New father Tanner Laczynski’s return to practice gives John Tortorella a lineup dilemma

At 12:28 a.m. on Saturday, Tanner and Madison Laczynski welcomed Leo Laczynski into the world.

At 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 22 inches long, Leo is “beautiful,” the new father said with a huge smile. Welcoming Leo was well worth the stress of missing two games in the midst of Tanner’s battle to establish himself at the NHL level.

Laczynski, a 25-year-old forward, has suffered injury after injury, preventing him from working his way onto the Flyers roster for more than a few games at a time. Finally healthy ahead of this season, Laczynski made the team out of camp.

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But even though he survived camp, he still has to prove he can contribute on a regular basis. Over six games, Laczynski has scored two points, both assists. Coach John Tortorella wants more from him.

“I want him to hit me in the head, ‘I’m here,’” Tortorella said on Oct. 19. “He hasn’t done that. I think he can be a really good player, eventually, here. Size and all. But I don’t want to keep searching.”

Laczynski played in that game, a 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers, as well as the following two. He finished minus-2 over those three games and averaged less than 10 minutes per game.

As the Oct. 27 game against Florida approached, so did Madison’s due date. Laczynski approached Tortorella about it.

“I kind of had a discussion with him like, ‘You know, my wife is probably going to go into the labor here pretty soon,’” Laczynski said. ”He was great about it. He said, ‘You be with your family. That’s the most important.’”

That coincided with defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen’s return from injury, so Tortorella announced they would be playing with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. There was still an open forward spot for Laczynski to return to — to stay at 18, the Flyers would have had to make a decision about the defensemen. But then the Flyers claimed Kieffer Bellows off waivers from the New York Islanders on Oct. 27.

Laczynski also missed Saturday’s game against Carolina, but now that he’s back, Tortorella has some decisions to make. Laczynski played on the fourth line for four of his six games, but after the game the fourth line had Saturday, Tortorella doesn’t want to break up Nicolas Deslauriers, Lukáš Sedlák, and Wade Allison, a trio that combined for two of the team’s three goals on Saturday.

“They bang a couple of goals in for us, so I don’t think I can change that line,” Tortorella said.

Tortorella needs to look more closely at everyone’s individual play, but he doesn’t know what he’ll do yet with the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the New York Rangers. He added that he has to evaluate Bellows’ first game still.

“I’ve got to see what Kiefer did more individually,” Tortorella said. “I’m still trying to figure out: Does he fit? You know where he is, who he is.”

Laczynski didn’t have his best practice Monday — he’s running on adrenaline rather than sleep three days into fatherhood and was “gassed” — but his teammates greeted him with cheers and made him lead the stretch circle after practice. Their advice to him on fatherhood? Go with your instincts, much like they tell him to do on the ice.

Tortorella isn’t happy about the Flyers’ 5-2-1 start. He’s also not disappointed about it. He’s not anything.

“I don’t think a coach is ever happy,” Tortorella said. “I don’t think we can afford to be happy. ... When you win a game, you’re happy for about a minute and a half. And then you’re thinking about your next opponent.”

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When it comes to specifics about the Flyers’ game, Tortorella has more feelings. He liked a lot of what he saw in the second two periods on Saturday. The team was checking well and killing plays. The Flyers created multiple scoring chances and some momentum to take into the following game.

And maybe that momentum can offset what Tortorella isn’t liking so much — the Flyers’ starts.

“I just — we just seem so tentative or underconfident,” Tortorella said. “I don’t understand why we’re so tentative.”

Although playing with a lead can be harder sometimes, Tortorella would love to see his team not have to come from behind. The Flyers have only led after the first in one game this season. While he likes how resilient the team has been, continuously coming back from deficits isn’t the most sustainable practice.

“We can’t we can’t keep living on that piece of property, being down two-nothing and coming back,” Tortorella said.

The Flyers play the Rangers at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Madison Square Garden to start their November slate. ... Flyers prospect Cam York suffered a lower-body injury in the Lehigh Valley Phantoms game against the Hershey Bears on Sunday. He is day-to-day. ... Defenseman Travis Sanheim got pushed into the stretch circle with Laczynski after practice. He recently got engaged.