make those saves. Sometimes you do things right and the puck still goes in, but I think there’s still a chance, whether it’s a better read or whether I can process the play a little better. That’s what this time of year is for, to look at those things, analyze, and then not get caught too much in the result.”

Felix Sandström relieved Petersen for the third period. He was beat by Michael McLeod on a breakaway goal midway through an otherwise uneventful period.

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Sean Couturier said Monday morning that he was “waiting for this moment for a while.” It was 646 days to be exact, Dec. 21, 2021, being the last time Couturier tasted NHL game action.

He was anxious to get his first shift out of the way, he said. And he wanted to quickly feel some contact to know that his twice-repaired back was going to hold up just fine.

Instead of waiting, he delivered the contact himself, crunching Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton into the boards during the game’s opening shift.

“Obviously I wanted to test it out and get it deep and make a run and see how it felt,” Couturier said. “Not only on that shift but a couple times I thought I used my body in battles. Just gotta be a little bit stronger and win more battles, but that’ll come.”

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Couturier understandably looked rusty at times, but the most important thing for him and the Flyers was getting him through his first preseason game unscathed.

The center skated on a line with Bobby Brink and Joel Farabee.

Brink, who is a roster hopeful, registered two shots on net. The line was minus-1 on the night.

Couturier wasn’t supposed to be the only one making a long-awaited return to the ice. Cam Atkinson, who missed all of last season with a neck injury, was initially on the game-day roster and skated during Monday’s morning skate in Voorhees.

But when the Flyers hit the Prudential Center ice for warmups Monday night, Atkinson wasn’t out there, and Wade Allison, a Flyers forward seemingly on the roster bubble, was in.

The Flyers, via a statement from general manager Danny Brière, said Atkinson was “a little sore” and dealing with a lower-body injury.

“We did not want to take the chance,” Brière said. The injury was “nothing related to his last year injury,” Brière said.

The Flyers didn’t want to make excuses after the game, but Phantoms coach Ian Laperrière, who coached the game from the bench, acknowledged the slow Flyers start was understandable given how much skating and conditioning the Flyers have done in the early days of camp.

“You guys watch camp like I do,” Laperrière said. “It’s an intense camp and it’s a lot for a lot of those guys, but I liked that they battled through it. They looked tired, that’s obvious.

“They have a day off tomorrow and I’m sure they’re happy.”

This Flyers preseason is mostly about seeing which of their young prospects are ready to take the next step. The team also wanted to reward players who had a strong rookie camp by getting them into an NHL preseason game before they are inevitably sent packing to their 2023-24 home.

Put defenseman Oliver Bonk in that latter category. The 18-year-old who was selected by the Flyers with the 22nd pick in the 2023 draft had himself a good rookie camp last week and was put on the game-day roster Monday. He played alongside veteran Nick Seeler.

Bonk, as expected, did not stand out against some of New Jersey’s offensive firepower. He and Seeler were beaten badly a minute into the game as Jesper Bratt connected with Ondrej Palat on a 2-on-1 rush to open the scoring. Bonk did settle in and looked better as the game went on, even after he appeared to be in some pain after blocking a shot toward the end of the first period.

Tyson Foerster dressed for the preseason opener. The 21-year-old winger appears to be in a good spot to make the team in the early days of camp. But, like many other Flyers Monday night, Foerster did not do a lot offensively to help his case — he did, however, fire five shots toward the Devils net. Four of them were blocked and one missed.

The Flyers also got a look at Emil Andrae and Helge Grans on defense. Seeler and Sean Walker were the only NHL veteran defensemen in action.

The Flyers are off Tuesday and play the second of their six preseason games Wednesday night on the road vs. the Islanders.

They then play again Friday night in Boston before hosting the first of three home preseason games Saturday vs. the Devils.