Flyers pull off 5-2 win over Islanders in final tuneup for regular season

The Flyers ended their final preseason tuneup on a high note, beating the Islanders, 5-2, at home on Thursday night.

While the Flyers are down to their final cuts, the Islanders’ lineup was missing some big names. Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat, Anders Lee, or Kyle Palmeiri were all off the ice. Still, the Flyers controlled most of the game, outshooting the Islanders, 31-16.

Here are some takeaways.

In a completely different tale from the Flyers’ first preseason game, which had a lack of offense, their last preseason game had plenty of it from players up and down the lineup.

The Islanders struck first, when the puck bounced over Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim’s stick and Islanders forward Karson Kuhlman blew past him for a breakaway, deking goalie Carter Hart. But from there, it was all Flyers. Left wingers Nic Deslauriers and Noah Cates answered, with Deslauriers tying the game and Cates putting the Flyers ahead just over a minute later, on a play that showcased his and Travis Konecny’s hustle.

Cates blocked a shot from the point and the puck ricocheted into the neutral zone, where Konecny raced after it. Cates got on his horse alongside Konecny, and was there to tap Konecny’s pass past Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov.

“The past couple preseason games, I’ve liked where we’ve been,” Cates said, “being offensive, whether it’s off the rush or down low, taking pucks to the net.”

In the second period, the Flyers converted on a tic-tac-toe play from Tyson Foerster to Morgan Frost to Owen Tippett, who found himself one-on-one with Varlamov. After Varlomov blocked the initial shot, Tippett buried his rebound to put the Flyers up, 3-1.

Konecny padded the lead on a 5-on-3 power play at the end of the second period, and Cam Atkinson notched his second preseason goal in the third.

Flyers coach John Tortorella has consistently had high praise for the trio of Deslauriers-Ryan Poehling-Garnet Hathaway throughout training camp, and the fourth line impressed again.

“I liked our checking,” Tortorella said. “I know it’s not against a full Islander lineup, but I just liked the attention to the checking part of it.”

Poehling, who has elite speed, had two goals through three preseason games. He had four shots on net Thursday, and won 70% of his faceoffs.

Deslauriers and Hathaway, who threw three and four hits, respectively, are known for their physicality and tendency to drop the gloves. But they showed some offensive chemistry against the Islanders, too.

In the first period, Sanheim’s wrist shot from the right faceoff dot was deflected over the net, where Hathaway was there to pick up the trash. He found Deslauriers in the slot, who beat Varlomov for his first point of the preseason.

Hart wasn’t tested too much by a limp Islanders’ offense, and was helped on two occasions by the post and crossbar. Even as the Flyers went on the kill four times, the Islanders’ power play was stagnant and only produced five shots, all stopped by Hart.

He did, however, badly mishandle the puck out of his net multiple times, with the Islanders catching him out of position to score their second goal.

» READ MORE: Tyson Foerster has one last chance to impress in Flyers’ preseason finale

The Flyers’ final preseason game also marked the final game for Foerster and Emil Andrae to make their case for a roster spot.

Tortorella announced that Andrae would be a scratch alongside Bobby Brink, Egor Zamula, and Wade Allison at morning skate, saying that he’d seen all he needed to see from those players. But in a last-minute change, Andrae got one final look. He blocked one shot and added two shots on goal.

“What I really like about [Andrae], I thought he made a bunch of mistakes, but right after he makes a mistake, he makes a good play,” Tortorella said. “And I don’t think he’s afraid of anything.”

Foerster, who started the game on the top line with Sean Couturier and Joel Farabee, shuffled around throughout the game, also seeing time on a line with Cates and Scott Laughton, as well as Tippett and Frost. Foerster picked up the secondary assist on Tippett’s second-period goal, and also got some looks on the power play.

“I thought tonight was my best game so far,” Foerster said.

Tortorella said he agreed with that assessment.

“I thought [Foerster] moved the puck well, he said. “I thought he was on the puck; he protected the puck well. I thought he played really well. I know he doesn’t have the points. But I thought he had a good camp, and did a lot of other little things that I’m looking for, too.”