Flyers’ youth step up despite 4-3 overtime loss to Islanders

Tuesday marked the Flyers’ last opportunity to test out an opening-night roster without the score meaning anything, but they couldn’t even if they wanted to. Despite the bumped and bruised lineup, they held their own against a veteran-laden New York Islanders leam in a 4-3 overtime loss at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers’ highest-scoring performance of the preseason.

The benefit of having so many established players — Cam Atkinson, Travis Konecny, Tony DeAngelo, Ivan Provorov, etc. — sitting out, coach John Tortorella said, is that it gives the team more of an opportunity to evaluate the younger players, and those players finally stepped up to the challenge. Previously, Wade Allison and brothers Noah and Jackson Cates were the main standouts, but others gave a last-minute argument for why they should win jobs.

Morgan Frost had a more consistent game than he’d been having, helping the Flyers move the puck and setting up shot opportunities. Owen Tippett scored on a rush with Kevin Hayes, his first goal of the preseason, and created other good scoring chances. Tanner Laczynski scored on a breakaway, also his first of the preseason, and brought physicality on the forecheck. Ronnie Attard helped create offense and even dropped the gloves.

» READ MORE: ‘You can be OK, or you can be really good’: John Tortorella pushing for more out of Flyers’ Cam York

It was another strong first period for the Flyers, but at this point, the strong starts are hard to trust. Four games in a row, the Flyers have disappeared in the second period. It seemed like that changed Tuesday, but penalties once again hurt them.

Things got chippy after a collision at center ice, and the Flyers ended up with two in the box. It was the potential turning point for the Flyers to lose hold of the game.

Instead, Scott Laughton stole the puck and sprinted down the ice. He had a clear look at the goal, and instead of shooting it right into the goalie like he and so many others did time after time last season, he faked left before slipping the puck easily past Ilya Sorokin’s right side for the Flyers’ first shorthanded goal of the preseason.

After continuing to play well, the Flyers were shorthanded again after a Hayes cross-checking penalty. They let up a power-play goal, but it seemed like the Flyers might rebound when they went on a four-minute power play. Instead, they gave up a shorthanded goal to fall behind 2-1.

With a crash that could be heard around the arena, Allison made his presence known on the forecheck early in the game. Backing him up, his linemates followed with the same effort while sticking to the right spots, helping the Flyers recover the puck and move it into the offensive zone.

Once again, since it happened early, the effort wasn’t necessarily indicative of what the whole game would look like. But the Flyers kept up their intensity and created opportunities through their forecheck. Frost and Noah Cates each had a takeaway. Frost’s helped set up a strong offensive shift, and Cates’ led to a great shot opportunity.

“I think a lot of guys had a good jump tonight,” Frost said. “And now we’re doing well on the forecheck.”

Forechecking is a hallmark of Tortorella’s teams, and Tuesday provided more than a brief glimpse of what the team could do if they embrace that aspect of the game.

“That was kind of a point of emphasis, to stay connected on your forecheck and be kind of close to the next guy rather than us being so spread out,” Frost said. “I think in general, we did a pretty good job of that tonight.”

» READ MORE: Flyers preseason takeaways: Noah Cates continues to impress; major questions remain at center

Tortorella is known for calling out players to push them to be their best, and he hasn’t been shy about singling out two players in particular: Hayes and Cam York.

As a veteran, Hayes received a call from Tortorella right after he was hired. He came into camp expecting Tortorella to be hard on him. Tortorella didn’t reach out to all the younger players, instead preferring to make his own judgments on them once camp arrived. But he quickly identified York as a player he wants more from.

Both Hayes and York are aware of his expectations, but so far, neither has answered the call. In the final preseason game, Hayes was noticeably slow to react on some plays and made unwise passes on others. His penalty in the second period led to the go-ahead power-play goal. York still wasn’t noticeable defensively the way the coaches wanted him to be. But he became noticeable at the end of the second when his mistake led to the Islanders’ shorthanded goal.

With no more preseason games left, York said all he can do is try to impress in practices.

“I’m not in a position to have a lackadaisical week here, ahead of the season,” York said. “So, continue to work each day, and I think that’s pretty much everything I can do.”

Since the Flyers ended their preseason slate early, they have more than a week to practice in Voorhees before their season starts on Oct. 13 at home against the New Jersey Devils.