Olle Lycksell ready for a bigger opportunity: ‘I want to see if he can bring us some offense’

This time, there was no late-night call for Olle Lycksell.

The forward received word that he was being recalled by the Flyers early on Monday and he will be in the lineup when the team takes on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night (7 p.m. NBCSP).

“Hopefully get some more minutes out there and see. That’s my goal to get some more minutes and play my game ... and see how far I can get,” Lycksell said.

Lycksell skated with Cam Atkinson and Morgan Frost at Tuesday’s morning session, so it looks like he will get more minutes this time around. During his previous call-up in December, Lycksell only played 6 minutes and 11 seconds in the Flyers’ 4-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes. He hopes to use his speed, competitiveness, and hunger around the net to try and be a threat in the offensive zone and play a simple game defensively.

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One thing John Tortorella noticed during Lycksell’s previous 14-day stint was he seemed to be less stiff and freer with his skating compared to last season. The Swede and bench boss acknowledged that there was more of a comfort level for the 24-year-old, from being around the NHL players to the culture.

“I’m probably going to put him in more offensive positions,” Tortorella said. “I want to see if he can bring us some offense and see if he can be free and make some plays. He was so safe; I don’t want him to play safe. I want him to try to make some plays and I’m hoping he’s confident enough and feels to me ... more comfortable here to make more plays.”

Lycksell has 28 points (16 goals, 12 assists) in 33 games this season with the Phantoms, including six points (four goals, two assists) in his last five games.

In the corresponding move to Lyckell’s recall was Bobby Brink getting sent down. Brink has struggled lately and per Tortorella, he “leveled out.” A healthy scratch in the Flyers’ last three games, plus a game in his home state of Minnesota, the expectation is he’ll get more ice time in Lehigh Valley. Tortorella views the demotion as a good thing for Brink’s development.

“The two biggest parts of a head coach’s job with a young player is to teach him what it is to be a pro and that starts with just getting out of the car and how you come into the practice rink,” Tortorella said. “It goes right on through right until you get to the ice and you finish your practice. So many different things are encompassed there in teaching.

“The part on the ice is to get the [heck] out of the way of the offensive skill that he has and teach him plays away from the puck, how you play away from the puck. He has been inconsistent in all of them, enough to the point where we think other guys were playing better. And we cannot afford to have him sitting out a game and playing six or seven minutes another game.”

With Brink watching from the press box alongside Nic Deslauriers, and the addition of Jamie Drysdale on the blue line, the Flyers have been skating with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for several games.

Although most would say that skating without four full forward lines would put stress on the group, Tortorella — who admits he’s never liked 11/7 but has found it to be productive with this group – looks at it as a way to not only identify which players are poised for big games and to help get some of his forward group going.

“I think it’s helped Cam [Atkinson],” Tortorella said. “Cam’s been getting, and I know Cam so well, I can see when he’s beginning to get his game back. And when I see it, that’s when I try to give him more. Even some guys like Tyson [Foerster], I think has fought it a little bit, I’m going to try to give him more. ... Owen Tippett plays so much better when I just pour him the ice time. I think he stinks defensively sometimes but I’m still going to pour him the ice time because he’s so dangerous offensively when I do that.

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“Those are the things that run through my mind when I’m in that situation. A little bit more difficult for [Brad Shaw] to keep guys in the flow. But he’s going to have to figure it out because I do, in the situation we have right now, I like the 11 and seven.”

Shaw has the arduous task of rotating seven defensemen throughout the night without having set pairings.

“It’s all right. It’s a little bit different,” Sean Walker said. “You’re playing with different guys a lot, maybe some odd shifts here and there and some weird flow to the game sometimes. But I think the seven of us really jell well together and you just get out there and communicate as best you can with whoever you’re on the ice with.”

Tortorella wouldn’t disclose his skaters, outside of Lycksell going in, but it appears the team will be going 11/7 again against the Lightning as Deslauriers and Marc Staal got extra work in after the morning skate.

“It doesn’t really change ice time much,” Scott Laughton said. “I think Torts does a good job of kind of mixing and matching. I guess you’re playing with different guys every shift, I think that’s the biggest difference. But the way we’ve been playing lately and throughout the year guys have played in every position so it doesn’t really matter. ... Probably a little different on the D to have that many guys but for forwards it’s nice, I think you’re always getting out there and playing with different guys.”

Sam Ersson will get the start in net. Ersson relieved Carter Hart on Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche and got the loss against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday. It marks the first time Ersson has started consecutive games since he started five straight in mid-December when Hart was dealing with an undisclosed illness. Tortorella, who spoke to the media before morning skate, said “Yep” when asked if Hart was healthy; however, Hart did not participate in the practice. ... Tippett will miss a second-straight game and remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury.